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;void(0)) . . . STOCK MARKET see: "CAPITALISM" for related links see: "MONEY" for other related links A stockbroker is someone who invests other people's money until it's all gone. --attributed to Woody Allen [Allen Stewart Konigsberg] (b. 1935) American actor, screenwriter, and director. Investment must be rational. If you can't understand it, don't do it. --Warren Buffett (1930 ) American businessman. In _Wit and Wisdom from the World's Greatest Investor_, ed. Janet Lowe [1997]. - Men have been swindled by other men on many occasions. The autumn of 1929 was, perhaps, the first occasion when men succeeded on a large scale in swindling themselves. --John Kenneth Galbraith (19082006) American economist. _The Great Crash, 1929_ [1955] By eleven o'clock [24 October 1929] the market had degenerated into a wild, mad scramble to sell. In the crowded boardrooms across the country the ticker told of a frightful collapse ... By eleven thirty the market had surrendered to blind, relentless fear. This, indeed, was panic. --John Kenneth Galbraith (19082006) American economist. _The Great Crash, 1929_ [1955] The Crash of 1929 - ^ Jay Gould (18361892) American financier and railroad magnate. The rector of Gould's church sought the magnate's advice concerning the investment of his life's savings, amounting to about $30,000. Gould suggested, in the strictest confidence, that he should buy Missouri Pacific. The preacher followed this advice and the stock began to rise steadily, only to fall disastrously some months later. The preacher complained to Gould that he had lost all his savings. He was somewhat taken aback when Gould promptly presented him with a check for $40,000 to cover his looses. Guiltily he confessed that he had also told several members of his congregation about Gould's tip. 'Oh, I know that,' said Gould. 'They were the ones I was after.' --_Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes_ edited by Clifton Fadiman and Andrι Bernard [2000 ed.] ^ How do we know when irrational exuberance has unduly escalated [stock market] values, which then become subject to unexpected and prolonged contractions as they have in Japan over the last decade? --Alan Greenspan (1926 ) American economist and former Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve [19872006]. The 88% rise in Microsoft stock in 1996 meant [Bill Gates] made on paper more than $10.9 billion, or about $30 million a day. That makes him the world's richest person, by far. But he's more than that. He has become the Edison and Ford of our age. A technologist turned entrepreneur, he embodies the digital era. --Walter Isaacson (1952 ) American journalist and author. "In Search of the Real Bill Gates" "Time" [13 January 1997] ^ John Fitzgerald Kennedy (19171963) American politician, 35th President of the United States [1961-1963]. Shortly after Kennedy blocked the hike in steel prices in 1961, he was visited by a businessman who expressed wariness about the national economy. 'Things look great,' said JFK. 'Why, if I wasn't President, I'd be buying stock myself.' 'If you weren't President,' said the businessman, 'so would I.' --_Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes_ edited by Clifton Fadiman and Andrι Bernard [2000 ed.] ^ [Widespread] speculation for profit leads away from normal, rational behavior to what has been described as 'manias' or 'bubbles.' The word 'mania' emphasizes the irrationality; 'bubble' foreshadows the bursting. --Charles P. Kindleberger (19102003) American economist, teacher, and author. _Manias, Panics and Crashes_ [1978] For example, in any large stockbroker's office there is a modern medicine man known as "Mr. Odd Lots." His magical function is to study the daily purchases and sales of the small buyers on the big exchanges. Long experience has shown that these small buyers are wrong 80 per cent of the time. A statistical profile of the failure of the little man to be in touch enables the big operators to be about 80 per cent right. Thus from error comes truth; and from poverty, riches, thanks to numbers. --H. (Herbert) Marshall McLuhan (19111980) Canadian professor and author. _Understanding Media_ [1964] - kap posting to USENET: [. . . ] A few years ago I wanted to get my kids interested in the stock market so I got a bunch of books from the library; condensed each one into 15-20 typewriten pages, and