A successful stockpicker has the same relationship with a drop in the market as a Minnesotan has with freezing weather. You know it’s coming, and you… - Peter Lynch

This taught me not only that it’s difficult to predict markets, but also that small investors tend to be pessimistic and optimistic at precisely the wrong times, so it’s self-defeating to try to invest in good markets and get out of bad ones.

Corporate profits are up fifty-five-fold since World War II, and the stock market is up sixtyfold. Four wars, nine recessions, eight presidents, and one impeachment didn’t change that.

As far back as 1602, Dutch people were buying shares in the United Dutch East India Company. This was the world’s first popular stock, sold on the world’s first popular stock exchange, which operated from a bridge over the Amstel River in Amsterdam. Crowds of eager investors gathered there, trying to get the attention of a stockbroker, and when their pushing and shoving got out of hand, police were called in to restore the peace.