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.

It's nonsensical to derive a price/earnings ratio by dividing the known current price by unknown future earnings.

Since we have emphasized that analysis will lead to a positive conclusion only in the exceptional case, it follows that many securities must be examined before one is found that has real possibilities for the analyst. By what practical means does he proceed to make his discoveries? Mainly by hard and systematic work.

It is no difficult trick to bring a great deal of energy, study, and native ability into Wall Street and to end up with losses instead of profits. These virtues, if channeled in the wrong directions, become indistinguishable from handicaps.

As in roulette, same is true of the stock trader, who will find that the expense of trading weights the dice heavily against him.

It is absurd to think that the general public can ever make money out of market forecasts.

If you are shopping for common stocks, choose them the way you would buy groceries, not the way you would buy perfume.