The Intelligent Investor

The intelligent investor is a realist who sells to optimists and buys from pessimists

“Obvious prospects for physical growth in a business do not translate into obvious profits for investors.”

“while enthusiasm may be necessary for great accomplishments elsewhere, on Wall Street it almost invariably leads to disaster.”

is a trait more of the character than of the brain

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
—Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Think of our suggested definition of investment given above, and compare it with the sale of a few shares of stock by an inexperienced member of the public, who does not even own what he is selling, and has some largely emotional conviction that he will be able to buy them back at a much lower price.

They let other investors’ judgments determine their own.

A strong-minded approach to investment, firmly based on the margin-of-safety principle, can yield handsome rewards.

Before attempting such a venture the investor should feel sure of himself and of his advisers—particularly as to whether they have a clear concept of the differences between investment and speculation and between market price and underlying value.

article in a women’s magazine many years ago we advised the readers to buy their stocks as they bought their groceries, not as they bought their perfume.