Quote

Most of the time common stocks are subject to irrational and excessive price fluctuations in both directions as the consequence of the ingrained tendency of most people to speculate or gamble... to give way to hope, fear and greed.

Benjamin Graham

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Benjamin Graham
Age: 82 †
Born: 1894
Born: May 8
Died: 1976
Died: September 21
Economist
Financier
Investor
University Teacher
Writer
London
England
Way
Subject
Tendency
Stocks
Time
Subjects
Tendencies
Excessive
People
Common
Greed
Gamble
Hope
Investing
Directions
Fluctuations
Fear
Investment
Speculation
Fluctuation
Money
Price
Irrational
Speculate
Give
Consequence
Professors
Ingrained
Giving
Financial
Finance
Gamer

More quotes by Benjamin Graham

Image
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
Image
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
Image
I am more and more impressed with the possibilities of history's repeating itself on many different counts. You don't get very far in Wall Street with the simple, convenient conclusion that a given level of prices is not too high.
Benjamin Graham
Image
In nine companies out of ten the factor of fluctuation has been a more dominant and important consideration in the matter of investment than has the factor of long-term growth or decline
Benjamin Graham
Image
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
Image
Always remember that market quotations are there for convenience, either to be taken advantage of or to be ignored.
Benjamin Graham
Image
The best way to measure your investing success is not by whether you're beating the market but by whether you've put in place a financial plan and a behavioral discipline that are likely to get you where you want to go.
Benjamin Graham
Image
Even defensive portfolios should be changed from time to time, especially if the securities purchased have an apparently excessive advance and can be replaced by issues much more reasonable priced.
Benjamin Graham
Image
It is a fact worth pondering that four centuries ago the evil of an abundance or surplus arose from its being kept off the market, while today the evil of surplus lies in its being thrown upon the market.
Benjamin Graham
Image
... the loss of public confidence in the financial community growing out of its own conduct in recent years. I insist that more damage has been done to stock values and to the future of equities from inside Wall Street than from outside Wall Street.
Benjamin Graham
Image
Every corporate security may be best viewed, in the first instance, as an ownership interest in, or a claim against, a specific business enterprise.
Benjamin Graham
Image
Successful investing professionals are disciplined and consistent and they think a great deal about what they do and how they do it.
Benjamin Graham
Image
Stocks can be dynamite.
Benjamin Graham
Image
An investment operation is one which, upon thorough analysis, promises safety of principal and an adequate return.
Benjamin Graham
Image
Confronted with a challenge to distill the secret of sound investment into three words, we venture the motto, Margin of Safety.
Benjamin Graham
Image
The value of the security analyst to the investor depends largely on the investor's own attitude. If the investor asks the analyst the right questions, he is likely to get the right or at least valuable answers.
Benjamin Graham
Image
It always seemed, and still seems, ridiculously simple to say that if one can acquire a diversified group of common stocks at a price less than the applicable net current assets alone - after deducting all prior claims, and counting as zero the fixed and other assets - the results should be quite satisfactory.
Benjamin Graham
Image
The beauty of periodic rebalancing is that it forces you to base your investing decisions on a simple, objective standard.
Benjamin Graham
Image
The money cost of the reservoir plan literally fades into insignificance when it is compared with the financial burden which the great depression imposed on the nation.
Benjamin Graham
Image
Always buy your straw hats in the Winter
Benjamin Graham