Graham succinctly captured his liberating philosophy toward market fluctuations in the famous parable of Mr. Market. Graham said to imagine you had a partner in a private business named Mr. Market. Mr. Market, the obliging fellow that he is, shows up daily to tell you what he thinks your interest in the business is worth.

On most days, the price he quotes is reasonable and justified by the business's prospects. However, Mr. Market suffers from some rather incurable emotional problems; you see, he is very temperamental. When Mr. Market is overcome by boundless optimism or bottomless pessimism, he will quote you a price that, as Graham noted, "seems to you a little short of silly." As an intelligent investor, you should not fall under Mr. Market's influence, but rather you should learn to take advantage of him.

本杰明·格雷厄姆的“市场先生”寓言故事说的是：“设想你在与一个叫市场先生的人进行股票交易，每天市场先生一定会提出一个他乐意购买你的股票或将他的股票卖给你的价格，市场先生的情绪很不稳定，因此，在有些日子市场先生很快活，只看到眼前美好的日子，这时市场先生就会报出很高的价格，其他日子，市场先生却相当懊丧只看到眼前的困难，报出的价格很低。另外市场先生还有一个可爱的特点，他不介意被人冷落，如果市场先生所说的话被人忽略了，他明天还会回来同时提出他的新报价。市场先生对我们有用的是他口袋中的报价，而不是他的智慧，如果市场先生看起来不太正常你就可以忽视他或者利用他这个弱点。但是如果你完全被他控制后果将不堪设想。”