The underlying principles of sound investment should not alter from decade to decade, but the application of these principles must be adapted to significant changes in the financial mechanisms and climate.
Benjamin GrahamThe intelligent investor gets interested in big growth stocks not when they are at their most popular - but when something goes wrong.
Benjamin GrahamThe function of the margin of safety is, in essence, that of rendering unnecessary an accurate estimate of the future.
Benjamin GrahamPeople who invest make money for themselves; people who speculate make money for their brokers. And that, in turn, is why Wall Street perennially downplays the durable virtues of investing and hypes the gaudy appeal of speculation.
Benjamin GrahamBuy when most people, including experts, are pessimistic, and sell when they are actively optimistic.
Benjamin Grahamwe have complaints that institutional dominance of the stock market has put 'the small investor at a disadvantage because he can't compete with the trust companies' huge resources, etc. The facts are quite the opposite. It may be that the institutions are better equipped than the individual to speculate in the market.But I am convinced that an individual investor with sound principles, and soundly advised, can do distinctly better over the long pull than large institutions.
Benjamin Graham