You shouldn't just pick a stock - you should do your homework.
Peter LynchRead
Never invest in any idea you can't illustrate with a crayon
Interpretation
Simplicity in complex ideas is key to understanding and investment.
This quote by Peter Lynch emphasizes the importance of clarity and simplicity in understanding investment opportunities. If an idea is so complex that it cannot be easily illustrated, it may be wise to avoid investing in it, as clarity often correlates with potential success and comprehension.
In practice
In a financial seminar, I might say, 'Remember, never invest in any idea you can't illustrate with a crayon by Peter Lynch.'
You shouldn't just pick a stock - you should do your homework.
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.
Let a man be endowed with ten virtues and have but one fault and the one fault will eclipse and darken all the virtues.
Virtue is an angel, but she is a blind one, and must ask Knowledge to show her the pathway that leads to her goal.
You may control a mad elephant; You may shut the mouth of the bear and the tiger; Ride the lion and play with the cobra; By alchemy you may learn your livelihood; You may wander through the universe incognito; Make vassals of the gods; be ever youthful; You may walk in water and live in fire; But control of the mind is better and more difficult.
Avoid the tyranny of the reasonable voice...it will guarantee a complacency of never trying anything adventurous.
Tragedy, loss, and hurt often arrive unanticipated. How we react when we are surprised will tell our families whether what we have taught and testified lies deep in our hearts.
We all make mistakes, we all have fears, and we all have weaknesses. Behind all that is our essential self. When our essential self has made contact with another, the light is dazzling and would fill the universe. The challenge of enchantment is to remain faithful to that light, to believe in it when it is not so apparent. Then that light becomes an incandescent glow and it wraps itself around everything.
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