To be an investor you must be a believer in a better tomorrow. Benjamin Graham More Quotes by Benjamin Graham More Quotes From Benjamin Graham The underlying principles of sound investment should not alter from decade to decade, but the application of these principles must be adapted to significant changes in the financial mechanisms and climate. Benjamin Graham significant-change intelligent sound The investor is neither smart not richer when he buys in an advancing market and the market continues to rise. That is true even when he cashes in a goodly profit, unless either (a) he is definitely through with buying stocks an unlikely story or (b) he is determined to reinvest only at considerably lower levels. In a continuous program no market profit is fully realized until the later reinvestment has actually taken place, and the true measure of the trading profit is the difference between the previous selling level and the new buying level. Benjamin Graham smart differences taken The purpose of this book is to supply, in the form suitable for laymen, guidance in the adoption and execution of an investment policy. Benjamin Graham adoption purpose book Successful investment may become substantially a matter of techniques and criteria that are learnable, rather than the product of unique and incommunicable mental powers. Benjamin Graham technique unique successful Even with a margin of safety in the investor's favor, an individual security may work out badly. For the margin guarantees only that he has a better chance for profit than for loss - not that loss is impossible. But as the number of such commitments is increased the more certain does it become that the aggregate of the profits will exceed the aggregate of the losses. Benjamin Graham loss numbers commitment The investor's primary interest lies in acquiring and holding suitable securities at suitable prices. Benjamin Graham market-timing interest lying The chief obstacle to success lies in the stubborn fact that if the favorable prospects of a concern are clearly apparent they are almost always reflected already in the current price of the stock. Buying such an issue is like betting on a topheavy favorite in a horse race. The chances may be on your side, but the real odds are against you. Benjamin Graham horse real lying People who invest make money for themselves; people who speculate make money for their brokers. And that, in turn, is why Wall Street perennially downplays the durable virtues of investing and hypes the gaudy appeal of speculation. Benjamin Graham hype wall people The ideal form of common stock analysis leads to a valuation of the issue which can be compared with the current price to determine whether or not the security is an attractive purchase. Benjamin Graham investing issues analysis Even the most conservative must realize that the recent transformation of surplus from an individual to a national disaster implies a scathing indictment of our capitalist system as it has now developed. Benjamin Graham transformation conservative realizing If General Motors is worth $60 a share to an investor it must be because the full common-stock ownership of this gigantic enterprise as a whole is worth 43 million (shares) times $60, or no less than $2,600 million. Benjamin Graham ownership share common Before you place your financial future in the hands of an adviser, it's imperative that you find someone who not only makes you comfortable but whose honesty is beyond reproach. Benjamin Graham investing honesty hands It is our argument that a sufficiently low price can turn a security of mediocre quality into a sound investment opportunity - provided that the buyer is informed and experienced and he practices adequate diversification. For, if the price is low enough to create a substantial margin of safety, the security thereby meets our criterion of investment. Benjamin Graham safety practice opportunity Diversification is an established tenet of conservative investment. Benjamin Graham investment investing conservative The market is always making mountains out of molehills and exaggerating ordinary vicissitudes into major setbacks. Benjamin Graham vicissitudes mountain ordinary If we assume that there are normal or standard income results to be obtained from investing money in securities, then the role of the adviser can be more readily established. He will use his superior training and experience to protect his clients against mistakes and to make sure that they obtain the results to which their money is entitled. Benjamin Graham investing-money training mistake A stock is not just a ticker symbol or an electronic blip; it is an ownership interest in an actual business, with an underlying value that does not depend on its share price. Benjamin Graham ownership share doe The idea of storage as a solution of economic problems at least has the support of common sense.It is diametrically opposed to the topsy-turvy Alice-in-Wonderland reasoning that has marked so much of our depression thinking and policy. Benjamin Graham common-sense ideas thinking As in roulette, same is true of the stock trader, who will find that the expense of trading weights the dice heavily against him. Benjamin Graham investing intelligent weight It's nonsensical to derive a price/earnings ratio by dividing the known current price by unknown future earnings. Benjamin Graham ratios investing earning