Rule No. 1:
Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No. 1."
2. "A very rich
person should leave his kids enough to do anything, but not enough to do
nothing."
3. "It’s class
warfare; my class is winning, but they shouldn’t be."
4. "If you’re in
the luckiest 1% of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about
the other 99%."
5. "It takes 20
years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about
that, you’ll do things differently."
6. "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."
7. "The business
schools reward difficult complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple
behavior is more effective."
8. "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."
9. "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."
10. "You only
have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don’t do too
many things wrong."
11. "It’s far
better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a
wonderful price."
12. "Only buy
something that you’d be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10
years."
13. "We simply
attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others
are fearful."
14. "Risk is a
part of God’s game, alike for men and nations."
15. "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."
16. "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.'"
17. "Chains of
habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken."
18. "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."
19. "Let
blockheads read what blockheads wrote."
20. "Our
favorite holding period is forever."
21. "I don't
look to jump over seven-foot bars; I look around for one-foot bars that I can
step over."
22. "If a
business does well, the stock eventually follows."
23. "Why not
invest your assets in the companies you really like? As Mae West said, 'Too
much of a good thing can be wonderful.'"
24. "Price is
what you pay. Value is what you get."
25. "Wide
diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are
doing."
26. "Time is the
friend of the wonderful company, the enemy of the mediocre."
27. "Only when
the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked."
28. "In the
business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the
windshield."
29. "Risk comes
from not knowing what you're doing."
30. "Look at
market fluctuations as your friend rather than your enemy; profit from folly
rather than participate in it."
31. "There seems
to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things
difficult."
32. "If you are
in a poker game and after 20 minutes you don't know who the patsy is, then
you’re the patsy."
33. "Wall Street
is the only place that people ride to in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those
who take the subway."
34. "The rich
invest in time, the poor invest in money."
35. "Beware of
geeks bearing formulas."
36. "Without
passion, you don't have energy. Without energy, you have nothing."
37. "I get to do
what I like to do every single day of the year."
38. "I never
attempt to make money on the stock market. I buy on assumption they could close
the market the next day and not re-open it for five years."
39. "If past
history was all that is needed to play the game of money, the richest people
would be librarians."
40. "The
investor of today does not profit from yesterday’s growth."
41. "The smarter
the journalists are, the better off the society is to a degree. People read the
press to inform themselves; and the better the teacher, the better the student
body."
42. "We enjoy
the process far more than the proceeds."
43. "Focus on
your customers and lead your people as though their lives depend on your
success."
44. "I have no
idea on timing. It’s easier to tell what will happen than when it will happen.
I would say that what is going on in terms of trade policy is going to have
very important consequences."
45. "Cash never
makes us happy. It’s better to have the money burning a hole in Berkshire’s
pocket than resting comfortably in someone else’s."
46. "Never
invest in a business you can’t understand."
47. "Derivatives
are financial weapons of mass destruction."
48. "We've used
derivatives for many, many years. I don't think derivatives are evil, per se, I
think they are dangerous. ...So we use lots of things daily that are dangerous,
but we generally pay some attention to how they're used. We tell the cars how fast they can go."
49. "Only when
you combine sound intellect with emotional discipline do you get rational
behavior."
50. "I buy
expensive suits. They just look cheap on me."
