| Saying/Quote |
Nature |
Element |
Score |
| Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing |
 |
 |
317 |
| Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken |
 |
 |
315 |
| Do a lot of reading on how to determine the value of a business |
|
 |
314 |
| The approach and strategies are very similar in that you gather all the information you can and then keep adding to that base of information as things develop. You do whatever the probabilities indicated based on the knowledge that you have at that time, but you are always willing to modify your behaviour or your approach as you get new information. In bridge, you behave in a way that gets the best from your partner. And in business, you behave in the way that gets the best from your managers and your employees |
|
|
313 |
| Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks |
|
|
310 |
| The business schools reward difficult complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective |
 |
|
309 |
| I don't look to jump over 7-foot bars: I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over |
|
|
307 |
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| One's objective should be to get it right, get it quick, get it out, and get it over. Your problem won't improve with age |
|
|
306 |
| An investor should act as though he had a lifetime decision card with just twenty punches on it |
|
|
305 |
| The critical investment factor is determining the intrinsic value of a business and paying a fair or bargain price |
|
|
305 |
| The key to investing is not assessing how much an industry is going to affect society, or how much it will grow, but rather determining the competitive advantage of any given company and, above all, the durability of that advantage |
|
|
304 |
| If you don't feel comfortable owning something for 10 years, then don't own it for 10 minutes |
|
|
303 |
| Let us do or die |
|
|
303 |
| Charlie and I decided long ago that in an investment lifetime it's too hard to make hundreds of smart decisions. That judgement became ever more compelling as Berkshire's capital mushroomed and the universe of investments that could significantly affect our results shrank dramatically. Therefore, we adopted a strategy that required our being smart - and not too smart at that - only a very few times. Indeed, we'll now settle for one good idea a year |
|
|
302 |
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| Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you should look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don't have the first, the other two will kill you. You think about it; it's true. If you hire somebody without the first, you really want them to be dumb and lazy |
|
|
302 |
| Of one thing be certain: if a CEO is enthused about a particularly foolish acquisition, both his internal staff and his outside advisors will come up with whatever projections are needed to justify his stance. Only in fairy tales are emperors told that they are naked |
|
|
301 |
| Always invest for the long term |
|
|
300 |
| The line separating investment and speculation, which is never bright and clear, becomes blurred still further when most market participants have recently enjoyed triumphs. Nothing sedates rationality like large doses of effortless money. After a heady experience of that kind, normally sensible people drift into behavior akin to that of Cinderella at the ball. They know that overstaying the festivities - that is, continuing to speculate in companies that have gigantic valuations relative to the cash they are likely to generate in the future - will eventually bring on pumpkins and mice. But they nevertheless hate to miss a single minute of what is one helluva party. Therefore, the giddy participants all plan to leave just seconds before midnight. There's a problem, though: They are dancing in a room in which the clocks have no hands |
|
|
300 |
| You ought to be able to explain why you're taking the job you're taking, why you're making the investment you're making, or whatever it may be. And if it can't stand applying pencil to paper, you'd better think it through some more. And if you can't write an intelligent answer to those questions, don't do it |
|
|
300 |
| It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently |
|
|
299 |
| Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago |
|
|
299 |
| Do not take yearly results too seriously. Instead, focus on four or five-year averages |
|
|
298 |
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| Let blockheads read what blockheads wrote |
 |
|
298 |
| You're neither right nor wrong because other people agree with you. You're right because your facts are right and your reasoning is right - and that's the only thing that makes you right. And if your facts and reasoning are right, you don't have to worry about anybody else |
|
|
298 |
| An investor should ordinarily hold a small piece of an outstanding business with the same tenacity that an owner would exhibit if he owned all of that business |
