The biggest winners are surprises to me, and takeovers are even more surprising. It takes years, not months, to produce big results.

If you can't find any companies that you think are attractive, put your money in the bank until you discover some.

When stocks are attractive, you buy them. Sure, they can go lower. I've bought stocks at $12 that went to $2, but then they later went to $30. You just don't know when you can find the bottom.

Twenty years in this business convinces me that any normal person using the customary three percent of the brain can pick stocks just as well, if not better, than the average Wall Street expert.

Never invest in a company without understanding its finances. The biggest losses in stocks come from companies with poor balance sheets.

You should not buy a stock because it's cheap but because you know a lot about it.

If you can find a company that can get away with raising prices year after year without losing customers (an addictive product such as cigarettes fills the bill), you've got a terrific investment.