Of one thing the investor can be certain: A large company's need to bring in a new chief executive from the outside is a damning sign of something basically wrong with the existing management - no matter how good the surface signs may have been as indicated by the most recent earnings statement.

Be extra careful when buying into companies and industries that are the current darlings of the financial community.

Practical investors usually learn their problem is finding enough outstanding investments, rather than choosing among too many.

The successful investor is usually an individual who is inherently interested in business problems.

My mistake was to project my skill beyond the limits of experience. I began investing outside the industries which I believe I thoroughly understood, in completely different spheres of activity; situations where I did not have comparable background knowledge.

If the growth rate is so good that in another ten years the company might well have quadrupled, is it really of such great concern whether at the moment the stock might or might not be 35% overpriced?

The stock market is filled with individuals who know the price of everything, but the value of nothing.