|
|
297 |
| If you don't know jewelry, know the jeweller |
|
|
297 |
| In a bull market, one must avoid the error of the preening duck that quacks boastfully after a torrential rainstorm, thinking that its paddling skills have caused it to rise in the world. A right-thinking duck would instead compare its position after the downpour to that of the other ducks on the pond |
|
|
297 |
| If you expect to be a net saver during the next 5 years, should you hope for a higher or lower stock market during that period? "Many investors get this one wrong. Even though they are going to be net buyers of stocks for many years to come, they are elated when stock prices rise and depressed when they fall."This reaction makes no sense. Only those who will be sellers of equities in the near future should be happy at seeing stocks rise. Prospective purchasers should much prefer sinking prices |
|
|
296 |
| It is optimism that is the enemy of the rational buyer |
|
|
296 |
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| There are all kinds of businesses that Charlie and I don't understand, but that doesn't cause us to stay up at night. It just means we go on to the next one, and that's what the individual investor should do |
|
|
296 |
| In my early days as a manager I, too, dated a few toads. They were cheap dates - I've never been much of a sport - but my results matched those of acquirers who courted higher-price toads. I kissed and they croaked |
|
|
295 |
| I gave a talk last year; some student at Harvard asked me, "Who should I go to work for?" I said go to work for whoever you admire the most. I got a call from the dean about two weeks later. He said, "What are you telling these kids? They're all becoming self-employed" |
|
|
295 |
| Can you really explain to a fish what it's like to walk on land? One day on land is worth a thousand years of talking about it, and one day running a business has exactly the same kind of value |
|
|
295 |
| An investor needs to do very few things right as long as he or she avoids big mistakes |
|
|
294 |
| You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out |
|
|
294 |
| I'll tell you why I like the cigarette business. It costs a penny to make. Sell it for a dollar. It's addictive. And there's fantastic brand loyalty |
|
|
294 |
| I really like my life. I've arranged my life so that I can do what I want |
|
|
293 |
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| It has always been a fantasy of mine that a boatload of 25 brokers would be shipwrecked and struggle to an island from which there could be no rescue. Faced with developing an economy that would maximize their consumption and pleasure, would they, I wonder, assign 20 of their number to produce food, clothing, shelter, etc., while setting five to trading endlessly on the future output of the 20? |
|
|
293 |
| The most common cause of low prices is pessimism - some times pervasive, some times specific to a company or industry. We want to do business in such an environment, not because we like pessimism but because we like the prices it produces. It's optimism that is the enemy of the rational buyer |
|
|
293 |
| I violated the Noah rule: Predicting rain doesn't count; building arks does |
|
|
292 |
| I won't close down a business of subnormal profitability merely to add a fraction of a point to our corporate returns. I also feel it inappropriate for even an exceptionally profitable company to fund an operation once it appears to have unending losses in prospect. Adam Smith would disagree with my first proposition and Karl Marx would disagree with my second; the middle ground is the only position that leaves me comfortable |
|
|
292 |
| I wouldn't mind going to jail if I had three cellmates who played bridge |
|
|
291 |
| It is not necessary to do extraordinary things to get extraordinary results |
|
|
291 |
| Look for companies with high profit margins |
|
|
291 |
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| Growth and value investing are joined at the hip |
|
|
290 |
| If you're in the luckiest 1 per cent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 per cent |
|
|
290 |
| The most important quality for an investor is temperament, not intellect. You need a temperament that neither derives great pleasure from being with the crowd or against the crowd |
|
|
290 |
| It is more important to say "no" to an opportunity, than to say "yes" |
|
|
289 |
| The fact that people will be full of greed, fear or folly is predictable. The sequence is not predictable |
|
|
289 |
| It's better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you'll drift in that direction |
|
|
289 |
| Of the billionaires I have known, money just brings out the basic traits in them. If they were jerks before they had money, they are simply jerks with a billion dollars |
|
|
288 |
| The ability to say "no" is a tremendous advantage for an investor |
|
|
288 |
| Diversification is a protection against ignorance. It makes very little sense for those who know what they're doing |
