I like to keep track of awesome stock market quotes and truisms about the stock market. I created a #markettruths hashtag on Stocktwits if you want to check in once in a while.

A couple that recently made the list are that ‘statistics provided rather bloodless answers’ and ‘losers average losers.

I got the first quote reading Michael Batnick’s excellent post The Map versus the Terrain. I love this part:

Floating in outer space and looking down on earth, one would see a perfectly smooth, spherical ball. But zoom in and you’ll find valleys drilled thousands of feet into the surface, and mountains shooting miles into the sky. There is a world of difference between glancing at a map and traversing the terrain.

Likewise, looking at the growth of a long-term investment and focusing on the destination provides little insight into the journey one experienced to get there. Adam Smith captured this idea perfectly in Supermoney when he wrote, “Statistics provided rather bloodless answers.”

There is so much investing truth in Michael’s writing.

As for losers average losers…

I am no fan of Carl Icahn on this blog. But, as an investor that has averaged into losers many times, I can sympathize a bit (not with the size) as Carl has lost $179 million so far in his Hertz investment by doubling down on his initial losing position.

His losses reminded me of this famous Paul Tudor Jones photo: