"When I started in this business, in 1969, I saw portfolios where the dividends on some of the blue-chip stocks bought right after World War II were higher on an annual basis than the cost originally paid for the stocks. I thought, too bad, because that will never happen again. Well, it did happen again with stocks I bought for portfolios in the 1970's. I've learned you don't get that type of return by jumping around, by getting scared. You get it by buying great companies with the ability to pay a rising stream of dividends when the market is down, and people are practically throwing them out the window, and then holding them over a multi-year time horizon. That's when you get the edge."

"Everyone wants to buy low, but it's never as easy as it sounds. Back in October of 1990, when the Savings & Loan crisis had the commercial banking system teetering on the brink, I remember I was in Rye, New York at a breakfast presentation with Hersh Cohen. The press was very negative about the markets and people thought you were crazy if you spoke positively about stocks. Hersh said, 'if the market goes down one more day, it will be more oversold than it was at the bear market bottom in 1974.' Well, the market turned the next day, and it did pretty well over the next nine years. In my experience, when headlines get really scary and pessimism in the market peaks, historically speaking, it's often a good time to buy stocks."

"The Asian economic crisis began with a seemingly innocuous, modest devaluation of the Thai baht, a currency that had been pegged to the U.S. dollar. Within days, other regional currencies devalued. Much like the present U.S. credit crisis, the Asian devaluations were symptoms of deeper regional ills and the subsequent sharp Asian recession led to periods of austerity and much more stringent capital allocation. Many commentators were dismissive of the initial effects, which proved to be longer-lasting. Lesson learned? Events that appear trivial and isolated can have very large and widespread impact due to the global linkage of financial markets."

"After less than a year in the business, I remember watching a portfolio manager speak about a technology stock on CNBC in early 2000 and as soon as the stock symbol hit the screen, it started moving. By the time the 2 minute interview was over, the stock was up 15% or so. This simply reinforced what we already knew at the time, which was that speculation was rampant and that greed had ushered fear out the door. Over the next 3 years, of course, we watched the Nasdaq plummet by 80%. I will always fear a speculative bubble and its aftermath."

"Since the sub-prime credit crisis spread to other forms of credit unrelated to housing, I have heard more and more people saying "this time it really is different" in the financial markets. In my 33 years in the business, I have heard people say "this time it really is different" many times. I have invested through the aftermath of a 20% prime rate in the early 1980's, a stock market crash, two wars, four recessions, and a horrific act inflicted upon our country in 2001. What I have learned is that when the Federal Reserve System aggressively lowers interest rates in response to a crisis and psychology is quite negative in the financial markets, great opportunities have been created."