“The term ‘Earning Power’ should be used to mean the earnings that may reasonably be expected over a period of time in the future. Since the future is largely unpredictable, we are usually compelled to take either the current and past earnings as a guide, and to use these figures as a base in making a reasonable estimate of future earnings.” – Ben Graham, The Interpretation of Financial Statements, 1937
“No employer today is independent of those about him. He cannot succeed alone, no matter how great his ability or capital. Business today is more than ever a question of cooperation.” – Orison Swett Marden
“In value investing, there are no more important tasks than to try to figure out what is wrong and to reach judgments about whether what seems to be wrong ought to be a showstopper, precluding investment in the particular situation.” – Martin Whitman
“For each investment, virtually the first thing done in value investing is to figure out, as best as possible, what is wrong. Because every investment has something wrong…” – Martin Whitman
“…there has been a significant, seemingly inexorable trend toward entrenching management in office that has become embodied in state law, the primary province for corporate governance. This gives rise to conflicts of interest…” – Martin Whitman
“Take financial accounting…what the numbers mean for analysts is infinitely more important than what the numbers are reported to be.” – Martin Whitman
“Every investment has something wrong with it.” – Martin Whitman
“Market price is not something to predict but something of which to take advantage.” – Martin Whitman
“…value investing treats every accounting number as being as important as any other number, with each number being derived from, a function of, and modified by all other accounting numbers.” – Martin Whitman
“For reading this book [Value Investing], algebra is useless; however, a deep understanding of the accounting cycle is essential.” – Martin Whitman
“All markets tend toward efficiency. Most markets, though, do not achieve instantaneous efficiency.” – Martin Whitman
“In value investing, the goal is to determine a business’s worth and its possible or probable dynamics, all independent of the price at which the common stock issued by that business trades.” – Martin Whitman
“…it is understandable that many practioners of value investing would focus at least as much attention on the quality and quantity of resources in a business (a balance sheet approach) as they do on the earnings record (an income account approach).” – Martin Whitman
“We deal in probabilities, not predictions.” – Martin Whitman (Third Avenue Value Fund)
“We’ve had nothing but speculative excess. ” – Martin Whitman (Third Avenue Value Fund)
“Financial statements [should] be prepared under the assumption that the users…understand not only the uses, but also the limitations, of GAAP” – Marty Whitman