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Warren Buffett

113 quotes

• “I happen to have a talent for allocating capital. But my ability to use that talent is completely dependent on the society I was born into. If I'd been born into a tribe of hunters, this talent of mine would be pretty worthless. I can't run very fast. I'm not particularly strong. I'd probably end up as some wild animal's dinner. But I was lucky enough to be born in a time and place where society values my talent, and gave me a good education to develop that talent, and set up the laws and the financial system to let me do what I love doing — and make a lot of money doing it. The least I can do is help pay for all that.”

  Warren Buffett (born 1930) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: To Barack Obama, as quoted in The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (2006), Ch. 5

• “You know, if I'm playing bridge and a naked woman walks by, I don't ever see her — don't test me on that! ... You know, I wouldn't mind going to jail if I had the right three cell mates, so we could play bridge all the time. ... It takes some investment to play it ... I mean, you cannot sit down and learn how to play it like most games. ... There's a lotta lessons in it ... you have to look at all the facts. You have to draw inferences from what you've seen, what you've heard. You have to discard improper theories about what the hand had as more evidence comes in sometimes. You have to be open to a possible change of course if you get new information. You have to work with a partner, particularly on defense.”

  Warren Buffett (born 1930) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: As quoted in "Bringing Back Bridge" at CBS News (16 February 2008)

• “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. Millions of people who regularly contribute to churches, schools, and other organizations thereby relinquish the use of funds that would otherwise benefit their own families. The dollars these people drop into a collection plate or give to United Way mean forgone movies, dinners out, or other personal pleasures. In contrast, my family and I will give up nothing we need or want by fulfilling this 99% pledge. Moreover, this pledge does not leave me contributing the most precious asset, which is time. Many people, including — I'm proud to say — my three children, give extensively of their own time and talents to help others. Gifts of this kind often prove far more valuable than money.”

  Warren Buffett (born 1930) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: My Philanthropic Pledge" at The Giving Pledge (2010)

• “Some material things make my life more enjoyable; many, however, would not. I like having an expensive private plane, but owning a half-dozen homes would be a burden. Too often, a vast collection of possessions ends up possessing its owner. The asset I most value, aside from health, is interesting, diverse, and long-standing friends. My wealth has come from a combination of living in America, some lucky genes, and compound interest. Both my children and I won what I call the ovarian lottery. (For starters, the odds against my 1930 birth taking place in the U.S. were at least 30 to 1. My being male and white also removed huge obstacles that a majority of Americans then faced.) My luck was accentuated by my living in a market system that sometimes produces distorted results, though overall it serves our country well. 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. In short, fate's distribution of long straws is wildly capricious. The reaction of my family and me to our extraordinary good fortune is not guilt, but rather gratitude. Were we to use more than 1% of my claim checks on ourselves, neither our happiness nor our well-being would be enhanced. In contrast, that remaining 99% can have a huge effect on the health and welfare of others. That reality sets an obvious course for me and my family: Keep all we can conceivably need and distribute the rest to society, for its needs. My pledge starts us down that course.”

  Warren Buffett (born 1930) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: My Philanthropic Pledge" at The Giving Pledge (2010)

• “My old boss, Ben Graham, told me very early on you get more trouble with a good idea than a bad idea, because the good idea works. I mean, it's a good idea to buy a home, for example. And then people go crazy sometimes. The good idea works, and it works, and it works. Stocks work out better than bonds most of the time. And, after a while, people forget that there were some other limiting conditions. With Edgar Lawrence Smith's book, it was that when bonds yield the same as stocks — which was the case then — the stocks are going to outperform because they have this retained earnings. So stocks started going up in the Twenties and all of a sudden they were selling at 5 or 6 times the prices as when they bought the book. And the original correct perception on his part had experienced changing conditions, but people ... got their confirmation through stock prices. That's what happens in bull markets. People start out thinking stocks are cheap, and then they start thinking stocks have gone up. And, a stock can be a good buy or a bad buy. A bond can be a good buy or a bad buy. It depends on price.”

  Warren Buffett (born 1930) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “When returns on capital are ordinary, an earn-more-by-putting-up-more record is no great managerial achievement. You can get the same result personally while operating from your rocking chair. Just quadruple the capital you commit to a savings account and you will quadruple your earnings. You would hardly expect hosannas for that particular accomplishment. Yet, retirement announcements regularly sing the praises of CEOs who have, say, quadrupled earnings of their widget company during their reign — with no one examining whether this gain was attributable simply to many years of retained earnings and the workings of compound interest.”

  Warren Buffett (born 1930) first seen 1985 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: 1985 Chairman's Letter

• “Indeed, if you aren't certain that you understand and can value your business far better than Mr. Market, you don't belong in the game. As they say in poker, "If you've been in the game 30 minutes and you don't know who the patsy is, you're the patsy." Ben's Mr. Market allegory may seem out-of-date in today's investment world, in which most professionals and academicians talk of efficient markets, dynamic hedging and betas. Their interest in such matters is understandable, since techniques shrouded in mystery clearly have value to the purveyor of investment advice. After all, what witch doctor has ever achieved fame and fortune by simply advising "Take two aspirins"?”

