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Trading quotes

 

And the great sea with its friends and its enemies. And bed, he thought. Bed is my friend. Just bed, he thought. Bed will be a great thing. It is easy when you are beaten, he thought. I never knew how easy it was. And what beat you, he thought. ‘Nothing’, he said aloud. ‘I went out too far.’

– Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

‘At that point I ought to have gone away, but a strange sensation rose up in me, a sort of defiance of fate, a desire to challenge it, to put out my tongue at it. I laid down the largest stake allowed – four thousand gulden – and lost it. Then, getting hot, I pulled out all I had left, staked it on the same number, and lost again, after which I walked away from the table as though I were stunned. I could not even grasp what had happened to me.’

– The Gambler, by Fyodor Dostoevsky

If you must play, decide upon three things at the start: the rules of the game, the stakes, and the quitting time.

– Chinese Proverb

Luck never gives; it only lends.

– Swedish Proverb

Depend on the rabbit’s foot if you will, but remember it didn’t work for the rabbit.

– R.E. Shay

Words of Wisdom for Traders

Wall Street never changes, the pockets change, the suckers change, the stocks change, but Wall Street never changes, because human nature never changes.” ~ Jesse Livermore

“Wealth and rank are what people desire, but unless they are obtained in the right way they may not be possessed.” ~ Confucius

“Man has the power to act as his own destroyer—and that is the way he has acted through most of his history.” ~ Ayn Rand

“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

“Men in the game are blind to what men looking on see clearly.” ~ Chinese Proverb

“The most exquisite paradox… as soon as you give it all up, you can have it all. As long as you want power, you can’t have it. The minute you don’t want power, you’ll have more than you ever dreamed possible.” ~ Ram Dass

“If thou wilt make a man happy, add not unto his riches but take away from his desires.” ~ Epicurus

“Most of the time common stocks are subject to irrational and excessive price fluctuations in both directions as the consequence of the ingrained tendency of most people to speculate or gamble… to give way to hope, fear and greed.” ~ Benjamin Graham

“The investor’s chief problem – and even his worst enemy – is likely to be himself.” ~ Benjamin Graham

“The ignorant mind, with its infinite afflictions, passions, and evils, is rooted in the three poisons. Greed, anger, and delusion.” Bodhidharma

“Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Money often costs too much.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Personally, I believe it to be futile to fight greed — something that is ingrained in human nature.  We can only acknowledge greed’s existence, choose our own behaviors as individuals, and react to its occurrence — it can not be prevented.  Greed will simply manifest into a different form.