Top 138 Quotes & Sayings by Peter Lynch

I've found that when the market's going down and you buy funds wisely, at some point in the future you will be happy. You won't get there by reading 'Now is the time to buy.'

I think you have to learn that there's a company behind every stock, and that there's only one real reason why stocks go up. Companies go from doing poorly to doing well or small companies grow to large companies.

It's human nature to keep doing something as long as it's pleasurable and you can succeed at it - which is why the world population continues to double every 40 years.

Improved turnout will give parliament and government the appearance of being more legitimate.

When stocks are attractive, you buy them. Sure, they can go lower. I've bought stocks at $12 that went to $2, but then they later went to $30. You just don't know when you can find the bottom.

The person that turns over the most rocks wins the game. And that's always been my philosophy.

I've found that when the market's going down and you buy funds wisely, at some point in the future you will be happy.

Although it's easy to forget sometimes, a share is not a lottery ticket... it's part-ownership of a business.

Everyone has the brainpower to follow the stock market. If you made it through fifth-grade math, you can do it.

But my system for over 30 years has been this: When stocks are attractive, you buy them. Sure, they can go lower. I've bought stocks at $12 that went to $2, but then they later went to $30.

You get recessions, you have stock market declines. If you don't understand that's going to happen, then you're not ready, you won't do well in the markets.

If all the economists in the world were laid end to end, it wouldn't be a bad thing.

Don't bottom fish.

So while I was in college I did a little study on the freight industry, the air freight industry. And I looked at this company called Flying Tiger. And I actually put a thousand dollars in it and I remember I thought this air cargo was going to be a thing of the future.

Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Suicide is a choice and I think if we work with that with kids, we'll get somewhere.

The real key to making money in stocks is not to get scared out of them.

Go for a business that any idiot can run - because sooner or later, any idiot probably is going to run it.

Well, I think the secret is if you have a lot of stocks, some will do mediocre, some will do okay, and if one of two of 'em go up big time, you produce a fabulous result. And I think that's the promise to some people.

I don't go near the money and the money doesn't go near me.

I've always been a great lover of baseball.

If you go to Minnesota in January, you should know that it's gonna be cold. You don't panic when the thermometer falls below zero.

In the summer of 1990, I was buying stocks and I was probably three or four months early there. But we had a great rally in 1991.

There's lots of stocks out there and all you need is a few of 'em. That's been my philosophy.

An important key to investing is to remember that stocks are not lottery tickets.

My method for picking stocks has never changed. When businesses go from crappy to semicrappy, there's money to be made.

If you can find a company that can get away with raising prices year after year without losing customers (an addictive product such as cigarettes fills the bill), you've got a terrific investment.

Owning stocks is like having children - don't get involved with more than you can handle.

The list of qualities (an investor should have) include patience, self-reliance, common sense, a tolerance for pain, open-mindedness, detachment, persistence, humility, flexibility, a willingness to do independent research, an equal willingness to admit mistakes, and the ability to ignore general panic.

When management owns stock, then rewarding the shareholders becomes a first priority, whereas when management simply collects a paycheck, then increasing salaries becomes a first priority.

Time is on your side when you own shares of superior companies.

If you can follow only one bit of data, follow the earnings - assuming the company in question has earnings. I subscribe to the crusty notion that sooner or later earnings make or break an investment in equities. What the stock price does today, tomorrow, or next week is only a distraction.

You only need a few good stocks in your lifetime. I mean how many times do you need a stock to go up ten-fold to make a lot of money? Not a lot.

Never invest in a company without understanding its finances. The biggest losses in stocks come from companies with poor balance sheets.

The best stock to buy is the one you already own.

Long shots almost always miss the mark.

Your ultimate success or failure will depend on your ability to ignore the worries of the world long enough to allow your investments to succeed.

Nobody can predict interest rates, the future direction of the economy or the stock market. Dismiss all such forecasts and concentrate on what's actually happening to the companies in which you've invested

Everyone has the brain power to make money in stocks. Not everyone has the stomach.

Stocks are a safe bet, but only if you stay invested long enough to ride out the corrections.

All the math you need in the stock market you get in the fourth grade.

Just because you buy a stock and it goes up does not mean you are right. Just because you buy a stock and it goes down does not mean you are wrong.

Investing in stocks is an art, not a science, and people who've been trained to rigidly quantify everything have a big disadvantage.

Spend at least as much time researching a stock as you would choosing a refrigerator.

I'm always fully invested. It's a great feeling to be caught with your pants up.

I deal in facts, not forecasting the future. That's crystal ball stuff. That doesn't work.

A price drop in a good stock is only a tragedy if you sell at that price and never buy more. To me, a price drop is an opportunity to load up on bargains from among your worst performers and your laggards that show promise. If you can't convince yourself "When I'm down 25 percent, I'm a buyer" and banish forever the fatal thought "When I'm down 25 percent, I'm a seller," then you'll never make a decent profit in stocks.

You have to let the big ones make up for your mistakes.

The biggest winners are surprises to me, and takeovers are even more surprising. It takes years, not months, to produce big results.

If you can't find any companies that you think are attractive, put your money in the bank until you discover some.

In the long run, it's not just how much money you make that will determine your future prosperity. It's how much of that money you put to work by saving it and investing it.

When you sell in desperation, you always sell cheap.

Often, there is no correlation between the success of a company's operations and the success of its stock over a few months or even a few years. In the long term, there is a 100 percent correlation between the success of the company and the success of its stock. This disparity is the key to making money; it pays to be patient, and to own successful companies.

The most important organ in the body as far as the stock market is concerned is the guts, not the head. Anyone can acquire the know-how for analyzing stocks.

The Rule of 72 is useful in determining how fast money will grow. Take the annual return from any investment, expressed as a percentage, and divide it into 72. The result is the number of years it will take to double your money.

In this business if you're good, you're right six times out of ten. You're never going to be right nine times out of ten.

Hold no more stocks than you can remain informed on.

The stock market really isn't a gamble, as long as you pick good companies that you think will do well, and not just because of the stock price.

Far more money has been lost by investors preparing for corrections, or trying to anticipate corrections, than has been lost in corrections themselves.

Know what you own, and know why you own it.

You should not buy a stock because it's cheap but because you know a lot about it.