Through chances various, through all vicissitudes, we make our way…. – Aeneid
The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham is considered as one of the best investment books of all time. Legendary investor Warren Buffer had this to say about this great piece in the preface;
“I read the first edition of this book early in 1950, when I was nineteen. I thought then that it was by far the best book about investing ever written. I still think it is.
To invest successfully over a lifetime does not require a stratospheric IQ, unusual business insights, or inside information.
What’s needed is a sound intellectual framework for making decisions and the ability to keep emotions from corroding that framework. This book precisely and clearly prescribes the proper framework. You must supply the emotional discipline.”
1- “The intelligent investor is a realist who sells to optimists and buys from pessimists.”
2- “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
3- “An investment operation is one which, upon thorough analysis, promises safety of principal and an adequate return. Operations not meeting these requirements are speculative.”
4- “But investing isn’t about beating others at their game. It’s about controlling yourself at your own game.”
5- “The stock investor is neither right or wrong because others agreed or disagreed with him; he is right because his facts and analysis are right.”
6- “As the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard noted, life can only be understood backward—but it must be lived forwards.”
7- “People who invest make money for themselves; people who speculate make money for their brokers.”
8- “The punches you miss are the ones that wear you out. —Boxing trainer Angelo Dundee”
9- “Invest only if you would be comfortable owning a stock even if you had no way of knowing its daily share price.”
10- “Americans are getting stronger. Twenty years ago, it took two people to carry ten dollars’ worth of groceries. Today, a five-year-old can do it. —Henny Youngman”
Bonus Quote: “you must thoroughly analyze a company, and the soundness of its underlying businesses, before you buy its stock; you must deliberately protect yourself against serious losses; you must aspire to “adequate,” not extraordinary, performance.”
Over to you…
Did you read the Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham? Share with us your favorite quote in comments.
