The essence of investment management is the management of risks, not the management of returns.

It always seemed, and still seems, ridiculously simple to say that if one can acquire a diversified group of common stocks at a price less than the applicable net current assets alone - after deducting all prior claims, and counting as zero the fixed and other assets - the results should be quite satisfactory.

The only thing you should do with pro forma earnings is ignore them.

The intelligent investor gets interested in big growth stocks not when they are at their most popular - but when something goes wrong.

In security analysis the prime stress is laid upon protection against untoward events. We obtain this protection by insisting upon margins of safety, or values well in excess of the price paid.

A stock is not just a ticker symbol or an electronic blip; it is an ownership interest in an actual business, with an underlying value that does not depend on its share price.

Confusing speculation with investment is always a mistake.