|
|
288 |
| Berkshire's arbitrage activities differ from those of many arbitrageurs. First, we participate in only a few, and usually very large, transactions each year. Most practitioners buy into a great many deals perhaps 50 or more per year. With that many irons in the fire, they must spend most of their time monitoring both the progress of deals and the market movements of the related stocks. This is not how Charlie nor I wish to spend our lives. What's the sense in getting rich just to stare at a ticker tape all day? |
|
|
287 |
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| Despite three years of falling prices, which have significantly improved the attractiveness of common stocks, we still find very few that even mildly interest us. That dismal fact is testimony to the insanity of valuations reached during The Great Bubble. Unfortunately, the hangover may prove to be proportional to the binge |
|
|
287 |
| Long ago, Sir Isaac Newton gave us three laws of motion, which were the work of genius. But Sir Isaac's talents didn't extend to investing: He lost a bundle in the South Sea Bubble, explaining later, "I can calculate the movement of the stars, but not the madness of men". If he had not been traumatized by this loss, Sir Isaac might well have gone on to discover the Fourth Law of Motion: For investors as a whole, returns decrease as motion increases |
|
|
286 |
| Price is what you pay. Value is what you get |
|
|
286 |
| The Stock Market is designed to transfer money from the Active to the Patient |
|
|
286 |
| Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing |
|
|
286 |
| Investors making purchases in an overheated market need to recognize that it may often take an extended period for the value of even an outstanding company to catch up with the price they paid |
|
|
285 |
| Our favorite holding period is forever |
|
|
285 |
| You do things when the opportunities come along. I've had periods in my life when I've had a bundle of ideas come along, and I've had long dry spells. If I get an idea next week, I'll do something. If not, I won't do a damn thing |
|
|
285 |
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| I don't have a problem with guilt about money. The way I see it is that my money represents an enormous number of claim checks on society. It's like I have these little pieces of paper that I can turn into consumption. If I wanted to, I could hire 10,000 people to do nothing but paint my picture every day for the rest of my life. And the GNP would go up. But the utility of the product would be zilch, and I would be keeping those 10,000 people from doing AIDS research, or teaching, or nursing. I don't do that though. I don't use very many of those claim checks. There's nothing material I want very much. And I'm going to give virtually all of those claim checks to charity when my wife and I die |
|
|
284 |
| The investor of today does not profit from yesterday's growth |
|
|
284 |
| Managers thinking about accounting issues should never forget one of Abraham Lincoln's favorite riddles: "How many legs does a dog have if you call his tail a leg?" The answer: "Four, because calling a tail a leg does not make it a leg" |
|
|
283 |
| Only buy something that you'd be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years |
|
|
283 |
| The smarter the journalists are, the better off society is. For to a degree, people read the press to inform themselves -and the better the teacher, the better the student body |
|
|
283 |
| You are neither right nor wrong because the crowd disagrees with you. You are right because your data and reasoning are right |
|
|
283 |
| Warren Buffet Quotes - Ultimate ESQ Warren Buffet Quotes Collection |
| Just as work expands to fill available time, corporate projects or acquisitions will materialize to soak up available funds. Any business craving of the leader, however foolish, will be quickly supported by detailed rate-of-return and strategic studies prepared by his troops |
|
 |
282 |
| There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning |
|
|
282 |
| If you gave me the choice of being CEO of General Electric or IBM or General Motors, you name it, or delivering papers, I would deliver papers. I would. I enjoyed doing that. I can think about what I want to think. I don't have to do anything I don't want to do |
|
|
281 |
| A very rich person should leave his kids enough to do anything but not enough to do nothing |
|
|
280 |
| Lethargy, bordering on sloth should remain the cornerstone of an investment style |
|
|
280 |
| Occasionally, a man must rise above principles |
|
|
280 |
| Does management resist the institutional imperative? |
|
|
279 |
| Gold gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head |
|
|
279 |
| Warren Buffet Quotes - Ultimate ESQ Warren Buffet Quotes Collection |
| Never count on making a good sale. Have the purchase price be so attractive that even a mediocre sale gives good results |
