WHITNEY TILSON

The deal machinations many companies put themselves through, while certainly a bonanza for investment bankers, can confound the typical investor.

One of the best places to look for value is what I call 'babies thrown out with the bathwater' - in other words, scour the most out-of-favour sectors for good companies whose stocks have been crushed due to overblown concerns about the industry that do not, in fact, have an impact on the company.

To a large extent, equity investors put their hard-earned capital into the hands of management and count on it being employed skilfully and honestly. When that doesn't happen, losses typically follow.

Dealing with uncertainty is always a key challenge for investors. But dealing with uncertainty doesn't mean avoiding it - on the contrary, it is often fuzziness about a company's future that creates the type of opportunity bargain-hunting investors cherish.

I think most people agree with the idea of shared sacrifice, but for many, when push comes to shove, that principle goes out the window.

My experience is that very few people have what it takes to be a successful investor, as I discussed in The Arrogance of Stock Picking.

In life, an abundance of confidence gives us higher motivation, persistence, and optimism and can allow us to accomplish things we otherwise might not have undertaken.

I love and celebrate good teachers, and it's critical that we do more to identify them and keep them happy and motivated.

I believe our schools will actually get better if layoffs are done carefully, such that only the very worst teachers are let go.

When it comes to owning stocks of the best-known businesses in the world, value investors usually feel like children looking through the window of the candy store, unable to afford the treats inside because they refuse to pay the prices such high-quality franchises typically bear.

There's a real company in Facebook and then a lot of pretenders riding their coat tails.

Netflix is a better company with more upside than we had given it credit for than when we shorted it.

I'd say the general outline of a sound investment approach is, first of all, you have to decide are you going to try to be an investor yourself? The answer for most people is probably they shouldn't try. You should put your money in index funds and not try to be a stock picker.

There are far too many ineffective teachers and, in particular, far too many truly terrible teachers who are harming children and poisoning the system.

I have never believed that large-cap stocks are too well followed to be anything but efficiently priced.

When reviewing one's portfolio, it is important to be aware of common mental mistakes that may lead to bad decisions. The most powerful is commitment bias, which, as manifested in investing, is the tendency to fall in love with one's stocks.

While everyone would love to have that perfect portfolio of stocks that can be bought and held forever, it usually does not work out that way. Markets, technology, and businesses change too quickly to put portfolios on autopilot.

Because I'm a very public figure, everybody knows what my returns are.

Mueller is the leading North American provider of water infrastructure and flow control products - things such as fire hydrants, valves, pipes, fittings, and couplings. While this is no doubt a mundane business, it is also an excellent one.

One can't be a successful investor without a healthy dose of confidence. To commit your own and others' hard-earned capital requires conviction, and conviction requires confidence. But as with fine brandy or coffee ice cream, too much of a good thing can be problematic.

Pence is far too conservative for me, but by all accounts, he's an intelligent, experienced, decent man with no skeletons in his closet.

Well-managed companies with independent boards have nothing to fear from activist shareholders.

If I bring to light a company that's poisoning customers, defrauding investors, or something like that... there just aren't enough regulators in the world to keep up with all of the fraud and malfeasance that goes on out there, particularly in the little nooks and crannies of the market.

The relative illiquidity of small-company shares - which often contributes to their being undervalued - also increases their volatility.

We like to say we pray in the church of Graham, Dodd, Buffett, and Munger.