Confidence in markets and in institutions, it’s a lot like oxygen. When you have it, you don’t even think about it. It’s indispensable. You can go years without thinking about it. When it’s gone for five minutes, it’s the only thing to think about.
Buy into a company because you want to own it, not because you want the stock to go up.
Invest in as much of yourself as you can, you are your own biggest asset by far.
Money will always flow toward opportunity, and there is an abundance of that in America.
If you buy things you do not need, soon you will have to sell things you need.
I’m happy when I can spend every day doing the things that I like to do. That’s my luxury.
I look at everything. That’s my job. I really do, every day. I think about everything.
Never test the depth of river with both the feet.
Managers and investors alike must understand that accounting numbers are the beginning, not the end, of business valuation.
There are three kinds of people: 1. Innovators. 2. Imitators. 3. Idiots.
Derivatives are like sex. It’s not who we’re sleeping with, it’s who they’re sleeping with that’s the problem.
Making money isn’t the backbone of our guiding purpose; it is the by-product of our guiding purpose.
To be successful, you should concentrate on the world of companies, not arcane accounting mathematics.
I think I could make you fifty percent a year on one million dollars. No, I know I could. I guarantee that.
The big question about how people behave is whether they’ve got an Inner Scorecard or an Outer Scorecard. It helps if you can be satisfied with an Inner Scorecard.
I sent one e-mail in my life. I sent it to Jeff Raikes at Microsoft, and it ended up in court in Minneapolis, so I am one for one.
We also believe candour benefits us as managers. The CEO who misleads often in public eventually misleads himself in private.
You should look at stocks as small pieces of business.
Market price, while used exclusively to value our investments in minority positions, is not a relevant factor when applied to our controlling interests.
A low-cost index fund is the most sensible equity investment for the great majority of investors. My mentor, Ben Graham, took this position many years ago, and everything I have seen since convinces me of its truth.