Quote

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

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
Intelligent
Buys
Investor
Realist
Pessimist
Optimist
Investors
Pessimists
Investing
Optimists
Sells
Pendulums

More quotes by 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
Wall Street has a few prudent principles the trouble is that they are always forgotten when they are most needed.
Benjamin Graham
Image
Though business conditions may change, corporations and securities may change, and financial institutions and regulations may change, human nature remains the same. Thus the important and difficult part of sound investment, which hinges upon the investor's own temperament and attitude, is not much affected by the passing years.
Benjamin Graham
Image
Mr. Market does not always price stocks the way an appraiser or a private buyer would value a business. Instead, when stocks are going up, he happily pays more than their objective value and, when they are going down, he is desperate to dump them for less than their true worth.
Benjamin Graham
Image
An intelligent investor gets satisfaction from the thought that his operations are exactly opposite to those of the crowd.
Benjamin Graham
Image
Successful investing is about managing risk, not avoiding it.
Benjamin Graham
Image
The defensive (or passive) investor will place chief emphasis on the avoidance of serious mistakes or losses. His second aim will be freedom from effort, annoyance, and the need for making frequent decisions.
Benjamin Graham
Image
you may take it as an axiom that you cannot profit in Wall Street by continuously doing the obvious or the popular thing
Benjamin Graham
Image
Always buy your straw hats in the Winter
Benjamin Graham
Image
Real investment risk is measured not by the percent that a stock may decline in price in relation to the general market in a given period, but by the danger of a loss of quality and earnings power through economic changes or deterioration in management.
Benjamin Graham
Image
Speculators often prosper through ignorance it is a cliché that in a roaring bull market knowledge is superfluous and experience is a handicap. But the typical experience of the speculator is one of temporary profit and ultimate loss
Benjamin Graham
Image
You must never delude yourself into thinking that you're investing when you're speculating.
Benjamin Graham
Image
The market is a pendulum that forever swings between unsustainable optimism (which makes stocks too expensive) and unjustified pessimism (which makes them too cheap). The intelligent investor is a realist who sells to optimists and buys from pessimists.
Benjamin Graham
Image
High valuations entail high risks.
Benjamin Graham
Image
Before you invest, you must ensure that you have realistically assessed your probability of being right and how you will react to the consequences of being wrong.
Benjamin Graham
Image
The investor has a right to expect good results to flow from a consistent and courageous application of the principle of buying after the market has declined substantially and selling after it has had a spectacular rise. But he cannot expect to reduce this principle to a simple and foolproof formula, with profits guaranteed and no anxious periods.
Benjamin Graham
Image
Price fluctuations have only one significant meaning for the true investor. They provide him with an opportunity to buy wisely when prices fall sharply and to sell wisely when they advance a great deal.
Benjamin Graham
Image
Abnormally good or abnormally bad conditions do not last forever.
Benjamin Graham
Image
Never mingle your speculative and investment operations in the same account nor in any part of your thinking.
Benjamin Graham
Image
Mr. Market's job is to provide you with prices your job is to decide whether it is to your advantage to act on them. You no not have to trade with hime just because he constantly begs you to.
Benjamin Graham