Authors:

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

Warren Buffett Quotes - Page 23

All Quotes Age Balance Belief Borrowing Business Challenges Children Choices Coca Cola Community Compensation Concentration Country Desire Discipline Earth Economics Economy Effort Energy Expectations Fear Fighting Focus Fun Funny Generosity Giving Giving Up Gold Golf Good Times Greed Growth Heart Hell Home House Ignorance Inflation Inspirational Integrity Jewelry Judgment Learning Life Losing Loss Lying Making Money Management Mathematics Money Morning Motivational Office Opportunity Passion Past Purpose Quality Rain Rationality Reputation Risk Running Safety School Selling Sleep Sloth Speculation Strategy Style Success Talent Taxes Time Today Understanding Values Waiting Wall Wealth Winning Worry Writing

With enough insider information and a million dollars, you can go broke in a year.

With enough insider information and a million dollars, you can go broke in a year.

Years, Dollars, Investing

The advice "you never go broke taking a profit" is foolish.

Advice, Investing, Foolish

Just look at that Forbes 400. Takes a billion three to get on the Forbes 400 this year. And the aggregate wealth is just staggering. And those people are paying less percentage of their total income to the federal government than their receptionists are. [...] I'll bet a million dollars against any member of the Forbes 400 who challenges - me that the average for the Forbes 400 will be less than the average of their receptionists.

Government, Average, Years

Interview with Tom Brokaw, www.cnbc.com. October 31, 2007.

The most dangerous distractions are the ones you love, but that don’t love you back.

Love You, Distraction, Dangerous

We've long felt that the only value of stock forecasters is to make fortune tellers look good. Even now, Charlie and I continue to believe that short-term market forecasts are poison and should be kept locked up in a safe place, away from children and also from grown-ups who behave in the market like children.

Children, Believe, Long

Warren Buffett (2009). “Warren Buffett on Business: Principles from the Sage of Omaha”, p.165, John Wiley & Sons

How do you beat Bobby Fischer? You play him at any game but chess. I try to stay in games where I have an edge.

Games, Play, Trying

Never invest in a business you don't understand.

Shares are not mere pieces of paper. They represent part ownership of a business. So, when contemplating an investment, think like a prospective owner.

Thinking, Pieces, Paper

The [stock] market,like the Lord, helps those who help themselves. But, unlike the Lord, the market does not forgive those who know not what they do.

Forgiving, Doe, Helping

You don't need to be an expert in order to achieve satisfactory investment returns. But if you aren't, you must recognize your limitations and follow a course certain to work reasonably well. Keep things simple and don't swing for the fences.

Simple, Swings, Order

I’ve never believed in risking what my family and friends have and need in order to pursue what they don’t have and don’t need.

Order, Family And Friends, Needs

Warren Buffett (2009). “Warren Buffett on Business: Principles from the Sage of Omaha”, p.198, John Wiley & Sons

We have to live with the rest of the world. And it's a mistake, in my view. Trade has generally developed in this country. We actually export 12 or 13 percent of our GDP. It was only 5 percent in 1970. But it benefits us. It benefits the rest of the world. It doesn't benefit the steelworker maybe in Ohio. And that's the problem that has to be addressed, because when you have something that's good for society, but terribly harmful for given individuals, we have got to make sure those individuals are taken care of.

Country, Mistake, Taken

Source: www.pbs.org

An argument is made that there are just too many question marks about the near future; wouldn't it be better to wait until things clear up a bit? You know the prose: "Maintain buying reserves until current uncertainties are resolved," etc. Before reaching for that crutch, face up to two unpleasant facts: The future is never clear and you pay a very high price for a cheery consensus. Uncertainty actually is the friend of the buyer of long-term values.

Two, Long, Waiting

Investment decision should be made on the basis of the most probable compounding of after-tax net worth with minimum risk.

Decision, Risk, Investment

Writing checks to the IRS that include strings of zeros does not bother me ... Overall, we feel extraordinarily lucky to have been dealt a hand in life that enables us to write large checks to the government rather than one requiring the government to regularly write checks to us-say, because we are disabled or unemployed.

Business, Writing, Government

Somebody's buying these treasury bills at 1/20th of one percent. Consuming about $2 billion a day of goods and services beyond what we're producing. In other words, the rest of the world sends about $2 billion a day net of something.We got to send them something in return, don't we. So we send them little pieces of paper.

Pieces, World, Paper

Over the years, a number of very smart people have learned the hard way that a long string of impressive numbers multiplied by a single zero always equals zero.

Zero, Smart, Years

The typical large company has a compensation committee, They don't look for Dobermans on that committee, they look for chihuahuas.

Typical, Looks, Dobermans

When you listen to tax-cut rhetoric, remember that giving one class of taxpayer a break requires - now or down the line - that an equivalent burden be imposed on other parties. In other words, if I get a break, someone else pays. Government can't deliver a free lunch to the country as a whole. It can however, determine who pays for lunch.

Country, Party, Cutting

"Dividend Voodoo". Article by Warren Buffett, www.washingtonpost.com. May 20, 2003.

It is to our advantage to have securities do nothing price-wise for months, or perhaps years, while we are buying them.

Wise, Years, Buying

There are certain things that cannot be adequately explained to a virgin either by words or pictures.

One Line, One Liner, Certain

[W]e think the very term 'value investing' is redundant. What is 'investing' if it is not the act of seeking value at least sufficient to justify the amount paid? Consciously paying more for a stock than its calculated value -- in the hope that it can soon be sold for a still-higher price -- should be labeled speculation (which is neither illegal, immoral nor -- in our view -- financially fattening).

Thinking, Views, Investing

I think that both parties should declare the debt limit as a political weapon of mass destruction which can't be used. I mean, it is silly to have a country that has 237 years building up its reputation and then have people threaten to tear it down because they're not getting some other matter.

Country, Silly, Party

"Warren Buffett opens his wallet for Piers Morgan and America" by Lateef Mungin, www.cnn.com. October 23, 2013.

That goes back to 1932, although it was really implemented in '33 under Jesse Jones, and it invested in mostly banks initially and preferred stock and that sort of thing. So there are two things needed in the system, the one that's needed overwhelmingly is liquidity. I mean, when people are trying to [unintelligible], there has to be somebody there to buy.

Mean, Two, People

"Warren Buffett: I Haven't Seen As Much Economic Fear In My Adult Lifetime". Interview With Charlie Rose, www.cnbc.com. October 1, 2008.

Valuing a business is part art and part science.

Art, Investing

You May Also Like: