Commodities

“Economist picture a thousand buyers and sellers congregating in the market place to match their keen wits and finally evolve the correct price for each commodity. In the securities market particularly, the word of the ticker is accepted as law, so that one often thinks of prices as determining values, instead of vice-versa.”

“The reason to own commodities may be that one believes they provide equity like returns with little correlation with equities. The time to own commodities is (or at least has been) when they are down, when everybody has lost money in them, and when they trade below the cost of production.”

“The reason commodity prices are so volatile is that they are commodities, economically undistinguishable items except for price.”

“In the history of every great catastrophe, you will find that some masterly bit of stupidity sets fire to the oil-soaked rags.”

“Formula for success: rise early, work hard, strike oil.”

“Paradigm shifts are an inevitable result of forecast errors — the raw material from which paradigm shifts are fashioned.”

“Gold, much more so than any other commodity, is about sentiment and psychology.”