This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
John Templeton, fully Sir John Marks Templeton
22 Investment Maxims [paraphrased] - 1. For all long-term investors, theres is only one objective— “maximum total return after taxes.” 2. Achieving a good record takes much study and work, and is a lot harder than most people think. Many people doubt that this is even possible on a consistent basis. I’m on the fence on this one. I see proof that it can be done but realize that most people won’t be able to do it. 3. It is impossible to produce a superior performance unless you do something different from the majority. 4. The time of maximum pessimism is th ebest time to buy, and the time of maximum optimism is the best time to sell. Sounds like something Warren Buffett would say. 5. To put “Maxim 4″ in somewhat different terms, in the stock market the only way to get a bargain is to buy what most investors are selling. 6. To buy when others are despondently selling and to sell wehn others are greedily buying requires the greatest fortitude, even while offering the greatest reward. This is so true. 7. Bear markets have always been temporary. Share prices turn upward from one to twelve months before the bottom of the business cycle. Bull markets are temporary too. 8. If a particular industry or type of security becomes popular with investors, that popularity will always prove temporary and, when lost, won’t return for many years. Interesting. The NASDAQ Composite Index comes to mind. 9. In the long run, the stock market indexes fluctuate around the long-term upward trend of earnings per share. 10. In free-enterprise nations, the earnings on stock market indexes fluctuate around the replacement book value of the share of the index. 11. If you buy the same securities as other people, you will have the same results as other people. 12. The time to buy a stock is when the short-term owners have finished their selling, and the time to sell a stock is often when short-term owners have finished their buying. Not quite sure how you’re supposed to know when this is. 13. Share prices fluctuate much more widely than values. Therefore, index funds will never produce the best total return performance. I always thought that this was true because the goal of the index is to capture the market’s return, minus fees. 14. Too many investors focus on “outlook” and “trends.” Therefore, more profit is made by focusing on value. 15. If you search worldwide, you will find more bargains and better bargains than by studying only one nation. Also, you gain the safety of diversification. Unless of course the nation you are studying is heavily dependent on exports to another country that is in trouble. 16. The fluctuation of share prices is roughly proportional to the square-root of the price. 17. The time to sell an asset is when you have found a much better bargain to replace it. 18. When any method for selecting stocks becomes popular, then switch to unpopular methods. As has been suggested in “Maxim 3,” too many investors can spoil any share-selection method or any market-timing formula. 19. Never adopt permanently any type of asset or any selection method. Try to stay flexible, open-minded and sekptical. Long-term top results are achieved only by changing from popular to unpopular the types of securities you favor and your methods of selection. 20. The skill factor in slection is largest for the common-stock part of your investments. 21. The best performance is produced by a person, not a committee. Interesting that he would say this. 22. If you begin with prayer, you can think more clearly and make fewer stupid mistakes.
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When we’re dancing, the struggle is gone.
Ronald Reagan, fully Ronald Wilson Reagan
Millions of individuals making their own decisions in the marketplace will always allocate resources better than any centralized government planning process.
Ronald Reagan, fully Ronald Wilson Reagan
During my first press conference as president, in answer to a direct question, I pointed out that, as good Marxist-Leninists, the Soviet leaders have openly and publicly declared that the only morality they recognize is that which will further their cause, which is world revolution.
Ronald Reagan, fully Ronald Wilson Reagan
It's difficult to believe that people are still starving in this country because food isn't available
Influence | Nations | Leadership |
Rosa Luxemburg, aka Rosalia Luxemburg, "Bloody Rosa"
What is our task in the question of peace? It does not consist merely in vigorously demonstrating at all times the love of peace of the Social Democrats; but first and foremost our task is to make clear to the masses of people the nature of militarism and sharply and clearly to bring out the differences in principle between the standpoint of the Social Democrats and that of the bourgeois peace enthusiasts.
I will remember what I was, I am sick of rope and chains - I will remember my old strength and all my forest affairs. I will not sell my back to man for a bundle of sugar cane; I will go out to my own kind, and the wood-folk in their lairs. I will go out until the day, until the morning break - Out to the wind's untainted kiss, the water's clean caress; I will forget my ankle-ring and snap my picket stake. I will revisit my lost love and playmates masterless!
His pupils were dilated, his words tumbled over each other, and he wrapped himself in quotations as a beggar would enfold himself in the purple of emperors.
Rumi, fully Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rumi NULL
I see my beauty in you.
Experience | God | Heart | Philosophy | Purpose | Purpose | Search | God | Old |
Rumi, fully Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rumi NULL
There is a loneliness more precious than life. There is a freedom more precious than the world. Infinitely more precious than life and the world is that moment when one is alone with God.
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Rupert Sheldrake, fully Alfred Rupert Sheldrake
The assumption that the laws of nature are eternal is a vestige of the Christian belief system that informed the early postulates of modern science in the seventeenth century. Perhaps the laws of nature have actually evolved along with nature itself, and perhaps they are still evolving. Or perhaps they are not laws at all, but more like habits.
Opinion |
None of what Barack Obama is doing or wants to do to this country is anything the rest of the world hasn't seen before and already failed at.
Disagreement | Doctrine | Fairness | Neutrality | Search | Think |
One is received according to one's coat; one is dismissed according to one's brain.
Eleven Dos and Don’ts of Proven Entrepreneurial Success - 1. Don’t be burdened with personal debt. a. Car payment b. House payment c. Establish a nest egg d. Live simple 2. Start early as a teenager. Concentrate on what brings you happiness in your career. Have a tremendous want to – determination. 3. Sacrifice material things. Reward yourself later. 4. Shortcut to success: Observe what is working in the lives of others. Teenagers, observe mature individuals. 5. Don’t try to please all people. 6. Set priorities in the proper order. 7. Expand cautiously. Grow your business cautiously. 8. Franchising may or may not be good for your particular business. Use it cautiously. 9. Be prepared for disappointments. Many successful individuals experience failure. 10. Be kind to people. Courtesy is very cheap but brings great dividends. 11. Invite God to be involved in every decision. God gives us a brain to use – common sense. You can do it if you want to. God has given each of us a talent. Maybe yours is yet to be discovered. We honor God with our success. He designed us to be winners.
Experience | Search | Time | Will |