Cove Street Capital

Classic Value

Small Cap Value Investment Strategies that Capitalize on Inefficiencies in Public Markets

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It takes a genius to whine appealingly. 
F. Scott Fitzgerald
My partner Charlie Munger says there is only three ways a smart person can go broke: liquor, ladies and leverage.
Warren Buffett
The most important step in becoming successful in anything is to first become interested in it.
Sir William Osler
In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few. 
Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki
Obvious prospects for physical growth in a business do not translate into obvious profits for investors. 
Ben Graham
We have not allowed precision to be the enemy of insight.
Neil Ashe, CEO Acuity Brands
For every one of our failures, we had spreadsheets that looked awesome.
Scott Cook, Chairman of Intuit
I try to initiate change through provocation, irony or violent criticism and also if necessary, through logical explanation. 
Nicolas Hayek, Swatch
When a management team with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact. 
Warren Buffett
Usually a very long list of securities is not a sign of the brilliant investor, but of one who is unsure of himself.
Phillip Fisher
Sir Isaac might well have gone on to discover the Fourth Law of Motion: For investors as a whole, returns decrease as motion increases.
Warren Buffett
You don't become a value investor for the group hugs. 
Seth Klarman
Le petit quelque chose qui fout tout par terre. 
Unidentified Frenchman
The essence of investment management is the management of risks, not the management of returns. 
Benjamin Graham
In my experience eloquent men are right every bit as often as imbeciles. 
Tyrion Lannister
A lot of people die fighting tyranny. The least I can do is vote against it.
Carl Icahn
When people give up because a task requires cognitive strain in order to be done properly, it often means there is an opportunity to capitalize on for those willing to put in the effort.
Steven Duneie
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in fruit salad.
Miles Kington
The value premium is compensation for living with the stress of ownership that the seller can no longer endure. 
Lewis A. Sanders
Only with confidence created by a strong decision-making process can investors sell mania-induced excess and buy despair-driven value. 
David Swensen
If you’re looking for a manager, find someone who is intelligent, energetic and has integrity. If he doesn’t have the last, make sure he lacks the first two. 
Warren Buffett
I take some malicious pleasure in saying it’s the book on finance (Security Analysis) that’s been read by more people and disregarded by more people than any other that I know of. 
Ben Graham
Choosing what data to collect takes insight; making good sense of the data collected requires the classic methods.
Emanuel Derman
It isn’t the head but the stomach that determines the fate of the stock-picker. 
Peter Lynch
Diligence is the mother of good fortune.
Miguel de Cervantes
We don't have an analytical advantage, we just look in the right place. 
Seth Klarman
But something about which I feel strongly is that it’s not the things you buy and sell that make you money; it’s the things you hold. 
Howard Marks
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.
Upton Sinclair
We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful. 
Warren Buffett
Stocks aren't cheap and popular at the same time. 
Unknown
If you develop competence, have passion for what you do and approach everything with honesty, the outcome will always be fine. 
Jimmy Page
The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. 
Amelia Earhart
You are neither right nor wrong because the crowd disagrees with you. You are right because your data and reasoning are right. 
Ben Graham
Time isn’t the main thing. It’s the only thing.
Miles Davis
What is your idea of earthly happiness? To be vindicated in my own lifetime.
Christopher Hitchens
A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world.
John le Carré
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