Benjamin Graham Quotes

To have a true investment, there must be a true margin of safety. And a true margin of safety is one that can be demonstrated by figures, by persuasive reasoning, and by reference to a body of actual experience.

People are very focused on value and preservation of capital. They're a lot less risk-prone than they used to be.

No matter how careful you are, the one risk no investor can ever eliminate is the risk of being wrong. Only by insisting on what Graham called the "margin of safety" - never overpaying, no matter how exciting an investment seems to be - can you minimize your odds of error.

The advice "you never go broke taking a profit" is foolish.

I would rather sustain the penalties resulting from over-conservatism than face the consequences of error, perhaps with permanent capital loss, resulting from the adoption of "New Era" philosophy where trees really do grow to the sky.

In security analysis the prime stress is laid upon protection against untoward events. We obtain this protection by insisting upon margins of safety, or values well in excess of the price paid.

If you understood a business perfectly and the future of the business, you would need very little in the way of a margin of safety. So, the more vulnerable the business is, assuming you still want to invest in it, the larger margin of safety you'd need. If you're driving a truck across a bridge that says it holds 10,000 pounds and you've got a 9,800 pound vehicle, if the bridge is 6 inches above the crevice it covers, you may feel okay, but if it's over the Grand Canyon, you may feel you want a little larger margin of safety.

As a matter of fact I trade in accordance to my means and always leave myself an ample margin of safety.

There is a time to make money and a time to not lose money.

The three most important words in investing...Margin of Safety.

Should you protect profits? Yes. But run for the hills? No.

Only buy something that you'd be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years.

I have a million dollars in the stock market, because if I lose a million dollars, I don't personally care.

I invested, and I protected myself, so I enjoy that freedom.

The last thing you want to do, unless it's a very unusual situation, is to invest money.

Rule No.1: Never lose money. Rule No.2: Never forget rule No.1.

Because in the New Normal you are more worried about the return of your capital, not return on your capital.

There is always risk involved. You can't be a capitalist only when there are investment profits but then a socialist when you experience losses.

I never attempt to make money on the stock market. I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years.

Investing should be dull. It shouldn't be exciting.

Never put your savings in risky investments. Only disposable income should find its way there.

The consequences of overestimating a company and your ability to analyse it are greatly diminished when you're paying a lot less for it than your analysis shows it is worth.

I put heavy weight on certainty. It's not risky to buy securities at a fraction of what they're worth.

Investors should remember that excitement and expenses are their enemies.

The intelligent investor is likely to need considerable will power to keep from following the crowd.