Quote

The market is always making mountains out of molehills and exaggerating ordinary vicissitudes into major setbacks.

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
Mountains
Majors
Major
Market
Molehills
Mountain
Exaggerating
Ordinary
Vicissitudes
Making
Setbacks
Always
Setback

More quotes by Benjamin Graham

Image
Avoid second-quality issues in making up a portfolio unless they are demonstrable bargains.
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
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
The stock market resembles a huge laundry in which institutions take in large blocks of each others washing ... without rhyme or reason.
Benjamin Graham
Image
Observation over many years has taught us that the chief losses to investors come from the purchase of low-quality securities at times of good business conditions. The purchasers view the good current earnings as equivalent to 'earning power' and assume that prosperity is equivalent to safety.
Benjamin Graham
Image
There is a close logical connection between the concept of a safety margin and the principle of diversification.
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
It is absurd to think that the general public can ever make money out of market forecasts.
Benjamin Graham
Image
Never buy a stock immediately after a substantial rise or sell one immediately after a substantial drop.
Benjamin Graham
Image
The investor with a portfolio of sound stocks should expect their prices to fluctuate and should neither be concerned by sizable declines nor become excited by sizable advances. He should always remember that market quotations are there for his convenience, either to be taken advantage of or to be ignored.
Benjamin Graham
Image
The essence of investment management is the management of risks, not the management of returns.
Benjamin Graham
Image
Successful investing is about managing risk, not avoiding it.
Benjamin Graham
Image
Stocks can be dynamite.
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 the world of securities, courage becomes the supreme virtue after adequate knowledge and a tested judgment are at hand.
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
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
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
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
The purchase of a bargain issue presupposes that the market's current appraisal is wrong, or at least that the buyer's idea of value is more likely to be right than the market's. In this process the investor sets his judgement against that of the market. To some this may seem arrogant or foolhardy.
Benjamin Graham