Value Quotes, Sayings & Proverbs

These are 47 of my favorite value investing quotes, sayings, and money proverbs from the wisest men. Not one word is mine; every word is a famous quote, saying, or proverb composed into a unique sequence. I hope you will find these insightful, useful, fun and entertaining.

I’m posting two versions. The first version, for easy reading; and the second version with the quotes, sayings, proverbs, and author of each quote.

These quotes, sayings, and proverbs are from the wisest value investors. Together they offer a mountain of wisdom hard to duplicate in any one place.

The Wisest Words Ever Written on Value Investing

The herd instinct is the strongest emotion; especially dangerous in investing. The intelligent investor is likely to need considerable will power to keep from following the crowd. We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and greedy only when others are fearful.

Great investors are not unemotional, but are inversely emotional – they get worried when the market is up and feel good when everyone is worried. The safe time to invest is when there is blood in the streets. The only ones to get hurt on a roller coaster are the jumpers.

When making investment decisions your emotions are often a reverse indicator of what you ought to be doing. The time of maximum pessimism is the best time to buy and the time of maximum optimism is the best time to sell. When everybody likes a stock, it must go down; when nobody likes a stock, it may go up.

Successful investing is anticipating the anticipation of others. There are two times when people forget their principles: at the top of the market and at the bottom. When everyone rushes to one side of the boat, head to the other side to avoid getting soaked.

Fear is a stronger emotion than hope, which is why bear markets are always swifter than bull markets. The secret of making money in stocks is not to get scared out of them. Never bet on the end of the world, It only happens once.

Fallible, emotional people determine price; cold, hard cash determines value. Individuals who cannot master their emotions are ill-suited to profit from the investment process.

The secret to investing is to figure out the value of something – and then pay a lot less. All intelligent investing is value investing – acquiring more than you are paying for.

The stock market is filled with individuals who know the price of everything, but the value of nothing. Those who trust in themselves are fools, but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe. The fact that people will be full of greed, fear, or folly is predictable. The sequence is not predictable.

Being a value investor means you look at the downside before looking at the upside. Face up to two unpleasant facts: the future is never clear and you pay a very high price in the stock market for a cherry consensus. Uncertainty is the friend of the buyer of long-term values.

To buy when others are despondently selling and to sell when others are euphorically buying takes the greatest courage, but provides the greatest profit. If you want to have a better performance than the crowd, you must do things differently than the crowd.

Never count on making a good sale. Have the purchase price be so attractive that even a mediocre sale gives good results. The first word in analyst is anal. Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.

The four most dangerous words in investing are “This time it’s different”. The prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. There are two hedges I know of; one is cash and the other is knowledge. Superior investors make more money in good times than they give back in bad times.

The single greatest edge an investor can have is a long term orientation. Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out. Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.

When buying shares, ask yourself, would you buy the whole company? Value investing at its core is the marriage of a contrarian streak and a calculator. Confronted with a challenge to distill the secret of sound investment into three words, we venture the motto, MARGIN OF SAFETY.

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.

If you are shopping for common stocks, choose them the way you would buy groceries, not the way you would buy perfume. It’s one of the most important things at the end of the day; being able to say no to an investment.

The cost of performing well in bad times can be relative underperformance in good times. A portfolio that goes down 50 percent and comes back 50 percent is still down 25 percent.

It’s time, not timing, that makes money in the market. We don’t have to be smarter than the rest. We have to be more disciplined than the rest. Rule # 1: Never Lose Money; Rule # 2 Never forget Rule #1.

Value Investing Quotes, Sayings, & Proverbs (with Authors):

The herd instinct is the strongest emotion; especially dangerous in investing. Unknown

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

We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and greedy only when others are fearful. Warren Buffett

Great investors are not unemotional, but are inversely emotional – they get worried when the market is up and feel good when everyone is worried. Bill Miller

The safe time to invest is when there is blood in the streets. Mark Mobius

The only ones to get hurt on a roller coaster are the jumpers. Paul Harvey

When making investment decisions your emotions are often a reverse indicator of what you ought to be doing.

Unknown

The time of maximum pessimism is the best time to buy and the time of maximum optimism is the best time to sell. John Templeton

When everybody likes a stock, it must go down; when nobody likes a stock, it may go up. Unknown

Successful investing is anticipating the anticipation of others. John Maynard Keynes

There are two times when people forget their principles: at the top of the market and at the bottom. Phillip A. Lowe

When everyone rushes to one side of the boat, head to the other side to avoid getting soaked. Unknown

Fear is a stronger emotion that hope, which is why bear markets are always swifter than bull markets. Elliott Wave International

The secret of making money in stocks is not to get scared out of them. Peter Lynch

Never bet on the end of the world, It only happens once. Art Cashin

Fallible, emotional people determine price; cold, hard cash determines value. Christopher C. Davis

Individuals who cannot master their emotions are ill-suited to profit from the investment process. Benjamin Graham

The secret to investing is to figure out the value of something – and then pay a lot less. Joel Greenblatt

All intelligent investing is value investing – acquiring more than you are paying for. Charlie Munger

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

Those who trust in themselves are fools, but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe. Proverbs 28:26

The fact that people will be full of greed, fear, or folly is predictable. The sequence is not predictable. Warren Buffett

Being a value investor means you look at the downside before looking at the upside. Li Lu

Face up to two unpleasant facts: the future is never clear and you pay a very high price in the stock market for a cherry consensus. Uncertainty is the friend of the buyer of long-term values. Warren Buffett

To buy when others are despondently selling and to sell when others are euphorically buying takes the greatest courage, but provides the greatest profit. John Templeton

If you want to have a better performance than the crowd, you must do things differently than the crowd. John Templeton

Never count on making a good sale. Have the purchase price be so attractive that even a mediocre sale gives good results. Warren Buffett

The first word in analyst is anal. Unknown

Price is what you pay. Value is what you get. Warren Buffett

The four most dangerous words in investing are “This time it’s different”. John Templeton

The prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. Proverbs 22:3

There are two hedges I know of; one is cash and the other is knowledge. Bruce Berkowitz

Superior investors make more money in good times than they give back in bad times. Howard Marks

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

Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out. James Bryant Conant

Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago. Warren Buffett

When buying shares, ask yourself, would you buy the whole company? Rene Rivken

Value investing at its core is the marriage of a contrarian streak and a calculator. Seth Klarman

Confronted with a challenge to distill the secret of sound investment into three words, we venture the motto, MARGIN OF SAFETY. Benjamin Graham

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. Benjamin Graham

If you are shopping for common stocks, choose them the way you would buy groceries, not the way you would buy perfume. Benjamin Graham

It’s one of the most important things at the end of the day; being able to say no to an investment. Henry Kravis

The cost of performing well in bad times can be relative underperformance in good times. Seth Klarman

A portfolio that goes down 50 percent and comes back 50 percent is still down 25 percent. Unknown

It’s time, not timing, that makes money in the market. Unknown

We don’t have to be smarter than the rest. We have to be more disciplined that the rest. Warren Buffett

Rule # 1: Never Lose Money; Rule # 2 Never forget Rule #1. Warren Buffett

Related Reading: 74 Quotes From The Intelligent Investor, Revised Edition