I have finished the book “Reminiscences of a Stock Operator”. And here are my favorite quotes from this book,
It takes a man a long time to learn all the lessons of all his mistakes. They say there are two sides to everything. But there is only one side to the stock market; and it is not the bull side or bear side, but the right side. – pg. 26
There is nothing like losing all you have in the world for teaching you what not to do. And when you know not to do in order not to lose money, you begin to learn what to do in order to win. Did you get that? You begin to learn! – pg.46
It never was my thinking that made the big money. It always was my sitting. Got that? My sitting tight!
Disregarding the big swing and trying to jump in and out was fatal to me. Nobody can catch all the fluctuations. In a bull market your game is to buy and hold until you believe that the bull market is near its end. To do this you must study general conditions and not tips or special factors affecting individual stocks. – pg.55
I began to realize that the big money must necessarily be in the big swing. Whatever might seem to give a big swing its initial impulse, the fact is that its continuance is not the result of manipulation by pools or artifice by financiers, but depends upon basic (economic) conditions. – pg. 73
If a man didn’t make mistakes he’d own the world in a month. But if he didn’t profit by his mistakes he wouldn’t own a blessed thing. – pg. 78
A professional gambler is not looking for long shots, but for sure money. – pg. 106
He did not stick to his own proved system. That’s the trouble with most of them. – pg. 107
The belief in miracles that all men cherish is born of immoderate indulgence in hope. There are people who go on hope sprees periodically and we all know that chronic hope drunkard that is held up before us as an exemplary optimist. Tip-takers are all they really are. – pg.172
He was a great investigator, an indefatigable Missourian. He believed in asking his own questions and in doing his seeing with his own eyes. He had no use for another man’s spectacles. – pg.177
I deem myself a value investor, not a trader. However, the trading strategies are extremely important to me because even though I have the great idea, if I go in and out in the wrong time or sequence, I still will lose money.
