If investors insist on trying to time their moves in stock markets, said Warren Buffett almost 20 years ago, they should be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy only when others are fearful.It is good contrarian stuff. And the time-honoured depiction of markets in the permanent push-pull grip of these two animal spirits has an enduring appeal because (nuance and caveats aside) it does actually explain a lot of market psychology quite neatly. The difficulty arises, as now, when greed and fear start defining themselves as the same thing.
沃伦•巴菲特(Warren Buffett)大约20年前曾说过，如果投资者一定要努力在股市中把握时机，那么他们应该在别人贪婪的时候恐惧，而只在别人恐惧的时候贪婪。这是很好的逆向投资。市场永远处于恐惧与贪婪这两种动物精神的拉锯控制下，巴菲特关于这一点的经受时间考验的精辟总结具有持久的吸引力，因为（撇开细节和警告不谈）它确实相当简洁地解释了许多市场心理。然而，当贪婪和恐惧开始将自己定义为同一件事时，困难就出现了，比如现在。