|
|
279 |
| When returns on capital are ordinary, an earn-more-by-putting-up-more record is no great managerial achievement. You can get the same result personally while operating from your rocking chair. just quadruple the capital you commit to a savings account and you will quadruple your earnings. You would hardly expect hosannas for that particular accomplishment. Yet, retirement announcements regularly sing the praises of CEOs who have, say, quadrupled earnings of their widget company during their reign - with no one examining whether this gain was attributable simply to many years of retained earnings and the workings of compound interest |
|
|
279 |
| I'd be a bum on the street with a tin cup if the markets were always efficient |
|
|
278 |
| Success in investing doesn't correlate with I.Q. once you're above the level of 125. Once you have ordinary intelligence, what you need is the temperament to control the urges that get other people into trouble in investing |
|
|
278 |
| I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful |
|
|
277 |
| If compensation isn't an expense, what is it? |
|
|
277 |
| Never invest in a business you cannot understand |
|
|
276 |
| If a business does well, the stock eventually follows |
|
|
276 |
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| A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought |
|
|
275 |
| Buy a business, don't rent stocks |
|
|
275 |
| In the insurance business, there is no statute of limitation on stupidity |
|
|
275 |
| The perfect amount of money to leave children is enough money so that they would feel they could do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing |
|
|
275 |
| When Berkshire buys common stock, we approach the transaction as if we were buying into a private business |
|
|
275 |
| Take me as an example. I happen to have a talent for allocating capital. But my ability to use that talent is completely dependent on the society I was born into. If I'd been born into a tribe of hunters, this talent of mine would be pretty worthless. I can't run very fast. I'm not particularly strong. I'd probably end up as some wild animal's dinner |
|
|
274 |
| When a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is usually the reputation of the business that remains intact |
|
|
274 |
| You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don't do too many things wrong |
|
|
273 |
| Remember that the stock market is manic-depressive |
|
|
270 |
| The important thing is to keep playing, to play against weak opponents and to play for big stakes |
|
|
270 |
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| Unless you can watch your stock holding decline by 50% without becoming panic-stricken, you should not be in the stock market |
|
|
270 |
| If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians |
|
|
269 |
| If you're an investor, you're looking on what the asset is going to do, if you're a speculator, you're commonly focusing on what the price of the object is going to do, and that's not our game |
|
|
269 |
| Working with people who cause your stomach to churn seems much like marrying for money - probably a bad idea under any circumstances, but absolute madness if you are already rich |
|
|
269 |
| The speed at which a business success is recognized, furthermore, is not that important as long as the company's intrinsic value is increasing at a satisfactory rate. In fact, delayed recognition can be an advantage: It may give us the chance to buy more of a good thing at a bargain price |
|
|
268 |
| Wall Street is the only place that people ride to work in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway |
|
|
268 |
| We have tried occasionally to buy toads at bargain prices with results that have been chronicled in past reports. Clearly our kisses fell flat. We have done well with a couple of princes - but they were princes when purchased. At least our kisses didn't turn them into toads. And, finally, we have occasionally been quite successful in purchasing fractional interests in easily-identifiable princes at toad-like prices |
|
|
268 |
| I always knew I was going to be rich. I don't think I ever doubted it for a minute |
|
|
267 |
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| Our future rates of gain will fall far short of those achieved in the past. Berkshire's capital base is now simply too large to allow us to earn truly outsized returns. If you believe otherwise, you should consider a career in sales but avoid one in mathematics |
|
|
267 |
| We believe that according the name "investors" to institutions that trade actively is like calling someone who repeatedly engages in one-night stands a "romantic" |
|
|
267 |
| I am out of step with present conditions. When the game is no longer played your way, it is only human to say the new approach is all wrong, bound to lead to trouble, and so on. On one point, however, I am clear. I will not abandon a previous approach whose logic I understand even though it may mean foregoing large, and apparently easy, profits to embrace an approach which I don't fully understand, have not practiced successfully, and which possibly could lead to substantial permanent loss of capital |
