there are countless examples of stocks that have gone up 1000%'s...

there are countless examples of stocks that have gone up 1000%'s and come back 99%.
Mentally framing a single stock (or even 2-3) as the gateway to turning a modest sum into some life of leisure situation is fun, but statistically heavily stacked against you.

Either work into your mid 60's and invest heavily into indexes to generate a livable retirement sum (which hopefully out paces inflation), roll some dice on a few specs with no trade plan (gambling and emotional roller coaster), have someone else manage your investments and swallow the 2-3% they take and hope they out perform the indexes, or find a plan that works for you and commit to it. The last one is what all the high performing young and middle aged traders/investors do.

Warren Buffets investment approach, which despite the candid tid bits thrown around the internet, is highly complex with very advanced models. It's not just smiling granddad buying new and exciting ice cream stocks cause kids like ice cream. Everyone loves to quote him when their stocks are down as a means of mental re-fortification, but beyond that I see little understanding of what he does that's so unique in investment communities.

Anyone bleating about it being impossible to out-perform a buy and hold has A) never tried, B) Tried and failed and never set out to understand why, or C) doesn't want others to succeed.

I have the person who I assume started this discourse on ignore as their attitude was toxic and narrow minded and fits into one or two of the 3 possibilities above.