20 Timeless Investing Quotes from Legendary Investors

The individual investor should act consistently as an investor and not as a speculator.

The miracle of compounding returns is overwhelmed by the tyranny of compounding costs.

The big money is not in the buying and selling, but in the waiting.

It’s not whether you’re right or wrong that’s important, but how much money you make when you’re right and how much you lose when you’re wrong.

Investing should be more like watching paint dry or watching grass grow. If you want excitement, take $800 and go to Las Vegas.

The stock market is filled with individuals who know the price of everything, but the value of nothing.

The four most dangerous words in investing are: This time it’s different.

The single greatest edge an investor can have is a long-term orientation.

You can’t predict. You can prepare.

He who lives by the crystal ball will eat shattered glass.

The game of speculation is the most uniformly fascinating game in the world. But it is not a game for the stupid, the mentally lazy, the person of inferior emotional balance, or the get-rich-quick adventurer. They will die poor.

History constantly reminds us that in an uncertain world there is no visibility to the future, and we must depend on a number of simple principles and probabilities to guide us.

A blindfolded monkey throwing darts at a newspaper’s financial pages could select a portfolio that would do just as well as one carefully selected by experts.

What seems too high and risky to the majority generally goes higher, and what seems low and cheap generally goes lower.

The most important rule of investing is to play defense first.

The hardest thing in investing is finding that balance between conviction and flexibility.

I’ve learned many things from George Soros, but perhaps the most significant is that it’s not whether you’re right or wrong that’s important, but how much money you make when you’re right and how much you lose when you’re wrong.

The most contrarian thing of all is not to oppose the crowd but to think for yourself.