  Warren Buffett (born 1930) first seen 1987 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: 1987 Chairman's Letter

• “The sad fact is that most major acquisitions display an egregious imbalance: They are a bonanza for the shareholders of the acquiree; they increase the income and status of the acquirer's management; and they are a honey pot for the investment bankers and other professionals on both sides. But, alas, they usually reduce the wealth of the acquirer's shareholders, often to a substantial extent. That happens because the acquirer typically gives up more intrinsic value than it receives. Do that enough, says John Medlin, the retired head of Wachovia Corp., and "you are running a chain letter in reverse." ... The acquisition problem is often compounded by a biological bias: Many CEOs attain their position in part because they possess an abundance of animal spirits and ego.”

  Warren Buffett (born 1930) first seen 1995 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: 1995 Chairman's Letter

• “Of course, Charlie and I can identify only a few Inevitables, even after a lifetime of looking for them. Leadership alone provides no certainties: Witness the shocks some years back at General Motors, IBM and Sears, all of which had enjoyed long periods of seeming invincibility. Though some industries or lines of business exhibit characteristics that endow leaders with virtually insurmountable advantages, and that tend to establish Survival of the Fattest as almost a natural law, most do not. Thus, for every Inevitable, there are dozens of Impostors, companies now riding high but vulnerable to competitive attacks.”

  Warren Buffett (born 1930) first seen 1996 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: 1996 Chairman's Letter

• “But now for the final exam: If you expect to be a net saver during the next five years, should you hope for a higher or lower stock market during that period? Many investors get this one wrong. Even though they are going to be net buyers of stocks for many years to come, they are elated when stock prices rise and depressed when they fall. In effect, they rejoice because prices have risen for the "hamburgers" they will soon be buying. This reaction makes no sense. Only those who will be sellers of equities in the near future should be happy at seeing stocks rise. Prospective purchasers should much prefer sinking prices.”

  Warren Buffett (born 1930) first seen 1997 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: 1997 Chairman's Letter

• “The line separating investment and speculation, which is never bright and clear, becomes blurred still further when most market participants have recently enjoyed triumphs. Nothing sedates rationality like large doses of effortless money. After a heady experience of that kind, normally sensible people drift into behavior akin to that of Cinderella at the ball. They know that overstaying the festivities—that is, continuing to speculate in companies that have gigantic valuations relative to the cash they are likely to generate in the future—will eventually bring on pumpkins and mice. But they nevertheless hate to miss a single minute of what is one helluva party. Therefore, the giddy participants all plan to leave just seconds before midnight. There's a problem, though: They are dancing in a room in which the clocks have no hands.”

  Warren Buffett (born 1930) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: 2000 Chairman's Letter

• “The problem with municipal finance generally is that, you know, Neville Chamberlain said “not in our time,” in terms of peace and, basically, many politicians think “not in my time” when they’re dealing with fiscal matters. The pension situation, first states, then cities, and so-on, you… it’s absolutely terrible, because really don’t wanna face – they want, they can give promises now which translate into votes, and they don’t really have to with the pensions they really don’t have to deliver on those until they’re long gone. And Puerto Rico, they’ve been kicking the can down the road for a long time, and they even raised new money, I think, not much more than a year ago, a very high price for hedge funds. The answer to financial problems is not more borrowing, more borrowing, but they’ll do it as long as they can and finally the day of reckoning comes and it would have been so much easier to tackle the problem earlier and no, you know, you got all different classes of bondholders and other claimants and they’re gonna fight like crazy. Charlie [Munger] always says, he says, “an ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure,” and now you’re in the cure stage in Puerto Rico. "Buffett on Puerto Rico's debt crisis" CNBC (2 May 2016)”

  Warren Buffett (born 1930) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “There's no question that trade can be an act of war, and I think it's led to bad things like the attitudes it's brought out in the United States. We should be looking to trade with the rest of the world. We should do what we do best, and they should do what they do best. With eight countries possessing nuclear weapons, including a few I would call quite unstable, I don't think it's a great idea to design a world where a few countries say, "Haha, we've won" while other countries are envious. … The main thing is that trade should not be a weapon. The United States has become an incredibly important country starting from nothing 250 years ago — there's never been anything like it. And it's a big mistake when you have 7.5 billion people who don't like you very well and you have 300 million people crowing about how well they've done. I don't think it's right and I don't think it's wise. The more prosperous the rest of the world becomes, it won't be at our expense — the more prosperous we'll become and the safer we'll feel and your children will feel someday.”

  Warren Buffett (born 1930) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source