Words of Philosophy & Psychology---

"The problems to which traders have set their faces have developed because their aspirations are infinitely expansible; the solutions lie in the hope that their knowledge and behavior are infinitely perfectible. In between the recognition of the problems and the acquisition of the quantitative and qualitative skills needed for their solutions lies a series of searches athat must,many times, include the experience of failure.Indeed, no successful traders I have known can follow their paths backward very far without running into failure.Its is not the act of failure, however, that differentiates the ultimately successful or unsuccessful traders.Rather, it is that the successful traders get up, spend a few days healing, reaffirm what they know, and go about the business of adding to their store of wisdom. In such a growth process the quality of persistence looms large and is virtually irreplaceable.
In the high-risk areas of the world of finance, the cold facts of probabilities cannot be changed by wishful thinking or by bemoaning the cruel realities of life.Some people win frequently and accumulate large sums.Others are destined to lose frequently and at least as a group, lose the large sums that are won by the smaller group of winners.The chance of success may be helped by thinking straight, negotiating low execution costs, dealing with a broker who observes high standards of performance, and setting reasonable goals. Regardless of their intellectual capacity and the strength of their personal discipline, however, most players in the futures game are destined to lose to the few.Those who cannot accept this truism are well advised to turn their attention elsewhere.
The person involved responsibly, both intellectually and behaviorally, with the experience of trading may, to paraphrase Theodre Roosevelt, know at his best the triumph of high achievement, but if he fails, he will have failed while daring greatly, and so his place will never be with those timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. Perhaps, then, in the final analysis, it may be as rewarding to travel as it is to arrive."

--- Richard Teweles

"That's the problem with amateurs, they only have half a plan, the easy half. They know how much of a profit they're willing to take, but they don't have the foggiest idea how much they're willing to lose. They're like deer in the headlights, they just freeze and wait to get run over. Their plan for a position that goes south is, "Please God, let me out of this and I'll never do it again" but that's bullshit, because if by chance the position turns around, they'll soon forget about God. They'll go back to thinking that they're geniuses, and they'll always do it again, which means that they're sure to get caught, and get caught bad. What most people fail to understand is that while you're losing your money, you're also losing your objectivity. It's like being at the craps table in Vegas, and the fat bleached blonde in the sequined dress is rolling the dice, and you're losing, and you're determined that you're not going to let her beat you. What you've forgotten is that she doesn't care about you, she's just rolling the dice. Whenever you have jealousy as an emotion, or greed, or envy, it distorts your judgment. The market's like the bleached blonde in Vegas, it doesn't care about you. That's why you have to put aside your ego and get out. If you have trouble doing that, as most people do, be like Odysseus: tie yourself to the mast with an automatic stop and take your emotions out of play."

---Marty Schwartz

"The typical trader will do most anything to avoid creating definition and rules because he does not want to take responsibility for the results of his trading. If he knows exactly what he is going to do and under what conditions, then he would have something by which to measure his performance, thus making himself accountable to himself. This is exactly what most traders don't want to do, preferring instead to keep their relationship with the market somewhat mysterious.

This creates a real psychological paradox for traders, because the only way to learn how to trade effectively is to make oneself accountable by creating structure: but, with accountability comes responsibility."

---Mark Douglas

"The crowd neither wants nor seeks knowledge, and the leaders of the crowd, in their own interests, try to strengthen its fear and dislike of everything new and unknown. The slavery in which mankind lives is based upon this fear."

---G. I. Gurdjieff

"1) Before you put your capital at risk, have a well-formed trade idea;
2) When your idea pays you out quickly, take some profits;
3) Don't get caught up in individual trades; focus on profitability over a series of trades and days."

"My review of expert performers in such fields as chess, military, athletics, and performing arts--as well as my research review of exemplary performers--suggests that success is not simply a function of qualities of the individual. Rather, it is the fit between the talents (inborn abilities), skills (acquired competencies), interests, and opportunities afforded by a field that creates accelerated development and eventual mastery.

