Warren Buffett Quotes

Most popular Warren Buffett Quotes

Turnarounds seldom turn. - Warren Buffett quote.
Turnarounds seldom turn.
— Warren Buffett

business investing

Happiness does not buy you money. - Warren Buffett quote.
Happiness does not buy you money.
— Warren Buffett Forbes, April 1997; Lincoln journal Star, October 2005

happiness money

A stock doesn't know that you own it. - Warren Buffett quote.
A stock doesn't know that you own it.

investing

Praise by name, criticize by category. - Warren Buffett quote.
Praise by name, criticize by category.
Accounting is the language of business. - Warren Buffett quote.
Accounting is the language of business.
— Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway 1993 annual meeting; Andy Kilpatrick, Of Permanent Value

accounting

Our favourite holding period is forever. - Warren Buffett quote.
Our favourite holding period is forever.
— Warren Buffett

investing long-term thinking

If at first you do succeed, quit trying. - Warren Buffett quote.
If at first you do succeed, quit trying.
— Warren Buffett Forbes 400, October, 2002

funny investing

Never ask a barber if you need a haircut. - Warren Buffett quote.
Never ask a barber if you need a haircut.
— Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway 1994 annual meeting; Andy Kilpatrick, Of Permanent Value

business financial industry

It's hard to teach a young dog old tricks. - Warren Buffett quote.
It's hard to teach a young dog old tricks.
— Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway 1987 annual meeting; Andy Kilpatrick, Of Permanent Value

age experience

Anything that can't go on forever will end. - Warren Buffett quote.
Anything that can't go on forever will end.
— Warren Buffett Vanity Fair, October 1995
You can't make a good deal with a bad person. - Warren Buffett quote.
You can't make a good deal with a bad person.
— Warren Buffett

business

Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing. - Warren Buffett quote.
Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing.

risk-taking investing

Risk comes from not knowing what you are doing. - Warren Buffett quote.
Risk comes from not knowing what you are doing.
— Warren Buffett “Buffett Talks Strategy with Students,” Omaha World-Herald, January, 1994

investing

It's not greed that drives the world, but envy. - Warren Buffett quote.
It's not greed that drives the world, but envy.

greed envy

Profit from folly rather than participate in it. - Warren Buffett quote.
Profit from folly rather than participate in it.

folly

I buy expensive suits. They just look cheap on me. - Warren Buffett quote.
I buy expensive suits. They just look cheap on me.
— Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway 1994 annual meeting; Andy Kilpatrick, Of Permanent Value

funny

A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought. - Warren Buffett quote.
A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought.
— Warren Buffett

critical thinking opinions public opinion

My idea of a group decision is to look in the mirror. - Warren Buffett quote.
My idea of a group decision is to look in the mirror.
— Warren Buffett Press conference with Bill Gates, Columbia School of Business, March, 1985

management decision-making business

You should invest like a Catholic marries — for life. - Warren Buffett quote.
You should invest like a Catholic marries — for life.
— Warren Buffett Bufettology (1997)

investing

If you don't make mistakes, you can't make decisions. - Warren Buffett quote.
If you don't make mistakes, you can't make decisions.
— Warren Buffett

mistakes

If a business does well, the stock eventually follows. - Warren Buffett quote.
If a business does well, the stock eventually follows.
— Warren Buffett

investing

You should look at stocks as small pieces of a business. - Warren Buffett quote.
You should look at stocks as small pieces of a business.
— Warren Buffett Warren Buffett speech, New York Society of Security Analysis, December, 1994

investing

I buy stocks when the lemmings are headed the other way. - Warren Buffett quote.
I buy stocks when the lemmings are headed the other way.
— Warren Buffett “Buffett Faces Shareholders,” Omaha World-Herald, May, 1986; Berkshire Hathaway 1986 annual meeting

investing contrarian

If principles become dated, they're no longer principles. - Warren Buffett quote.
If principles become dated, they're no longer principles.
— Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway 1988 annual meeting

investing

That which goes up doesn't necessarily have to come down. - Warren Buffett quote.
That which goes up doesn't necessarily have to come down.
— Warren Buffett Said to Mary Buffett regarding price of Berkshire Hathaway stock

investing

The smarter the journalists are, the better off society is. - Warren Buffett quote.
The smarter the journalists are, the better off society is.
— Warren Buffett

journalism

You don't have to make money back the same way you lost it. - Warren Buffett quote.
You don't have to make money back the same way you lost it.

