Unlike return, however, risk is no more quantifiable at the end of an investment that it was at its beginning. Risk simply cannot be described by a single number. Intuitively we understand that risk varies from investment to investment: a government bond is not as risky as the stock of a high-technology company. But investments do not provide information about their risks the way food packages provide nutritional data.

The real secret to investing is that there is no secret to investing.

If you are predisposed to be patient, disciplined and psychologically appreciate the idea of buying bargains, then you're likely to be good at it. If you have a need for action, if you want to be involved in the new and exciting technological breakthroughs of our time, that's great, but you're not a value investor, and you shouldn't be one.

Patience and discipline can make you look foolishly out of touch until they make you look prudent and even prescient

Value investing is predicated on the efficient market hypothesis being wrong.

We buy expecting to hold a bond to maturity and a stock forever.

Having clients with a long-term orientation is crucial. Nothing else is as important to the success of an investment firm.