Quote

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

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
Effort
Aim
Defensive
Freedom
Decisions
Losses
Making
Mistakes
Emphasis
Place
Loss
Passive
Need
Second
Investors
Annoyance
Needs
Serious
Chief
Investor
Mistake
Chiefs
Avoidance
Decision
Investing
Frequent

More quotes by Benjamin Graham

Image
It must be fundamentally wrong to reduce production of food and fiber while one-third of our population is still ill fed and ill clothed.
Benjamin Graham
Image
Only in the exceptional case, where the integrity and competence of the advisers have been thoroughly demonstrated, should the investor act upon the advice of others without understanding and approving the decision made.
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
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
Always remember that market quotations are there for convenience, either to be taken advantage of or to be ignored.
Benjamin Graham
Image
In other words, the market is not a weighing machine, on which the value of each issue is recorded by an exact and impersonal mechanism, in accordance with its specific qualities. Rather should we say that the market is a voting machine, whereon countless individuals register choices which are the product partly of reason and partly of emotion.
Benjamin Graham
Image
Knowledge is only one ingredient on arriving at a stock's proper price. The other ingredient, fully as important as information, is sound judgment.
Benjamin Graham
Image
Always buy your straw hats in the Winter
Benjamin Graham
Image
The only thing you should do with pro forma earnings is ignore them.
Benjamin Graham
Image
Thousands of people have tried, and the evidence is clear: The more you trade, the less you keep.
Benjamin Graham
Image
The essence of investment management is the management of risks, not the management of returns.
Benjamin Graham
Image
In the world of securities, courage becomes the supreme virtue after adequate knowledge and a tested judgment are at hand.
Benjamin Graham
Image
The intelligent investor should recognize that market panics can create great prices for good companies and good prices for great companies.
Benjamin Graham
Image
When somebody asserts that a stock has an earning power of so much, I am sure that the person who hears him doesn't know what he means, and there is a good chance that the man who uses it doesn't know what it means.
Benjamin Graham
Image
Cartels have spread and will spread as long as the world lacks an effective mechanism by which balanced expansion may be achieved without a resulting disruption of prices.
Benjamin Graham
Image
Abnormally good or abnormally bad conditions do not last forever.
Benjamin Graham
Image
High valuations entail high risks.
Benjamin Graham
Image
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
Image
Price statistics show clearly that instability in raw-material prices is a prime cause of instability of other prices.
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