Jesse Livermore again, in Reminiscences of a Stock Operator:
The public might profitably consider the disadvantages under which it labours when it tries to make money buying and selling the stock of a company concerning whose affairs only a few are in position to know the whole truth.
In other words: the public always gets screwed.
I’ve really enjoyed this book, even as someone with little interest in the stock market. Livermore’s depiction of Wall Street in the early 1900s confirms much of what you might already expect: financial forecasts are garbage, stock tips are phony, and anyone who speculates long enough ends up broke. What’s remarkable is how little has changed since then.
Things didn’t end well for Livermore. He ran out of money and ended his own life several years after the book was published. This gave an air of prophecy to the stories he told about other traders that died. His era may be approaching it’s centennial but his advice remains timeless: do your homework, trust your gut, and learn from your mistakes quickly.