A good trading system has five elements:

1. Long-term trend following
2. Heavy position scaling
3. Strict stop-loss
4. Timely profit-taking
5. Resolute execution

Most people fail at the fifth point.

His most famous saying, still hanging on the walls of countless CTA funds:

Everyone gets the market result they want.
Those who want to make big money, the market gives them big wins and big losses;
Those who want stable profits, the market gives them small wins and small losses;
Those who want to prove they are right, the market lets them die at the very moment they are right.

Seykota summed up his life in just one sentence:

I just accepted one thing earlier than others:
The market is always right, my emotions are always wrong.

The ultimate realm of trading: Completely remove your personality from your account.

— Ed Seykota (the godfather of trend following, over 250,000% 30-year annualized return, the legend who turned $1 million into $1 billion)