Clayton Pope Commodities

"Learning how to use the various and numerous marketing tools available should be a priority of any farmer. That will enable him to use the right tool for the job when the time comes."

 

"Markets can go anywhere at any time. At whatever level or point in time, an informed observer can make a case for the market going either direction-that's why it is where it is, at a temporary equilibrium."

 

“Any market is in a constant and never-ending, but futile, search for the supremely informed 

perfect equilibrium price. However, this goal is never reached because new inputs are constantly being provided or changed, and just as importantly, market participants’ opinions and expectations are constantly changing.”

 

“Price direction of any trading market is determined not by the number of buyers vs sellers, but by the degree of urgency of the players involved.”

 

“I made my fortune by selling too early.” (Baron Rothschild)

 

“Many people make the mistake of thinking that market behavior is truly predictable. Nonsense. Trading in the markets is an odds game, and the object is to always keep the odds in your favor. Like any other odds game, in order to win, you’ve got to know the rules and stick to them. Unlike other games, however, the single biggest reason rules are necessary is to keep a check on your emotions. Assuming you have the knowledge you need to take a position with confidence, the hard part is executing the trade correctly. That’s what the rules are for.” (From “Trader Vic: Methods of a Wall Street Master” by Victor Sperandeo)

 

"Don't say, "What if I sell, and it goes up?" Let it go up. Who cares? Don' worry about the money you might have made. Worry about not losing money." (Larry Tisch)

 

“When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” (John Maynard Keynes)

 

“Market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent.” (John Maynard Keynes)

 

"The essence of risk management lies in maximizing the areas where we have some control over the outcome while minimizing the areas where we have absolutely no control over the outcome." (From "Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk", by Peter Bernstein)

 

“It is the trader’s duty not to belong to the bull side, nor the bear side of any market, but to the winning side.” (Jessie Livermore)

 

“As soon as you have a preference about market direction, you invite frustration. It is much more effective to act on evidence, and change those actions when the evidence changes. This doesn’t mean having no view about the market. But it does mean having no attachment to that view, and instead having a constant willingness to change that view in response to new evidence. As Zen Master Huineng wrote, “The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences.” (John Hussman)

 

“It can be very expensive to try to convince the markets you are right.”  (Ed Seykota)

 

"There is a time for all things, but I didn't know it. And that is precisely what beats so many men in Wall Street who are very far from being in the main sucker class. There is the plain fool, who does the wrong thing at all times everywhere, but there is the Wall Street fool, who thinks he must trade all the time. Not many can always have adequate reasons for buying and selling stocks daily — or sufficient knowledge to make his play an intelligent play." (Jessie Livermore)

 

“Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness.” (Thomas Jefferson)

 

"A known fundamental is a worthless fundamental." (Unknown)

 

“I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful." (Warren Buffett)

 

"The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones." (Unknown)

 

"Any fool can make something complicated. It takes a genius to make it simple." - Woody Guthrie

 

"​When you pretend you know something you don’t, your perception of risk becomes warped. You take risks you didn’t think existed. You face events you didn’t think could occur. Understanding what you don’t know, and what you can’t know, is way more important than the stuff you actually know.​" (P.J.​ O’Rourke)

 

“People get married to anecdotal observation instead of listening to what the market is telling you.” (Angie Maguire)

 

"In short, it is not the brainpower that a person has that will make him or her an intelligent investor. Rather, it is discipline, patience and discerning between perception and reality that will lead to success." (Benjamin Graham)

 

"Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it.​" (Lou Holtz)

 

"The four most dangerous words in investing are: 'this time it's different.'" (Sir John Templeton)

 

"If you think investing is gambling, you're doing it wrong. The work involved requires planning and patience. Investing should be more like watching paint dry or watching grass grow. If you want excitement, take $800 and go to Las Vegas." (Paul Samuelson)

 

“Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you're a thousand miles from the corn field.” (Dwight David Eisenhower)

 

“The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.” (Thomas Jefferson)

 

“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.” (Leonardo da Vinci)

 

“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” (Albert Einstein)

 

“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against wind, not with it.” (Henry Ford) 

 

"Computers are useless. They can only give you answers." (Pablo Picasso)

 

"Even the intelligent investor is likely to need considerable will power to keep from following the crowd.” (Benjamin Graham)