Accounting is the language of business.
The fact that people will be full of greed, fear, or folly is predictable. The sequence is not predictable.
Today people who hold cash equivalents feel comfortable. They shouldn’t. They have opted for a terrible long-term asset, one that pays virtually nothing and is certain to depreciate in value.
Cash never makes us happy, but it’s better to have the money burning a hole in Berkshire’s pocket than resting comfortably in someone else’s.
The critical investment factor is determining the intrinsic value of a business and paying a fair or bargain price.
Never depend on a single income. Make investments to create a second source.
Diversification may preserve wealth, but concentration builds wealth.
Only when you combine sound intellect with emotional discipline do you get rational behavior.
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.
In some corner of the world they are probably still holding regular meetings of the Flat Earth Society. We derive no comfort because important people, vocal people, or great numbers of people agree with us. Nor do we derive comfort if they don’t.
If you gave me $100 billion and said take away the soft drink leadership of Coca-Cola in the world, I’d give it back to you and say it can’t be done.
I wouldn’t mind going to jail if I had three cellmates who played bridge.
We have long felt that the only value of stock forecasters is to make fortune-tellers look good.
A prediction about the direction of the stock market tells you nothing about where stocks are headed, but a whole lot about the person doing the predicting.
Risk can be greatly reduced by concentrating on only a few holdings.
I really like my life. I’ve arranged my life so that I can do what I want.
It’s class warfare; my class is winning, but they shouldn’t be.
The stock market is a no-called-strike game. You don’t have to swing at everything – you can wait for your pitch.
Money is not everything. Make sure you earn a lot before speaking such nonsense.
There is no perfect mathematical formula for pricing a business.