John Maynard
John Maynard
John Maynard quotes about
information generations genetics
Genetics is about how information is stored and transmitted between generations.
language humans human-society
You couldn't have human society without language.
information criteria certain
Information imposes certain criteria on how it can be stored.
progress foolish possibility
It would not be foolish to contemplate the possibility of a far greater progress still.
mistake thinking risk
It is a mistake to think that one limits one’s risk by spreading too much between enterprises about which one knows little and has no reason for special confidence.
optimistic acting pessimistic
If we consistently act on the optimistic hypothesis, this hypothesis will tend to be realised; whilst by acting on the pessimistic hypothesis we can keep ourselves for ever in the pit of want.
mistake believe thinking
As time goes on, I get more and more convinced that the right method in investment is to put fairly large sums into enterprises which one thinks one knows something about and in the management of which one thoroughly believes. It is a mistake to think that one limits one's risk by spreading too much between enterprises about which one knows little and has no reason for special confidence. . . . One's knowledge and experience are definitely limited and there are seldom more than two or three enterprises at any given time in which I personally feel myself entitled to put full confidence.
suffering forget share
I was suffering from my chronic delusion that one good share is safer than ten bad ones, and I am always forgetting that hardly anyone else shares this particular delusion.
safety needs resources
An investor who proposes to ignore near-term market fluctuations needs greater resources for safety and must not operate on so large a scale, if at all, with borrowed money.
numbers safety different
To suppose that safety-first consists in having a small gamble in a large number of different companies where I have no information to reach a good judgment, as compared with a substantial stake in a company where one's information is adequate, strikes me as a travesty of investment policy.
humble heaven vastness
I don't feel the least humble before the vastness of the heavens.
two three investing
One's knowledge and experience are definitely limited and there are seldom more than two or three enterprises at any given time in which I personally feel myself entitled to put full confidence.
mets train
God has arrived. I met him on the 5:15 train.
ought wild words
Words ought to be a little wild for they are the assaults of thought on the unthinking.