Jesse Livermore > Quotes

“There is only one side of the market and it is not the bull side or the bear side, but the right side.”
― Jesse Livermore

“The nature of the game as it is played is such that the public should realize that the truth cannot be told by the few who know.”
― Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

“A man cannot be convinced against his own convictions, but he can be talked into a state of uncertainty and indecision, which is even worse, for that means that he cannot trade with confidence and comfort.”
― Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

“The sucker has always tried to get something for nothing, and the appeal in all booms is always frankly to the gambling instinct aroused by cupidity and spurred by a pervasive prosperity. People who look for easy money invariably pay for the privilege of proving conclusively that it cannot be found on this sordid earth.”
― Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

“A man must know himself thoroughly if he is going to make a good job out of trading in the speculative markets. To know what I was capable of in the line of folly was a long educational step. I sometimes think that no price is too high for a speculator to pay to learn that which will keep him from getting the swelled head.”
― Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

“If you have timed the movement correctly, your first commitment will show you a profit at the start.”
― Jesse Livermore, How to Trade In Stocks

“set your own rules and stick to them; never argue with the market; never make a play you can’t afford; never give way to irrational exuberance. Above all, don’t be a sucker.”
― Jesse Lauriston Livermore, How To Trade In Stocks

“Money in a broker’s account or in a bank account is not the same as if you feel it in your own fingers once in a while. Then it means something.”
― Jesse Livermore, How to Trade In Stocks

“It has always been my experience that I never benefited much from a move if I did not get in at somewhere near the beginning of that move.”
― Jesse Livermore, How to Trade In Stocks

“To learn that a man can make foolish plays for no reason whatever was a valuable lesson. It cost me millions to learn that another dangerous enemy to a trader is his susceptibility to the urgings of a magnetic personality when plausibly expressed by a brilliant mind. It has always seemed to me, however, that I might have learned my lesson quite as well if the cost had been only one million. But Fate does not always let you fix the tuition fee. She delivers the educational wallop and presents her own bill, knowing you have to pay it, no matter what the amount may be.”
― Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

“The speculator's chief enemies are always boring from within. It is inseparable from human nature to hope and to fear. In speculation when the market goes against you you hope that every day will be the last day and you lose more than you should had you not listened to hope to the same ally that is so potent a success-bringer to empire builders and pioneers, big and little. And when the market goes your way you become fearful that the next day will take away your profit, and you get out too soon. Fear keeps you from making as much money as you ought to. The successful trader has to fight these two deep-seated instincts. He has to reverse what you might call his natural impulses. Instead of hoping he must fear; instead of fearing he must hope. He must fear that his loss may develop into a much bigger loss, and hope that his profit may become a big profit. It is absolutely wrong to gamble in stocks the way the average man does.”
― Jesse Livermore

“if you are successful, most people are envious and they covet your success”
― Jesse Livermore, How to Trade In Stocks

“if there was any easy money lying around, no one would be forcing it into your pocket.”
― Jesse Livermore, How to Trade In Stocks

“If a man didn't make mistakes he'd own the world in a month. But if he didn't profit by his mistakes he wouldn't own a blessed thing”
― Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

“I have been in the speculative game ever since I was fourteen. It is all I have ever done. I think I know what I am talking about. And the conclusion that I have reached after nearly thirty years of constant trading, both on a shoestring and with millions of dollars back of me, is this: A man may beat a stock or a group at a certain time, but no man living can beat the stock market! A man may make money out of individual deals in cotton or grain, but no man can beat the cotton market or the grain market. It's like the track. A man may beat a horse race, but he cannot beat horse racing.”
― Jesse Livermore

“If you have timed the movement correctly, your first commitment will show you a profit at the start. From then on, all that is required of you is to be alert, watching for the appearance of the danger signal to tell you to step aside and convert paper profits into real money.”
― Jesse Livermore, How To Trade In Stocks

“We talked of many things, for he is a widely read man with an amazing grasp of many subjects and a remarkable gift for interesting generalization. The wisdom of his speech is impressive; and as for plausibility, he hasn't an equal. I have heard many people accuse Percy Thomas of many things, including insincerity, but I sometimes wonder if his remarkable plausibility does not come from the fact that he first convinces himself so thoroughly as to acquire thereby a greatly increased power to convince others.”
― Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

“Old Baron Rothschild’s recipe for wealth winning applies with greater force than ever to speculation. Somebody asked him if making money in the Bourse was not a very difficult matter and he replied that, on the contrary, he thought that it was very easy… "I will tell you my secret if you wish. It is this: I never buy at the bottom and I always sell too soon.”
― Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

“Profits always take care of themselves but losses never do.”
― Jesse Livermore, How To Trade In Stocks

“All a person needs to do is observe what the market is telling him and evaluate it.”
― Jesse Livermore, How to Trade In Stocks

“You can beat a horse race, but you can't beat the races.”
― Jesse Livermore, How to Trade In Stocks

“*Emotional control is the most essential factor in playing the market. *Don’t anticipate! Wait until the market gives you the clues, the signals, the hints, before you move. Move only after you have confirmation. Anticipation is the killer. It is the brother to greed and hope. Don’t make decisions based on anticipation. The market always gives you time. If you wait for the clues there will be plenty of time to execute your moves.”
― Jesse Livermore, How to Trade In Stocks

“Деньги на бирже делает не интеллект, а воля и бесконечное терпение”
― Jesse Livermore

“10%”
― Jesse Livermore, How to Trade In Stocks