|
|
266 |
| One of the ironies of the stock market is the emphasis on activity. Brokers, using terms such as "marketability" and "liquidity", sing the praises of companies with high share turnover. But investors should understand that what is good for the croupier is not good for the customer. A hyperactive stock market is the pick pocket of enterprise |
|
|
266 |
| The stock market is a no-called-strike game. You don't have to swing at everything - you can wait for your pitch. The problem when you're a money manager is that your fans keep yelling, "Swing, you bum!" |
|
|
266 |
| Value is what you get |
|
|
266 |
| If you have a harem of 40 women, you never get to know any of them very well |
|
|
265 |
| If you understood a business perfectly and the future of the business, you would need very little in the way of a margin of safety. So, the more vulnerable the business is, assuming you still want to invest in it, the larger margin of safety you'd need. If you're driving a truck across a bridge that says it holds 10,000 pounds and you've got a 9,800 pound vehicle, if the bridge is 6 inches above the crevice it covers, you may feel okay, but if it's over the Grand Canyon, you may feel you want a little larger margin of safety |
|
|
264 |
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| Time is the friend of the wonderful company, the enemy of the mediocre |
|
|
264 |
| We will only do with your money what we would do with our own |
|
|
264 |
| We've long felt that the only value of stock forecasters is to make fortune tellers look good. Even now, Charlie and I continue to believe that short-term market forecasts are poison and should be kept locked up in a safe place, away from children and also from grown-ups who behave in the market like children |
|
|
264 |
| I never buy anything unless I can fill out on a piece of paper my reasons. I may be wrong, but I would know the answer to that. "I'm paying $32 billion today for the Coca Cola Company because..." If you can't answer that question, you shouldn't buy it. If you can answer that question, and you do it a few times, you'll make a lot of money |
|
|
263 |
| Time is the enemy of the poor business and the friend of the great business. If you have a business that's earning 20%-25% on equity, time is your friend. But time is your enemy if your money is in a low return business |
|
|
263 |
| Risk can be greatly reduced by concentrating on only a few holdings |
|
|
263 |
| Ben's Mr. Market allegory may seem out-of-date in today's investment world, in which most professionals and academicians talk of efficient markets, dynamic hedging and betas. Their interest in such matters is understandable, since techniques shrouded in mystery clearly have value to the purveyor of investment advice. After all, what witch doctor has ever achieved fame and fortune by simply advising "Take two aspirins"? |
|
|
262 |
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| If they need my help to manage the enterprise, we're probably both in trouble |
|
|
262 |
| I've reluctantly discarded the notion of my continuing to manage the portfolio after my death - abandoning my hope to give new meaning to the term "thinking outside the box" |
|
|
262 |
| Rule No.1: Never lose money. Rule No.2: Never forget rule No.1 |
|
|
262 |
| We're more comfortable in that kind of business. It means we miss a lot of very big winners. But we wouldn't know how to pick them out anyway. It also means we have very few big losers - and that's quite helpful over time. We're perfectly willing to trade away a big payoff for a certain payoff |
|
|
262 |
| I just don't see anything available that gives any reasonable hope of delivering such a good year and I have no desire to grope around, hoping to "get lucky" with other people's money. I am not attuned to this market environment, and I don't want to spoil a decent record by trying to play a game I don't understand just so I can go out a hero |
|
|
261 |
| The .350 hitter expects, and also deserves, a big payoff for his performance - even if he plays for a cellar-dwelling team. And a .150 hitter should get no reward - even if he plays for a pennant winner |
|
|
261 |
| There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult |
|
|
261 |
| Wild swings in share prices have more to do with the "lemming-like" behaviour of institutional investors than with the aggregate returns of the company they own |
|
|
261 |
| If I was running $1 million today, or $10 million for that matter, I'd be fully invested. Anyone who says that size does not hurt investment performance is selling. The highest rates of return I've ever achieved were in the 1950s. I killed the Dow. You ought to see the numbers. But I was investing peanuts then. It's a huge structural advantage not to have a lot of money. I think I could make you 50% a year on $1 million. No, I know I could. I guarantee that |
