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Benjamin Graham

Benjamin Graham Quotes

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Famous Benjamin Graham Quotes

“All the real money in investment will have to be made as most of it has been in the past not out of buying and selling but out of owning and holding securities, receiving interests and dividends therein, and benefiting from their long-term increases in value. Hence stockholder's major energies and wisdom as investors should be directed toward assuring themselves of the best operating results from their corporations. This in turn means assuring themselves of fully honest and competent managements.”

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Author:Benjamin Graham
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“Individual security bargains may be located by the process of security analysis practically at any time. They can be bought with good overall results at all periods except when the general market itself is clearly in a selling range for investors. They show up to best advantage during the years in which the market remains in a relatively narrow and neutral area.”

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Book:The Intelligent Investor: A Book of Practical Counsel
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“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.”

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Book:The Intelligent Investor: A Book of Practical Counsel
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“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.”

YearsHumansMayImportantDifficultSoundAttitudeConditionsSecurityHuman NatureInstitutionsRemainsInvestmentFinancialPassingPassingsCorporationsAffectedInvestorsRegulationTemperamentHingesFinancial Institutions
Book:The Intelligent Investor: A Book of Practical Counsel
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“The investor has the benefit of the stock market's daily and changing appraisal of his holdings, 'for whatever that appraisal may be worth', and, second, that the investor is able to increase or decrease his investment at the market's daily figure - 'if he chooses'. Thus the existence of a quoted market gives the investor certain options which he does not have if his security is unquoted. But it does not impose the current quotation on an investor who prefers to take his idea of value from some other source.”

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Author:Benjamin Graham
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“We have been trying to point out that this concept of an indefinitely favorable future is dangerous, even if it is true; because even if it is true you can easily overvalue the security, since you make it worth anything you want it to be worth. Beyond this, it is particularly dangerous too, because sometimes your ideas of the future turn out to be wrong. Then you have paid an awful lot for a future that isn't there. Your position then is pretty bad.”

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Book:Current problems in security analysis
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“The most realistic distinction between the investor and the speculator is found in their attitude toward stock-market movements. The speculator's primary interest lies in anticipating and profiting from market fluctuations. The investor's primary interest lies in acquiring and holding suitable securities at suitable prices. Market movements are important to him in a practical sense, because they alternately create low price levels at which he would be wise to buy and high price levels at which he certainly should refrain from buying and probably would be wise to sell.”

ShouldImportantWould BeLyingFoundInterestLevelsAttitudeWiseSecurityMovementLowsSellsPracticalsPrimariesBuyingDistinctionRealisticInvestorsBeing WiseSuitableRefrainFluctuationHigh PricesSpeculators
Author:Benjamin Graham
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“It is our argument that a sufficiently low price can turn a security of mediocre quality into a sound investment opportunity - provided that the buyer is informed and experienced and he practices adequate diversification. For, if the price is low enough to create a substantial margin of safety, the security thereby meets our criterion of investment.”

IfsEnoughTurnsOpportunitySoundQualityPracticeSecurityLowsArgumentSafetyInvestmentInvestingMediocreAdequateCriteriaMarginsBuyersDiversification
Author:Benjamin Graham
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“Even with a margin of safety in the investor's favor, an individual security may work out badly. For the margin guarantees only that he has a better chance for profit than for loss - not that loss is impossible. But as the number of such commitments is increased the more certain does it become that the aggregate of the profits will exceed the aggregate of the losses.”

MayDoeCertainIndividualChanceLossNumbersImpossibleSecurityCommitmentSafetyInvestingProfitWork OutFavorsGuaranteesInvestorsExceedMargins
Author:Benjamin Graham
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“We are convinced that the intelligent investor can derive satisfactory results from pricing of either type (market timing or fundamental analysis via price). We are equally sure that if he places his emphasis on timing, in the sense of forecasting, he will end up as a speculator and with a speculator's financial results." And "The speculator's primary interest lies in anticipating and profiting from market fluctuations. The investor's primary interest lies in acquiring and holding suitable securities at suitable prices.”

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Author:Benjamin Graham
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“Since we have emphasized that analysis will lead to a positive conclusion only in the exceptional case, it follows that many securities must be examined before one is found that has real possibilities for the analyst. By what practical means does he proceed to make his discoveries? Mainly by hard and systematic work.”

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Book:Security Analysis: Principles and Techniques
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“The correct attitude of the security analyst toward the stock market might well be that of a man toward his wife. He shouldn't pay too much attention to what the lady says, but he can't afford to ignore it entirely. That is pretty much the position that most of us find ourselves vis-à-vis the stock market.”

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Book:Current problems in security analysis
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“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.”

YearsLossViewsQualityConditionsSecurityTaughtLowsSafetyAssumingCurrentsProsperityObservationChiefsInvestorsEarningTaught UsGood BusinessPurchasers
Author:Benjamin Graham
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