investing

That which is not worth doing at all is not worth doing well. - Warren Buffett quote.
That which is not worth doing at all is not worth doing well.

funny investing

The investor of today does not profit from yesterday's growth. - Warren Buffett quote.
The investor of today does not profit from yesterday's growth.
— Warren Buffett

investing

The smartest side to take in a bidding war is the losing side. - Warren Buffett quote.
The smartest side to take in a bidding war is the losing side.
— Warren Buffett Q&A session with Columbia Business students, October, 1993, Andy Kilpatrick, Of Permanent Value

business investing

Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget rule No. 1. - Warren Buffett quote.
Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget rule No. 1.
— Warren Buffett Forbes 400, October, 1986

investing

What we learn from history is that people don't learn from history. - Warren Buffett quote.
What we learn from history is that people don't learn from history.

history

I've never swung at a ball while it's still in the pitcher's glove. - Warren Buffett quote.
I've never swung at a ball while it's still in the pitcher's glove.
— Warren Buffett Fortune, March, 1996

business timing

It is easier to stay out of trouble than it is to get out of trouble. - Warren Buffett quote.
It is easier to stay out of trouble than it is to get out of trouble.
— Warren Buffett

business

You pay a very high price in the stock market for a cheery consensus. - Warren Buffett quote.
You pay a very high price in the stock market for a cheery consensus.
— Warren Buffett Forbes, August 1979

investing

Investment must be rational; if you don't understand it, don't do it. - Warren Buffett quote.
Investment must be rational; if you don't understand it, don't do it.
— Warren Buffett

investing

Uncertainty, actually, is the friend of the buyer of long-term values. - Warren Buffett quote.
Uncertainty, actually, is the friend of the buyer of long-term values.
— Warren Buffett Forbes, August 1979

investing

Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful. - Warren Buffett quote.
Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.
— Warren Buffett

investing

Forecasts usually tell us more of the forecaster than of the forecast. - Warren Buffett quote.
Forecasts usually tell us more of the forecaster than of the forecast.
— Warren Buffett Fortune, May, 1977

economics

I'd be a bum on the street with a tin cup if the markets were efficient. - Warren Buffett quote.
I'd be a bum on the street with a tin cup if the markets were efficient.
— Warren Buffett

investing economics financial industry

If you understand an idea, you can express it so others can understand it. - Warren Buffett quote.
If you understand an idea, you can express it so others can understand it.
— Warren Buffett “Warren BuffettTalks Business,” University of North Carolina Center for Public Television, Chapel Hill, 1995
It's only when the tide goes out that you learn who's been swimming naked. - Warren Buffett quote.
It's only when the tide goes out that you learn who's been swimming naked.
— Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway 1993 annual meeting; Andy Kilpatrick, Of Permanent Value

business investing

It's not necessary to do extraordinary things to get extraordinary results. - Warren Buffett quote.
It's not necessary to do extraordinary things to get extraordinary results.
— Warren Buffett Fortune magazine, April 1986

investing

Wall Street makes its money on activity. You make your money on inactivity. - Warren Buffett quote.
Wall Street makes its money on activity. You make your money on inactivity.
— Warren Buffett Q&A session with University of Florida MBA students

investing financial industry

The reaction of weak management to weak operations is often weak accounting. - Warren Buffett quote.
The reaction of weak management to weak operations is often weak accounting.
— Warren Buffett

business

If you hit a hole in one on every hole, you wouldn't play golf for very long. - Warren Buffett quote.
If you hit a hole in one on every hole, you wouldn't play golf for very long.
— Warren Buffett

adversity challenges

I made my first investment at age eleven. I was wasting my life up until then. - Warren Buffett quote.
I made my first investment at age eleven. I was wasting my life up until then.

investing

It is impossible to unsign a contract, so do all your thinking before you sign. - Warren Buffett quote.
It is impossible to unsign a contract, so do all your thinking before you sign.
— Warren Buffett

business

If they need my help to manage the enterprise, we are probably both in trouble. - Warren Buffett quote.
If they need my help to manage the enterprise, we are probably both in trouble.
— Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway 1991 annual meeting; Andy Kilpatrick, Of Permanent Value

management business

Never be afraid to ask for too much when selling or offer too little when buying. - Warren Buffett quote.
Never be afraid to ask for too much when selling or offer too little when buying.
— Warren Buffett

business

In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield. - Warren Buffett quote.
In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.