|
|
260 |
| Most people get interested in stocks when everyone else is. The time to get interested is when no one else is. You can't buy what is popular and do well |
|
|
259 |
| The managers at fault periodically report on the lesson they have learned from the latest disappointment. They then usually seek out future lessons |
|
|
259 |
| In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield |
|
|
258 |
| Warren Buffet Quotes - Ultimate ESQ Warren Buffet Quotes Collection |
| Much success can be attributed to inactivity. Most investors cannot resist the temptation to constantly buy and sell |
|
|
258 |
| Turn-arounds seldom turn |
|
|
258 |
| You leave yourself an enormous margin of safety. You build a bridge that 30,000-pound trucks can go across and then you drive 10,000-pound trucks across it. That is the way I like to go across bridges |
|
|
258 |
| I am quite serious when I say that I do not believe there are, on the whole earth besides, so many intensified bores as in these United States. No man can form an adequate idea of the real meaning of the word, without coming here |
|
|
257 |
| Stop trying to predict the direction of the stock market, the economy, interest rates, or elections |
|
|
256 |
| Sometimes you're outside your core competency. Level 3 is one of those times but I've made a bet on the people and I feel I understand the people. There was a time when people made a bet on me |
|
|
255 |
| The future is never clear, and you pay a very high price in the stock market for a cheery consensus. Uncertainty is the friend of the buyer of long-term values |
|
|
255 |
| Calculate "owner earnings" to get a true reflection of value |
|
|
254 |
| Warren Buffet Quotes - Ultimate ESQ Warren Buffet Quotes Collection |
| It's got to be the best intellectual exercise out there. You're seeing through new situations every ten minutes…In the stock market you don't base your decisions on what the market is doing, but on what you think is rational….Bridge is about weighing gain/loss ratios. You're doing calculations all the time |
|
|
254 |
| Look at market fluctuations as your friend rather than your enemy; profit from folly rather than participate in it |
|
|
254 |
| Many stock options in the corporate world have worked in exactly that fashion: they have gained in value simply because management retained earnings, not because it did well with the capital in its hands |
|
|
254 |
| Your premium brand had better be delivering something special, or it's not going to get the business |
|
|
254 |
| Buy companies with strong histories of profitability and with a dominant business franchise |
|
|
253 |
| We don't get paid for activity, just for being right. As to how long we'll wait, we'll wait indefinitely |
|
|
253 |
| If expenses shouldn't go into the calculation of earnings, where in the world should they go? |
|
|
252 |
| Warren Buffet Quotes - Ultimate ESQ Warren Buffet Quotes Collection |
| Risk is a part of God's game, alike for men and nations |
|
|
252 |
| The advice "you never go broke taking a profit" is foolish |
|
|
252 |
| As a group, lemmings have a rotten image, but no individual lemming has ever received bad press |
|
|
249 |
| We will reject interesting opportunities rather than over-leverage our balance sheet |
|
|
248 |
| If options aren't a form of compensation, what are they? |
|
|
246 |
| It's class warfare, my class is winning, but they shouldn't be |
|
|
246 |
| As far as you are concerned, the stock market does not exist. Ignore it |
|
|
245 |
| For some reason, people take their cues from price action rather than from values. What doesn't work is when you start doing things that you don't understand or because they worked last week for somebody else. The dumbest reason in the world to buy a stock is because it's going up |
|
|
245 |
| Warren Buffet Quotes - Ultimate ESQ Warren Buffet Quotes Collection |
| The strategy we've adopted precludes our following standard diversification dogma. Many pundits would therefore say the strategy must be riskier than that employed by more conventional investors. We disagree. We believe that a policy of portfolio concentration may well decrease risk if it raises, as it should, both the intensity with which an investor thinks about a business and the comfort-level he must feel with its economic characteristics before buying into it |
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242 |
| I like to go for cinches. I like to shoot fish in a barrel. But I like to do it after the water has run out |
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240 |
| We do not view the company itself as the ultimate owner of our business assets but instead view the company as a conduit through which our shareholders own assets |
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240 |
