From one of my favorite books "John Neff on investing" :

• If we shared a compartment on a long train ride, what you read here is what I would tell you about investing.
• Individuals enjoy a key advantage over professionals, you can pick and choose and bide your time unflustered by the fierce and corrosive quarterly performance sweepstakes.
• Value investing demands sober reflection. Scarce to begin with, and even scarcer in bull markets.
• Now and then a windfall, but mostly a trudge. If you're in too big a hurry, a mattress may be better to store your money.
• I attribute success not to genius or blinding insights, but to a frugal nature and lessons well-learned.
• The more I delve into the past, the more I see lessons that ultimately played out in my choice of career. Perseverance, sympathy for the woebegone, frugality, stubbornness, and integrity, together with an inclination to flout convention and a penchant for rigorous analysis-these qualities form the building blocks for a successful investment strategy.
• Shortcuts usually grease the rails to disappointing outcomes.
• Bargain shopping made an impression on me. I've never bought a stock unless it was on sale.
• I was probably not the easiest of sons to deal with, but he was a difficult man. Over the slightest infractions, he harangued people who worked for him. His behavior did not fit my definition of civility. Though ethical and honest, he was extremely demanding and especially sympathetic. To some degree, I inherited his tendency to be demanding. But my father was not very happy, and bitterness added sting to his demands.
• The capacity of investors to believe in something too good to be true seems almost infinite at times.
• We followed one durable investment style whether the market was up, down or indifferent. (Low P/E, Growth excess of 7%, Yield protection, Solid companies in growing fields, Strong fundamental case)
• You don't need stunning growth rates. Absent stunning growth rates, low P/E stocks can capture the wonders of P/E expansion with less risk than skittish growth stocks.An increase in the P/E ration coupled with improved earnings, turbocharges the appreciation potential. e.g. (Static P/E : EPS - $2, Market price - $26, P/E - 13, Growth - 11%, Expected earnings - $2.22, New P/E - 13, New Market price - $28.86, Appreciation potential - 11% VS Expanded P/E : EPS - $2, Market price - $16, P/E - 8, Growth rate - 11%, Expected Earnings - $2.22, New P/E - 11, New Market price - $24.42, Appreciation potential - 53%)
• Windsor was not fancy. As in tennis, I tried to keep the ball in play and let my adversaries make the mistakes. I picked stocks with low p/e multiples primed to be upgraded in the market if they were deserving, and endeavored to keep losers at break-even levels.
• For Windsor's purposes, a low p/e multiple usually languished 40-60% below the prevailing market multiples.
• Low p/e companies growing faster than 7% a year tipped us off to underappreciated signs of life, particularly if accompanied by an attention-getting dividend.
• When news circluates that a company has missed an earnings estimate, it is normally compared to a consensus. If the company's fundamentals remain strong, low p/e investors often recognize buying opportunities.