When your views are truly contrarian, they are inevitably uncomfortable. Courage and the ability to withstand pain are required.

The hardest thing over the years has been having the courage to go against the dominant wisdom of the time to have a view that is at variance with the present consensus and bet that view. The hard part is that the investor must measure himself not by his own perceptions of his performance, but by the objective measure of the market. The market has its own reality. In an immediate emotional sense the market is always right so if you take a variant point of view you will always be bombarded for some time by conventional wisdom as expressed by the market.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the heroes were the long-term investors; today the heroes are the wise guys.

Time and again, in every market cycle I have witnessed, the extremes of emotion always appear, even among experienced investors. When the world wants to buy only [bonds], you can almost close your eyes and [buy] stocks.

Good investing is a peculiar balance between the conviction to follow your ideas and the flexibility to recognize when you have made a mistake.

The balance between confidence and humility is best learned through extensive experience and mistakes.

The markets are always changing, and the successful trader needs to adapt to these changes.