I am currently in Omaha to attend the Berkshire Hathaway AGM.
To prepare, I compiled his 100 best quotes in a thread
Here we go:
1. Rule No. 1 is never lose money. Rule No. 2 is never forget Rule No.
2. Diversification is a protection against ignorance. It makes very little sense for those who know what they're doing.
2. Diversification is a protection against ignorance. It makes very little sense for those who know what they're doing.
3. Do not take yearly results too seriously. Instead, focus on four or five-year averages.
4. All there is to investing is picking good stocks at good times and staying with them as long as they remain good companies.
4. All there is to investing is picking good stocks at good times and staying with them as long as they remain good companies.
5. American business - and consequently a basket of stocks - is virtually certain to be worth far more in the years ahead.
6. An investor should act as though he had a lifetime decision card with just twenty punches on it.
6. An investor should act as though he had a lifetime decision card with just twenty punches on it.
7. 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.
8. Success in investing doesn't correlate with IQ ... what you need is the temperament to control the urges that get other people into trouble in investing.
9. Bitcoin has no unique value at all.
9. Bitcoin has no unique value at all.
10. Buy a stock the way you would buy a house. Understand and like it such that you'd be content to own it in the absence of any market.
11. I insist on a lot of time being spent, almost every day, to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in American business.
11. I insist on a lot of time being spent, almost every day, to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in American business.
12. The years ahead will occasionally deliver major market declines - even panics - that will affect virtually all stocks. No one can tell you when these traumas will occur.
13. Wall Street is the only place that people ride to in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway.
14. Buy companies with strong histories of profitability and with a dominant business franchise.
14. Buy companies with strong histories of profitability and with a dominant business franchise.
15. For the investor, a too-high purchase price for the stock of an excellent company can undo the effects of a subsequent decade of favorable business developments.
16. I believe in giving my kids enough so they can do anything, but not so much that they can do nothing.
16. I believe in giving my kids enough so they can do anything, but not so much that they can do nothing.
17. The world went mad. What we learn from history is that people don’t learn from history.
18. 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.
19. Among the various propositions offered to you, if you invested in a very low cost index fund - where you don't put the money in at one time, but average in over 10 years - you'll do better than 90% of people who start investing at the same time.
20. Because if you're wrong and rates go to 2 percent, which I don't think they will, you pay it off. It's a one-way renegotiation. It is an incredibly attractive instrument for the homeowner and you've got a one-way bet.
21. Cash is to a business as oxygen is to an individual: never thought about when it is present, the only thing in mind when it is absent.
22. Don't get caught up with what other people are doing. Being a contrarian isn't the key but being a crowd follower isn't either. You need to detach yourself emotionally.
23. For 240 years it's been a terrible mistake to bet against America, and now is no time to start.
24. 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.
24. 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.
25. I have no views as to where gold will be. Whereas, you know, Coca-Cola will be making money. It's it's a lot better to have a goose that keeps laying eggs than a goose that just sits there and eats insurance and storage and a few things like that.
26. I just sit in my office and read all day.
27. I won't say if my candidate doesn't win, and probably half the time they haven't, I'm going to take my ball and go home
27. I won't say if my candidate doesn't win, and probably half the time they haven't, I'm going to take my ball and go home
28. If returns are going to be 7 or 8 percent and you're paying 1 percent for fees, that makes an enormous difference in how much money you're going to have in retirement.
29. We want products where people feel like kissing you instead of slapping you.
29. We want products where people feel like kissing you instead of slapping you.
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