Peter Lynch Quotes

200 Peter Lynch Quotes

1 2 3 4 5



You didn’t need a Ph.D. to figure out that Microsoft owned the rights to MS-DOS, the operating system used in the vast majority of the world’s PCs.
Peter Lynch

That’s what I call a remarkable investment, when a company’s per-share earnings in a single year exceed the price you paid for the stock.
Peter Lynch

After the great correction of October 1987, the end of the world and the end of the banking system were widely predicted.
Peter Lynch

The key to making money in stocks is not to get scared out of them.
Peter Lynch

Good information is useless without the willpower.
Peter Lynch

It is no accident that Monday’s are the biggest down days in stocks and that Decembers are often loosing months.
Peter Lynch

Develop a disciplined approach to investing that enables us to block out our own distress signals.
Peter Lynch

People invariably feel better after the market gains 600 points and stocks are overvalued, and worse after it drops 600 points and the bargains abound.
Peter Lynch

The story of the 40 declines continues to comfort me during gloomy periods when you and I have another chance in a long string of chances to buy great companies at bargain prices.
Peter Lynch

The extravagance of any corporate office is directly proportional to managements reluctance to reward the shareholders.
Peter Lynch



The mispricing of regional banks creates a lot of buying opportunities, which is why Magellan consistently had four or five times the market weighting in bank stocks.
Peter Lynch

Why investors attempt to prepare for total disaster by bailing out of their best investments is beyond me. If total disaster strikes, cash in the bank will be just as useless as a share.
Peter Lynch

Bargains are the holy grail of the true stock picker. We see the latest correction not as a disaster, but as an opportunity to acquire more shares at low prices. This is how great fortunes are made over time.
Peter Lynch

Another way that a lot of fund managers hemmed themselves in was worrying about ‘liquidity’. They avoided all the wonderful small companies – a good collection of these could do wonders even for a big portfolio – because the stocks were ‘thinly traded’.
Peter Lynch

When fund managers receive lots of redemptions (after a correction) it forces them to be sellers when they would like to have been buyers.
Peter Lynch

Recessions, (I figure), will always end sooner or later, and in a beaten – down market there are bargains everywhere you look, but in an overpriced market it’s hard to find anything worth buying.
Peter Lynch

The devoted stock picker is happier when the market drops 300 points than when it rises the same amount.
Peter Lynch

It doesn’t take long for bargain hunters to find the bargains in the stock market these days, and by the time they’re finished buying, the stocks aren’t bargains anymore.
Peter Lynch

In the stock market it rarely pays to take yesterday’s news too seriously, or to hold an opinion too long.
Peter Lynch

For a stock to do better than expected, the company has to be widely underestimated.
Peter Lynch



When the best company in an industry is selling at a bargain price, it often pays to buy that one, as opposed to investing in a lesser competitor that may be selling at a lower price.
Peter Lynch

Take the industry that’s surrounded with the most doom and gloom, and if the fundamentals are positive, you’ll find some big winners.
Peter Lynch

Investing is fun, exciting, and dangerous if you don't do any work.
Peter Lynch

Your investor's edge is not something you get from Wall Street experts. It's something you already have. You can outperform the experts if you use your edge by investing in companies or industries you already understand.
Peter Lynch

Over the past three decades, the stock market has come to be dominated by a herd of professional investors. Contrary to popular belief, this makes it easier for the amateur investor. You can beat the market by ignoring the herd.
Peter Lynch

Behind every stock is a company. Find out what it's doing.
Peter Lynch

Often, there is no correlation between the success of a company's operations and the success of its stock over a few months or even a few years. In the long term, there is a 100 percent correlation between the success of the company and the success of its stock. This disparity is the key to making money; it pays to be patient, and to own successful companies.
Peter Lynch

You have to know what you own, and why you own it. "This baby is a cinch to go up!" doesn't count.
Peter Lynch

Long shots almost always miss the mark.
Peter Lynch

Owning stocks is like having children—don't get involved with more than you can handle. The part-time stockpicker probably has time to follow 8-12 companies, and to buy and sell shares as conditions warrant. There don't have to be more than 5 companies in the portfolio at any one time.
Peter Lynch



If you can't find any companies that you think are attractive, put your money in the bank until you discover some.
Peter Lynch

Never invest in a company without understanding its finances. The biggest losses in stocks come from companies with poor balance sheets. Always look at the balance sheet to see if a company is solvent before you risk your money on it.
Peter Lynch

Avoid hot stocks in hot industries.
Peter Lynch

Great companies in cold, nongrowth industries are consistent big winners.
Peter Lynch

With small companies, you're better off to wait until they turn a profit before you invest.
Peter Lynch

If you're thinking about investing in a troubled industry, buy the companies with staying power. Also, wait for the industry to show signs of revival. Buggy whips and radio tubes were troubled industries that never came back.
Peter Lynch

If you invest $1,000 in a stock, all you can lose is $1,000, but you stand to gain $10,000 or even $50,000 over time if you're patient. The average person can concentrate on a few good companies, while the fund manager is forced to diversify. By owning too many stocks, you lose this advantage of concentration. It only takes a handful of big winners to make a lifetime of investing worthwhile.
Peter Lynch

In every industry and every region of the country, the observant amateur can find great growth companies long before the professionals have discovered them.
Peter Lynch

A stock-market decline is as routine as a January blizzard in Colorado. If you're prepared, it can't hurt you. A decline is a great opportunity to pick up the bargains left behind by investors who are fleeing the storm in panic.
Peter Lynch

Everyone has the brainpower to make money in stocks. Not everyone has the stomach. If you are susceptible to selling everything in a panic, you ought to avoid stocks and stock mutual funds altogether.
Peter Lynch



1 2 3 4 5


Return from Peter Lynch Quotes to Quoteswise.com