The market does not beat them. They beat themselves, because though they have brains they cannot sit tight.
Interpretation
Successful investors can face defeat because of their lack of discipline and patience.
This quote by Jesse Lauriston Livermore emphasizes the importance of self-discipline and emotional control in achieving success in the financial market. Despite having intelligence or analytical skills, many investors fail to succeed because they allow their emotions and impulsiveness to dictate their decisions, leading to poor outcomes.
In practice
In a finance seminar discussing the psychological aspects of trading.
The average man doesn't wish to be told that it is a bull or a bear market. What he desires is to be told specifically which particular stock to buy or sell. He wants to get something for nothing. He does not wish to work. He doesn't even wish to have to think.
After spending many years in Wall Street and after making and losing millions of dollars I want to tell you this: It never was my thinking that made the big money for me. It always was my sitting. Got that? My sitting tight!
Don't take action with a trade until the market, itself, confirms your opinion. Being a little late in a trade is insurance that your opinion is correct. In other words, don't be an impatient trader.
At long as a stock is acting right, and the market is right, do not be in a hurry to take profits. One should never permit speculative ventures to run into investments.
He really meant to tell them that the big money was not in the individual fluctuations but in the main movements that is, not in reading the tape but in sizing up the entire market and its trend.
Men who can both be right and sit tight are uncommon. I found it one of the hardest things to learn. But it is only after a stock operator has firmly grasped this that he can make big money.
I'm shocked every time that I've reached so many finals or won against so many players or whatever record it is. It strikes me and makes me obviously very happy and very proud that I've been able to do it for so many years at the highest of levels.
A lot of players know how to play the game, but they really don't know how to play the game, if you know what I mean. They can put the ball in the hoop, but I see things before they even happen. You know how a guy can make his team so much better? That's one thing I learned from watching Jordan.
The film industry is about saying 'no' to people, and inherently you cannot take 'no' for an answer.
Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure.
If you're trying to create a company, it's like baking a cake. You have to have all the ingredients in the right proportion.
The key to success is letting the relationships in your life grow to the highest levels they possibly can . . . not putting yourself first in life and remembering that the more you give away, the more you have.
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