sent the 'book reports' to my two kids. I must have sent them 20 reports which took me about 6 months to complete. Anyway, after about the 5th report, I thought, "Let me see if either of them is reading these." So early on in the 5th report I listed six or so assets and said, "whichever of you can tell me which asset is worth the most wins all six." Then I listed them: 1 share of General Electric 500 Mexican pesos 6 ounces of silver etc. All they had to do was to look up the values in the newspaper it would have taken them less than thirty minutes. Alas, neither called. About a year later I told the both of them what I had done, and we had a good laugh. But even then neither of them got back to me because they must have thrown the darn things away. --kap - Anyone who thinks there's safety in numbers hasn't looked at the stock market pages. --Irene Peter (b. 1945) American writer. Attributed in Laurence J. Peter _Peter's Quotations: Ideas for Our Time_ [1993 ed.]. It's just as I have been constantly telling you, 'Don't gamble'; take all your savings and buy some good stock and hold it till it goes up, then sell it. If it don't go up, don't buy it. --Will Rogers [William Penn Adair Rogers] (18791935) American humorist and actor. [31 October 1929], two days after the stock market crash, in _The Autobiography of Will Rogers_. Wall Street indexes predicted nine out of the last five recessions. --Paul Samuelson (1915 ) American economist, winner of the 1970 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics. Column in "Newsweek" [19 September 1966]. Wer gar zu viel bedenkt, wird wenig leisten. (He that is overcautious will accomplish nothing.) --Friedrich von Schiller (17591805) German poet, historian, and dramatist. _Wilhelm Tell_ [1804] Wall Street Lays an Egg. --Sime Silverman (18731933) Founder and editor of "Variety." (Headline on the stock market crash [October 1929].) The question is not whether an earthquake will occur. It will. The only question is when, and whether it occurs as one big shock or as a series of smaller shocks that do less damage. But when conditions have existed for a long period of time and nothing happens, humans, being human, begin to believe that it is possible to defy economic gravity forever.... But let no one doubt that this earthquake will happen.... The forces on each side of the fault are enormous. --Lester Thurow (1938 ) American economist and author. _The Future of Capitalism_ [1995], in "Asia: The Collapse and the Cure" _New York Review of Books_ [5 February 1998]. - There are two times in a man's life when he should not speculate: when he can't afford to, and when he can. --Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (18351910) American humorist, novelist, journalist, and river pilot. _Following the Equator_ [1897], ch. 61 epigraph: "Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar" October. This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August, and February. --Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (18351910) American humorist, novelist, journalist, and river pilot. _Pudd'nhead Wilson_ [1894] ch. 13 epigraph: "Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar" - On Wall Street he and a few others how many? three hundred, four hundred, five hundred? had become precisely that . . . Masters of the Universe. --Tom Wolfe (b. 1931) American journalist and novelist. _The Bonfires of the Vanities_, ch. 1 [1987] (Ellipsis in the original.) You can never tell if Kirk [Kerkorian] is up $10 billion or down $10 billion, . . . Once when I was upset because MGM casino stock had gone down, Mr. Kerkorian, who had owned it for years, said, 'Are you a seller?' and I said, 'No.' Kirk said, 'Are you a buyer?' and I said, 'No.' 'Then why are you upset?' he asked. --Alex Yemenidjian (1957 ) Chief executive of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer [19992005]. Quoted in _N.Y. Times_ [11 June 2009].  ;void(0)) . . see: "DIFFICULTIES" Anyone who proposes to do good must not expect people to roll stones out of his way, but must accept his lot calmly, even if they roll a few more upon it. --Albert Schweitzer (18751965) Franco-German theologian, philosopher, and mission doctor. He always praises the first production of each season, being reluctant to stone the first cast. --Walter Winchell (18971972) American journalist. ----- lapidary [LAP-uh-dair-ee], adjective: 1. Of or pertaining to the art of cutting stones or engraving on them. 2. Engraved in stone. 