What does this mean for trading?

It means that success will not be found in better indicators, improved self-help techniques, or any of the endless parade of chart patterns, wave formations, numerology schemes, or moving average arrays.

Rather, success is achieved when we find markets and styles of trading that take maximum advantage of our skills and talents. That keeps us focused on markets and absorbed in them, enabling us--over time--to internalize their patterns.

Many, many times, traders do not live up to their potential simply because they are trading markets and methods that do not draw upon their strengths. Without that fit, they are not absorbed in what they do; frustration replaces focus and learning suffers.

If my book accomplishes nothing else, I hope that it assists you in thinking about where your niche might lie, not just in trading, but in life. The days pass by quickly; life is too short to waste on anything that you're not passionate about and good at."

Q. How Many expert performers performed Reviews? {of ANY Kind}


Or did they just do what they believed to be best without caring about the support of the Masses?

Double Indemnity...

"Discretion of speech is more than eloquence; and to speak agreeably to him with whom we deal is more than to speak in good words or in good order."

--- Francis Bacon

"Rich people don't make big bets. Really rich-and smart-people don't make big bets. First they are not out to "prove" anything, they are out to make more money, and second, they know that risk control is as important as the other two legs of speculation, selection and timing. That is all this business of commodity trading gets down to, selection, timing, and risk control."

--- Larry Williams

Read any successful person’s biography and it goes like this: struggle, struggle, struggle, small success; struggle, struggle, struggle, small success; struggle, big struggle, struggle, BIG SUCCESS. See setbacks as proof of your future success. What makes anyone think that trading is any different?

Pip pirate 2 Great thread!

"Tape reading was an important part of the game; so was beginning at the right time; so was sticking to your position. But my greatest discovery was that a man must study general conditions, to size them so as to be able to anticipate probabilities."

---Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

"Keep one thing in mind, however, sometimes even successful traders are wrong about the reasons for their success. Trader A might think his success is due to his fancy computers and sophisticated algorithms when in reality his success is due to his having a solid foundation and good operational execution.

Trading well is not easy, but it is something you can learn if you have the perseverance combined with the humility to be realistic about your own strengths and weaknesses."

--- Curtis Faith ( Turtle Trader )

"People, unless they are naturally well disciplined, are extremely open to suggestion. Folks like to be given, tips, listen to the news stories, seek out rumours in internet chat rooms, or maybe subscribe to secret information leaked from unknown sources.
For the most part, professional traders, syndicate traders, and the specialists, do not look at these things. They simply do not have the time. Professionals have to act swiftly, as soon as market conditions change, because they are up against other professionals who will act immediately against their interests if they are too slow in reacting to the market. The only way they can respond that fast is to understand and react, almost instinctively, to what the market is telling them. They read the market through volume and its relationship to price action."

--- Tom Williams

“Modern man likes to pretend that his thinking is wide-awake. But this wide-awake thinking has led us into the mazes of a nightmare in which the torture chambers are endlessly repeated in the mirrors of reason.”


---Octavio Paz

“Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, that is way great spiritual giants are produced.”


---Swami Vivekananda

“Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.”


--- Mark Victor Hansen

“You are the embodiment of the information you choose to accept and act upon. To change your circumstances you need to change your thinking and subsequent actions.”


--- Adlin Sinclair

“Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.”

"I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.”

"There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.”

"A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone's feelings unintentionally.”

"Everything popular is wrong.”

“There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up.”

“The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast.”


--- Oscar Wilde

Not sure if this one has been added here before:
[didn't read the whole thread to be honest ]

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler"
- Albert Einstein

"You may move your stops only one way, in the direction of your trade".

"An amateur whose mind isn't strong enough to accept a small loss will eventually take the mother of all losses".


Alexander Elder, Come Into My Trading Room.


Thanks,

Nader