John Bogle

“Over the very long run, it is the economics of investing — enterprise — that has determined total return; the evanescent emotions of investing — speculation — so important over the short run, have ultimately proven to be virtually meaningless.”

“When investors — individual and institutional alike — engage in far more trading –inevitably with one another — than is necessary for market efficiency and ample liquidity, they become, collectively, their own worst enemies.”

“We use the term risk all too casually, and the term uncertainty all too rarely.”

“We deceive ourselves when we believe that past stock market return patterns provide the bounds by which we can predict the future.”

“Sometimes common sense tells us what statistics cannot.”

“One of my life principles is that the only way you can live life is by dealing with what is, and not with what might have been. So that’s the way I’ve tried to deal with setbacks.”

“It’s now a rent-a-stock industry, compared with the old own-a-stock industry when turnover was 16 percent and the average holding period was six years.”

“Speculation is a loser’s game. Because of the costs, it has to be a loser’s game.”

“We all know that the best rule for investors — the clients of the investment business — is, “Don’t just do something — stand there.””

“If your preference is managed funds, you want a managed fund that, one might put it, is like a sailboat fighting not a typhoon of costs but only a breeze.”

“I’ve often said that the efficient market hypothesis, or EMH, has a lot of truth to it, but the CMH — or “cost matters hypothesis” — is eternally truthful to the last penny.”

“Inefficiency doesn’t make it easier for all investors to beat the market.”