| I call investing the greatest business in the world because you never have to swing. You stand at the plate, the pitcher throws you General Motors at 47! U.S. Steel at 39! and nobody calls a strike on you. There's no penalty except opportunity lost. All day you wait for the pitch you like; then when the fielders are asleep, you step up and hit it |
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239 |
| It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price |
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235 |
| A story that was passed down from Ben Graham illustrates the lemminglike behavior of the crowd: "Let me tell you the story of the oil prospector who met St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. When told his occupation, St. Peter said, "Oh, I'm really sorry. You seem to meet all the tests to get into heaven. But we've got a terrible problem. See that pen over there? That's where we keep the oil prospectors waiting to get into heaven. And it's filled - we haven't got room for even one more." The oil prospector thought for a minute and said, "Would you mind if I just said four words to those folks?" "I can't see any harm in that," said St. Pete. So the old-timer cupped his hands and yelled out, "Oil discovered in hell!" Immediately, the oil prospectors wrenched the lock off the door of the pen and out they flew, flapping their wings as hard as they could for the lower regions. "You know, that's a pretty good trick," St. Pete said. "Move in. The place is yours. You've got plenty of room." The old fellow scratched his head and said, "No. If you don't mind, I think I'll go along with the rest of 'em. There may be some truth to that rumor after all |
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234 |
| Warren Buffet Quotes - Ultimate ESQ Warren Buffet Quotes Collection |
| Investors should remember that excitement and expenses are their enemies |
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234 |
| I want to be able to explain my mistakes. This means I do only the things I completely understand |
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232 |
| Why not invest your assets in the companies you really like? As Mae West said, "Too much of a good thing can be wonderful" |
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230 |
| A girl in a convertible is worth five in the phonebook |
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222 |
| I never attempt to make money on the stock market. I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years |
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222 |
| This time Congress should listen to the slim accountants. The logic behind their thinking is simple |
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220 |
| Accounting consequences do not influence our operating or capital-allocation decisions. When acquisition costs are similar, we much prefer to purchase $2 of earnings that is not reportable by us under standard accounting principles than to purchase $1 of earnings that is reportable |
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215 |
| Warren Buffet Quotes - Ultimate ESQ Warren Buffet Quotes Collection |
| An irresistable footnote: in 1971, pension fund managers invested a record 122% of net funds available in equities - at full prices they couldn't buy enough of them. In 1974, after the bottom had fallen out, they committed a then record low of 21% to stocks |
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214 |
| Those who attended last year saw your Chairman pitch to Ernie Banks. This encounter proved to be the titanic duel that the sports world had long awaited. After the first few pitches, I fired a brushback at Ernie just to let him know who was in command. Ernie charged the mound, and I charged the plate. But a clash was avoided because we became exhausted before reaching each other |
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214 |
| We enjoy the process far more than the proceeds |
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202 |
| Focus on return on equity, not earnings per share |
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199 |
| I buy expensive suits. They just look cheap on me |
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198 |
| Does the business have a consistent operating history? |
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186 |
| Warren Buffet Quotes - Ultimate ESQ Warren Buffet Quotes Collection |
| When they open that envelope, the first instruction is to take my pulse again |
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180 |
| Does the business have favourable long term prospects? |
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178 |
| First, many in Wall Street - a community in which quality control is not prized - will sell investors anything they will buy |
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175 |
| The only time to buy these is on a day with no "y" in it |
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174 |
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