"There is always a disposition in people's minds to think that existing conditions will be permanent. When the market is down and dull, it's hard to make people believe that this is the prelude to a period of activity and advance. When prices are up and the country is prosperous, it is always said that while preceding booms have not lasted, there are circumstances connected with this one which will make it unlike its predecessors and gives assurance of permanency. The one fact pertaining to all conditions is that they will change."

-- Charles H. Dow (developer of the Dow Theory, and co-founder of the Wall Street Journal)

For better or worse, it is our lot as human beings to learn despite the consequences and experiences that we encounter. If we use those learnings to reinforce our preexisting beliefs in what we are already familiar with, we stagnate; however, if we use those same learnings to motivate & propel ourselves into new realms of opportunity, we grow. In the words of Aldous Huxley, "A child-like man is not a man whose development has been arrested -- on the contrary -- he is a man who has given himself the chance of continuing to develop long after most adults have muffled themselves in the cocoon of middle-aged habit and convention". In the realm of investments, the latter is a useful strategy for taking advantage of opportunities regarding one constant in the markets: that context (in the investment environment) which is new and unexpected is about to appear!

-- August 2003

"I also don't lose much on my trades, because I wait for the exact right moment. Most people will not wait for the environment to tip itself off. They will walk into the forest when it is still dark, while I wait until it gets light. Although the cheetah is the fastest animal in the world and can catch any animal on the plains, it will wait until it is absolutely sure it can catch its prey. It may hide in the bush for a week, waiting for just the right moment....Only then, when there is no chance it can lose its prey, does it attack. That, to me, is the epitome of professional trading."

-- Mark Weinstein, as quoted in Market Wizards by Jack D. Schwager, 1990, HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

"The essential element is that the markets are ultimately based on human psychology, and by charting the markets you're merely converting human psychology into graphic representations. I believe that the human mind is more powerful than any computer in analyzing the implications of these price graphs."

-- Al Weiss, as quoted in The New Market Wizards by Jack D. Schwager, 1992, HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.