Market values are fixed only in part by balance sheets and income statements; much more by the hopes and fears of humanity; by greed, ambition, acts of God, invention, financial stress and strain, weather, discovery, fashion and numberless other causes impossible to be listed without omission.

Successful investment is a battle for financial survival.

The desire for gold is the most universal and deeply rooted commercial instinct of the human race.

Stocks are bought on expectations, not facts.

I once read about a meeting of economists who agreed that if their forecasts were 33 1/3 % correct, that was considered a high mark in their profession. Well, of course, I know you cannot invest in securities successfully with odds like that against you if you place dependence solely upon judgement as to the right securities to own and the right time or price to buy them. Then, too, I read somewhere about the man who described an economist as resembling ‘a professor of anatomy who was still a virgin.’

It is wise to remember that too much success in the stock market is in itself an excellent warning.

Investing solely for 'income,' investing merely 'to keep capital employed,' and investing simply 'to hedge against inflation' are all entirely out of the question.