3. Of or pertaining to the refined or terse style associated with inscriptions on monumental stone. 4. One who cuts, polishes, and engraves precious stones. 5. A dealer in precious stones. . . see: "EXPERIENCE" see: "MEMORIES" see: "COMMUNICATION" for other related links There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you. --Maya Angelou (1928 ) American author and poet. Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other. --Francis Bacon (15611626) English philosopher and essayist. _Essays_ [1625] "Of Death" The older I get, the faster I was. --Charles Barkley (b. 1963) American professional basketball player. Bob Costa television interview [22 January 1995]. 'Where shall I begin, please your Majesty?' he asked. 'Begin at the beginning,' the King said, gravely, 'and go on till you come to the end: then stop.' --Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (18321898) English writer and logician. _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_, ch. 12 [1865] There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before. --Willa Sibert Cather (18731947) American novelist. _O Pioneers!_ [1913] pt. II, ch. 4 One anecdote of a man is worth a volume of biography. --William Ellery Channing (17801842) American Unitarian clergyman and author. Attributed in _The Bookseller_ [28 February 1866]. The story you have just heard is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent. --"Dragnet" (U.S. radio show, 19491957) Dead men tell no tales. --John Dryden (16311700) English poet, critic, and dramatist. _Absalom and Achitophel_ [1681] If you have anything to tell me of importance, for God's sake begin at the end. --Sara Jeannette Duncan (18611922) Camadian journalist and essayist. _The Imperialist_ [1904] It is tedious to tell again tales already plainly told. --Homer (c. 850? BC) Greek epic poet. _The Iliad_, bk. XII ... a really quite likely story, founded, to a certain extent, on an all but true episode, which had actually happened in a modified degree some years ago to friends of ours. --Jerome K Jerome (18591927) English novelist and playwright. _Three Men in a Boat_ [1889] - You should also know that we have birds called griffins who can easily carry an ox or a horse into their nest to feed their young. We have still another kind of birds who rule over all other fowl in the world. They are of fiery color, their wings are as sharp as razors, and they are called Yllerion. In the whole world there are but two of them. They live for sixty years, at the end of which they fly away to plunge into the sea. But first they hatch two or three eggs for forty days till the young ones come out. . . . Likewise, you would know that we have other birds called tigers who are so strong and bold that they lift and kill with ease an armored man together with his horse. Know that in one province of our country is a wilderness and that there live horned men who have but one eye in front and three or four in the back. There are also women who look similar. We have in our country still another kind of men who feed only on raw flesh of men and women and do not hesitate to die. And when one of them passes away, be it their father or mother, they gobble him up without cooking him. They hold that it is good and natural to eat human flesh and they do it for the redemption of their sins. This nation is cursed by God and it is called Gog and Magog and there are more of them than of all other peoples. With the coming of Antichrist they will spread over the whole world, for they are his friends and allies. --One of the forged Prester John's letters [c. 12th-14th cent.) Legendary Christian ruler of the East. - It is not children only that one feeds with fairy tales. --Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (17291781) German dramatist. _Nathan der Weise_, III, 6 [1779] Literature was not born the day when a boy crying "wolf, wolf" came running out of the Neanderthal valley with a big gray wolf at his heels; literature was born on the day when a boy came crying "wolf, wolf" and there was no wolf behind him. --Vladimir Nabokov [pen name Vladimir Sirin] (18991977) Russian-born American novelist. _Lectures on Literature_ "Good Readers and Good Writers" [1980] Meanwhile, back at the ranch. --"Oakland Tribune" [21 July 1940] [On being told at a party that people were ducking for