Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street

by John Brooks

“Confusion of Confusions,”

The expectation of an event creates a much deeper impression … than the event itself.”—de la Vega.)

The moral may be that psychological gestures on the Exchange are most effective when they are neither intended nor really needed.

is foolish to think that you can withdraw from the Exchange after you have tasted the sweetness of the honey.”

“To set high goals, to have almost unattainable aspirations, to imbue people with the belief that they can be achieved—these are as important as the balance sheet, perhaps more so,”

“He who sells what isn’t his’n must buy it back or go to prison.”

on selling short

The stockholders are deprived of their real power by a number of factors, among which are their indifference to it in times of rising profits and dividends, their ignorance of corporate affairs, and their sheer numbers.