115 quotes
Take the job that you would take if you were independently wealthy.
Very, very few pension funds are managed from a value standpoint.
The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville (1984)
A venerable caution will forever be true when advice from Wall Street is contemplated: Don’t ask the barber whether you need a haircut.
I'm convinced that there is much inefficiency in the market.
The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville (1984)
Managements are frequently more conscious of what numbers they want to report than they are of what has actually transpired in a given quarter or a given year.
A very important principle in investing is that you don't have to make it back the way you lost it. And, in fact, it's usually a mistake to try and make it back it the way you lost it.
The free market's the best mechanism ever devised to put resources to their most efficient and productive use. ... The government isn't particularly good at that. But the market isn't so good at making sure that the wealth that's produced is being distributed fairly or wisely.
The best thing that happens to us is when a great company gets into temporary trouble... We want to buy them when they're on the operating table.
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.
The Warren Buffett Way 3rd Edition (2024)
Dynastic wealth, the enemy of a meritocracy, is on the rise. Equality of opportunity has been on the decline. A progressive and meaningful estate tax is needed to curb the movement of a democracy toward plutocracy.
There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace, and those who read their Graham and Dodd will continue to prosper.
The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville (1984)
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.
Warren Buffett Speaks: Wit and Wisdom from the World's Greatest Investor (1997)
Even though we issue lots of credit cards and everything, we’d say, probably, if I had one piece of advice to give to young people, you know, across the board, it would be just to don’t get in debt.
Investors should remember that excitement and expenses are their enemies. And if they insist on trying to time their participation in equities, they should try to be fearful when others are greedy and greedy only when others are fearful.
Letters to Shareholders (1957)
We dress more or less the same. I mean, I pay more for my clothes, but they look cheap when I put them on.
Criticize by category — praise by name.
Management's objective is to achieve a return on capital over the long term which averages somewhat higher than that of American industry generally — while utilizing sound accounting and debt policies.
Letters to Shareholders (1957)
More than 99% of my wealth will go to philanthropy during my lifetime or at death. Measured by dollars, this commitment is large. In a comparative sense, though, many individuals give more to others every day.
I've worked in an economy that rewards someone who saves the lives of others on a battlefield with a medal, rewards a great teacher with thank-you notes from parents, but rewards those who can detect the mispricing of securities with sums reaching into the billions.
Charlie and I never will operate Berkshire in a manner that depends on the kindness of strangers – or even that of friends who may be facing liquidity problems of their own.