apples:] There, but for a typographical error, is the story of my life. --Dorothy Parker (18931967) American critic and humorist. Quoted in _The Algonquin Wits_ (ed.) Robert E. Drennan [1968]. And thereby hangs a tale. --Franηois Rabelais (c. 1494 c. 1553] French humanist, satirist, and physician. _The Works of Francis Rabelais_, bk. V, ch. iv (trans. by John Ozell, et al.) [1807] I cannot tell how the truth may be; I say the tale as 'twas said to me. --Sir Walter Scott (17711832) Scottish novelist and poet. _Lay of the Last Minstrel_ [1805] - An honest tale speeds best being plainly told. --William Shakespeare (15641616) English dramatist. _King Richard III_, IV, iv [1591] Out of their saddles into the dirt; And thereby hangs a tale. --William Shakespeare (15641616) English dramatist. _The Taming of the Shrew_, IV, i [15931594] Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale. Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man. --William Shakespeare (15641616) English dramatist. _King John_, act III, sc. iv [c. 1596] - The man scarce lives who is not more credulous than he ought to be, and who does not, upon many occasions, give credit to tales, which not only turn out to be perfectly false, but which a very moderate degree of reflection and attention might have taught him could not well be true. The natural disposition is always to believe. It is acquired wisdom and experience only that teach incredulity, and they very seldom teach it enough. The wisest and most cautious of us all frequently gives credit to stories which he himself is afterwards both ashamed and astonished that he could possibly think of believing. --Adam Smith (17231790) Scottish economist. _The Theory of Moral Sentiments_ [1759], pt. VII , sec. IV We are lonesome animals. We spend all our life trying to be less lonesome. One of our ancient methods is to tell a story begging the listener to say and to feel 'Yes, that's the way it is, or at least that's the way I feel it. You're not as alone as you thought.' --John Steinbeck (19021968) American novelist. Quoted in George Plimpton (ed.) _Writers at Work, Fourth Series_ [1981]. That's another story, replied my father. --Laurence Sterne (17131768) English novelist. _Tristram Shandy_, bk. I, ch. I [1759] Ay, now the plot thickens very much upon us. --George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham (16281687) English politician. _The Rehearsal_, act 3, sc. 2 [written 1663, performed 1671] The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means. --Oscar Wilde (18541900) Anglo-Irish dramatist and poet. _The Importance of Being Earnest_, act 2 [1895] ----- jeremiad [jair-uh-MY-uhd], noun: A tale of sorrow, disappointment, or complaint; a doleful story; also, a dolorous or angry tirade. lurid (adj.) ['lu-rid] 1/ Sickly, deathly, pallid, as a skin lurid from a disease. 2/ Bright, red, as a lurid flash of lightning. 3/ Gruesome and sensationalistic, ghastly, grisly. raconteur (noun): One who excels in telling stories and anecdotes. Korda's tone of voice is affectionate and urbane, his manner that of the accomplished raconteur who never spoils the story with a heavy-handed moral, relying for his effect on the telling anecdote and the apt phrase. --Lewis Lapham, "Adventures in the Book Trade," _New York Times_, [23 May 1999]  STRANGE . . - Tis strange but true; for truth is always strange; Stranger than fiction. --Lord Byron [George Gordon Byron] (17881824) English Romantic poet and satirist. _Don Juan_ [1823], canto XIV, st. 101. & see: Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't. --Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (18351910) American humorist, novelist, journalist, and river pilot. _Following the Equator_ [1897], ch. XV epigraph "Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar" - 'Curiouser and curiouser! cried Alice. --Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (18321898) English writer and logician. _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_, ch. 2 [1865] No affectation of peculiarity can conceal a commonplace mind. --W. Somerset Maugham (18741965) English novelist, playwright, and short-story writer. _The Moon and Sixpence_ [1919], ch. 17 Don't accept rides from strange men, and remember that all men are strange as hell. --Robin Morgan (1941 ) American feminist activist. _Sisterhood is Powerful_, "Letter to a Sister Underground" [1970] All the world is queer