Peter Lynch Quotes

This is investing, where the smart money isn’t so smart, and the dumb money isn’t really as dumb as it thinks. Dumb money is only dumb when it listens to the smart money.

Know what you own, and know why you own it

In dieting and in stocks, it is the gut and not the head that determines the results.

Most individual investors would be better off in an index mutual fund.

A person who owns property and has a stake in the enterprise is likely to work harder and feel happier and do a better job than a person who doesn't.

There's no point paying Yo-Yo Ma to play a radio.

There are five basic ways a company can increase earnings*: reduce costs; raise prices; expand into new markets; sell more of its product in the old markets; or revitalize, close, or otherwise dispose of a losing operation.

You can play the alphabet game, A to Z, naming a public company for each letter.

By the way, the odds against making a living in the day-trading business are about the same as the odds against making a living at racetracks, blackjack tables, or video poker.

Since the early 1980s, the Berkshire annual reports have informed shareholders of the performance of the holdings of the company and new investments, updated the status of the insurance and the reinsurance industry, and (since 1982) have listed acquisition criteria about business Berkshire would like to purchase. The report is generously laced with examples, analogies, stories, and metaphors containing the do's and dont's of proper investing in stocks.

"The old Wall Street adage "never invest in anything that eats or needs repairs" may apply to racehorses, but it's malarkey when it comes to houses."

Stocks you trade, it's wives you're stuck with.

It’s when you’ve decided to invest on your own that you ought to try going it alone. That means ignoring the hot tips, the recommendations from brokerage houses, and the latest “can’t miss” suggestion from your favorite newsletter — in favor of your own research. It means ignoring the stocks that you hear Peter Lynch, or some similar authority, is buying.

In general, if you polled all the doctors, I’d bet only a small percentage would turn out to be invested in medical stocks, and more would be invested in oil; and if you polled the shoe-store owners, more would be invested in aerospace than in shoes, while the aerospace engineers are more likely to dabble in shoe stocks. Why it is that stock certificates, like grasses, are always greener in somebody else’s pasture I’m not sure.

You have to keep your priorities straight, if you plan to do well in stocks.