No matter how careful you are, the one risk no investor can ever eliminate is the risk of being wrong. Only by insisting on what Graham called the "margin of safety" - never overpaying, no matter how exciting an investment seems to be - can you minimize your odds of error.

To enjoy a reasonable chance for continued better than average results, the investor must follow policies which are (1) inherently sound and promising, and (2) not popular on Wall Street.

There is a close logical connection between the concept of a safety margin and the principle of diversification.

The value of any investment is, and always must be, a function of the price you pay for it.

Every corporate security may be best viewed, in the first instance, as an ownership interest in, or a claim against, a specific business enterprise.

Always remember that market quotations are there for convenience, either to be taken advantage of or to be ignored.

Those with the enterprise lack the money and those with the money lack the enterprise to buy stocks when they are cheap.