As one of my older friends says, "Nostalgia just isn't what it used to be." Let's take a stab at it, anyway.

Does the business have a consistent operating history?

Investors have to remember: corporate profits are going up, but stocks are going up faster. How can that continue indefinitely? Investors can only earn what companies themselves can earn; the government or the markets themselves don't kick anything in. How can you get anything more out of a farm than what it grows?

You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don't do too many things wrong.

If you've been playing poker for half an hour and you still don't know who the patsy is, you're the patsy.

Let only individuals contribute - with sensible limits per election. Otherwise, we are well on our way to ensuring that a government of the moneyed, by the moneyed, and for the moneyed shall not perish from the earth.

Time is the friend of the wonderful company, the enemy of the mediocre.