An important key to investing is to remember that stocks are not lottery tickets.

In stocks as in romance, ease of divorce is not a sound basis for commitment.

All you need for a lifetime of successful investing is a few big winners, and the pluses from those will overwhelm the minuses from the stocks that don't work out.

Absent a lot of surprises, stocks are relatively predictable over twenty years. As to whether they're going to be higher or lower in two to three years, you might as well flip a coin to decide.

When you sell in desperation, you always sell cheap.

In the long run, a portfolio of well chosen stocks and/or equity mutual funds will always outperform a portfolio of bonds or a money-market account. In the long run, a portfolio of poorly chosen stocks won't outperform the money left under the mattress.

Never buy anything that you can't illustrate on the back of a napkin.