Peter Lynch

You shouldn't just pick a stock - you should do your homework.

Never invest in any idea you can't illustrate with a crayon

The basic story remains simple and never-ending. Stocks aren't lottery tickets. There's a company attached to every share.

The junior high schools and high schools of America have forgotten to teach one of the most important courses of all. Investing.

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

You can find good reasons to scuttle your equities in every morning paper and on every broadcast of the nightly news.

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.

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.

There is always something to worry about. Avoid weekend thinking and ignoring the latest dire predictions of the newscasters. Sell a stock because the company's fundamentals deteriorate, not because the sky is falling.

When you start to confuse Freddie Mac, Sallie Mae and Fannie Mae with members of your family, and you remember 2,000 stock symbols but forget the children's birthdays, there's a good chance you've become too wrapped up in your work.

If you hope to have more money tomorrow than you have today, you've got to put a chunk of your assets into stocks. Sooner or later, a portfolio of stocks or stock mutual funds will turn out to be a lot more valuable than a portfolio of bonds or CDs or money-market funds.

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

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

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

There's no use diversifying into unknown companies just for the sake of diversity. A foolish diversity is the hobgoblin of small investors. That said, it isn't safe to own just one stock, because in spite of your best efforts, the one you choose might be the victim of unforeseen circumstances. In small portfolios, I'd be comfortable owning between three and ten stocks.

The worst thing you can do is invest in companies you know nothing about. Unfortunately, buying stocks on ignorance is still a popular American pastime.

Long-term investing has gotten so popular, it's easier to admit you're a crack addict than to admit you're a short-term investor.

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

People who want to know how stocks fared on any given day ask, "Where did the Dow close?" I'm more interested in how many stocks went up versus how many went down. These so-called advance/decline numbers paint a more realistic picture.

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.

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.