Innerworth
And right here let me say one thing: 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! It is no trick at all to be right on the market. You
always find lots of early bulls in bull markets and early bears in bear markets. I've known many men who
were right at exactly the right time, and began buying or selling stocks when prices were at the very level
which should show the greatest profit. And their experience invariably matched mine—that is, they made
no real money out of it. 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. It is literally true that millions come easier to a trader after he knows how to trade than hundreds
did in the days of his ignorance.
The reason is that a man may see straight and clearly and yet become impatient or doubtful when the
market takes its time about doing as he figured it must do. That is why so many men in Wall Street, who
are not at all in the sucker class, not even in the third grade, nevertheless lose money. The market does
not beat them. They beat themselves, because though they have brains they cannot sit tight. Old Turkey
was dead right in doing and saying what he did. He had not only the courage of his convictions but the
intelligent patience to sit tight.
From : Reminiscences of a stock operator
And right here let me say one thing: 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! It is no trick at all to be right on the market. You
always find lots of early bulls in bull markets and early bears in bear markets. I've known many men who
were right at exactly the right time, and began buying or selling stocks when prices were at the very level
which should show the greatest profit. And their experience invariably matched mine—that is, they made
no real money out of it. 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. It is literally true that millions come easier to a trader after he knows how to trade than hundreds
did in the days of his ignorance.
The reason is that a man may see straight and clearly and yet become impatient or doubtful when the
market takes its time about doing as he figured it must do. That is why so many men in Wall Street, who
are not at all in the sucker class, not even in the third grade, nevertheless lose money. The market does
not beat them. They beat themselves, because though they have brains they cannot sit tight. Old Turkey
was dead right in doing and saying what he did. He had not only the courage of his convictions but the
intelligent patience to sit tight.
From : Reminiscences of a stock operator