save me and thee; and sometimes I think thee is a little queer. --Attributed to a Quaker, speaking to his wife - Five thousand copies of Steinbeck's novel _The Wayward Bus_ were destroyed by fire when the truck carrying them from the bindery was involved in a collision. The cause of the accident was a wayward bus, traveling on the wrong side of the road. --Book-of-the-Month Club News [May 1947] - On April 25, 1974, the "Toronto Star" reported the deaths of Mr. Todd Missfield and Ms. Bonnie Johnson who died when their Cessna 150 airplane crashed into a billboard. The message on the billboard read: "Learn to Fly." ----- aberrant [a-BERR-unt; AB-ur-unt], adj.: Markedly different from an accepted norm; Deviating from the ordinary or natural type; abnormal. crotchet (noun) An odd, whimsical, or stubborn notion. Synonyms: oddity, queerness, quirk eldritch [EL-drich], adjective: Strange; unearthly; weird; eerie. Ex. 1 : In the eldritch light of evening in Nevada's Black Rock Desert, the eye plays tricks on the brain. --Thom Stark, "Something's Burning," _Boardwatch_ [November 2000] outrι [oo-TRAY], adjective: Unconventional; eccentric; bizarre. . . No matter what side of the argument you are on, you always find people on your side that you wish were on the other. --Jascha Heifetz (19011987) Russian-born American violinist. Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows. --William Shakespeare (15641616) English dramatist. _The Tempest_, II, ii [1611-12] Politics makes strange bed-fellows. --Charles Dudley Warner (18291900) American newspaperman, author, editor, and publisher. _My Summer in a Garden_ "Fifteenth Week" [1871]  STRANGERS . . Strangers . . . are just family you have yet to come to know. --Mitch Albom (1958 ) American sportswriter, novelist and newspaper columnist. _The Five People You Meet in Heaven_ [2003], "The First Lesson" Call no man foe, but never love a stranger. --Stella Benson (18921933) English novelist and poet. _This Is the End_ [1917] - Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. --Bible "Hebrews" 13:2 I have been a stranger in a strange land. --_Bible_ "Exodus" 2:22 - I do desire we may be better strangers. --William Shakespeare (15641616) English dramatist. _As You Like It_, III, ii [1599] ^ Paul Verlaine (18441896) French poet. Poet and painter F.A. Cazals, a friend of Verlaine, arranged to meet the poet at a cafι, but was unavoidably late. When he finally did arrive, he was a trifle nervous, for Verlaine drunk was unpreditable. A mutual friend met Cazals at the door and warned him that Verlaine, hopelessly drunk, was 'furious with you.' Cazals entered to find Verlaine surrounded by his acolytes, but a little less drunk than he had been described. Cazals took courage: 'I hear that you were abusing me just a few minutes ago.' 'Who told you that?' cried the furious Verlaine. 'Somebody you don't know,' replied Cazals prudently. 'Somebody I don't know!' exclaimed Verlaine. He began to weave his way through the crowded cafι. 'I'm going outside, and the first passerby I don't know, I'll--I'll-- *smash his jaw*!' --_Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes_ edited by Clifton Fadiman and Andrι Bernard [2000 ed.] ^ - I have always depended on the kindness of strangers. --Tennessee Williams [Thomas Lanier Williams] (19111983) American dramatist. Blanche DuBois' final words, in "A Streetcar Named Desire". & see: You cannot imagine the kindness I've received at the hands of perfect strangers. --W. Somerset Maugham (18741965) English novelist, playwright, and short-story writer. _The Narrow Corner_, ch. 15 [1932] - end page | SACRED PLACES - SANTA CLAUS | SARCASM - SCHOOL | SCIENCE - SCULPTURE | SEA (THE) - SEEING | SELF - SELF-ESTEEM | SELF-EXAMINATION - SEMANTICS | SENATE (THE U.S.) - SERIOUSNESS | SEX | SEX SYMBOLS - SHEEP | SHIPS - SHYNESS | SICKNESS - SILENCE | SILLINESS - SINGING | SINGLE-MINDEDNESS - SKY | SLANDER - SLAVERY | SLEEP - SMILES | SMOKING - SOCIETY | SOLDIERS - SOPHISTICATION | SORROW - SOUTH SEA | SPACE - SPAM | SPEECH | SPEECHES - SPENDTHRIFTS | SPIDERS - SPY | SPORTS & SPORTSMANSHIP | STAGE (THE) - STERILIZATION | STOCK MARKET - STRANGERS | STRENGTH - SUBURBS | SUCCESS | SUFFERING - SUMMER | SUN - SUPREME COURT | SURPRISE - SYSTEM (THE) | | R | S | T | U - END | | Return Home | The Credits | The Cast | Act 1 | Act 2 | Act 3 | The Reviews | |
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