"There is the plain fool who does the wrong thing at all times anywhere, but there is the Wall Street fool who thinks he must trade all the time."
Jesse Livermore
"One common adage...that is completely wrongheaded is: You can't go broke taking profits. That's precisely how many traders do go broke. While amateurs go broke by taking large losses, professionals go broke by taking small profits."
William Eckhardt
"The basic concept that applies to both poker and trading is that the primary objects is not winning the most hands, but rather maximizing your gains."
Jeff Yass
"As humans we do not come equipped to deal with the variety of randomness that is around us every day. Many professions deal with making processes and things work reliably. We are taught to strive for perfection, for high scores in school and in sports. This can be a handicap to traders. There is no perfection in trading. Instead traders must put probability in their favor."
Larry Sanders
"It never was my thinking that made big money for me. It was always my sitting. Got that? My sitting tight!"
Jesse Livermore
On shorting strong stocks...
Yes, that stock looks extended; and it is about to get a lot more extended. - Greg Capra
On patience...
"I just wait until there is money lying in the corner and all I have to do is go over there and pick it up. I do nothing in the meantime. In essence, by not wanting to trade, I have inadvertently transformed myself into a master of patience.
By forcing myself to wait until there was a trade that appeared so compelling that I could not stand the thought of not taking it, I had vastly improved the odds...." - James Rodgers
On perseverance...
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
-Calvin Coolidge
On discipline...
You must be rigid in your rules and flexible in your expectations. Most traders are flexible in their rules and rigid in their expectations. -Mark Douglas, Trading in the Zone.
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