business

The most important thing to do if you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging. - Warren Buffett quote.
The most important thing to do if you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging.
— Warren Buffett

business investing

With enough inside information and a million dollars, you can go broke in a year. - Warren Buffett quote.
With enough inside information and a million dollars, you can go broke in a year.
— Warren Buffett

investing

In the business world, the rear view mirror is always clearer than the windshield. - Warren Buffett quote.
In the business world, the rear view mirror is always clearer than the windshield.
— Warren Buffett

management

You can always juice sales by going down-market, but it's hard to go back upmarket. - Warren Buffett quote.
You can always juice sales by going down-market, but it's hard to go back upmarket.

management business

The chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken. - Warren Buffett quote.
The chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.
— Warren Buffett “Warren Buffett Talks Business,” PBSTV University of North Carolina, 1995

habit

It won't be the economy that will do in investors; it will be investors themselves. - Warren Buffett quote.
It won't be the economy that will do in investors; it will be investors themselves.

investing

There is nothing like writing to force you to think and get your thoughts straight. - Warren Buffett quote.
There is nothing like writing to force you to think and get your thoughts straight.
— Warren Buffett “Warren Buffett Talks Business,” University of North Carolina, Center for Public Television, Chapel Hill, 1995

writing critical thinking

When you combine ignorance and borrowed money, the consequences can get interesting. - Warren Buffett quote.
When you combine ignorance and borrowed money, the consequences can get interesting.

business investing

Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago. - Warren Buffett quote.
Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.
— Warren Buffett Vanity Fair, October 1996; NewsInc., January 1991

investing long-term thinking

If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians. - Warren Buffett quote.
If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians.
— Warren Buffett

history

You should invest in a business that even a fool can run, because someday a fool will. - Warren Buffett quote.
You should invest in a business that even a fool can run, because someday a fool will.
— Warren Buffett Bill Gates, “What I Learned from Warren Buffett,” Harvard Business Review, January/February 1996; widely quoted

investing

Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing. - Warren Buffett quote.
Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing.
— Warren Buffett

investing diversification

To many on Wall Street, both companies and stocks are seen only as raw materials for trades. - Warren Buffett quote.
To many on Wall Street, both companies and stocks are seen only as raw materials for trades.
— Warren Buffett Michael Lewis, “The Temptation of St. Warren,” The New Republic, February, 1992, Berkshire Hathaway 2005 annual meeting

financial industry

There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult. - Warren Buffett quote.
There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult.
— Warren Buffett

investing

Only buy something that you'd be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for ten years. - Warren Buffett quote.
Only buy something that you'd be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for ten years.
— Warren Buffett

investing long-term thinking

We enjoy the process far more than the proceeds, though I have learned to live with those also. - Warren Buffett quote.
We enjoy the process far more than the proceeds, though I have learned to live with those also.
— Warren Buffett Forbes, October, 1990; Andy Kilpatrick, Of Permanent Value

business

I don't try to jump over seven foot bars; I look around for one foot bars that I can step over. - Warren Buffett quote.
I don't try to jump over seven foot bars; I look around for one foot bars that I can step over.
— Warren Buffett New York Times Magazine, April, 1990

investing

If we can't find things within our circle of competence, we don't expand the circle. We'll wait. - Warren Buffett quote.
If we can't find things within our circle of competence, we don't expand the circle. We'll wait.

investing

I want to be able to explain my mistakes. This means I do only the things I completely understand. - Warren Buffett quote.
I want to be able to explain my mistakes. This means I do only the things I completely understand.
— Warren Buffett Omaha World-Herald, December, 1968

mistakes investing

It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price. - Warren Buffett quote.
It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.
— Warren Buffett

investing

You want to learn from experience, but you want to learn from other people's experience when you can. - Warren Buffett quote.
You want to learn from experience, but you want to learn from other people's experience when you can.
— Warren Buffett

experience

I am a better investor because I am a businessman, and a better businessman because I am an investor. - Warren Buffett quote.
I am a better investor because I am a businessman, and a better businessman because I am an investor.
— Warren Buffett Forbes 400, O ctober 18, 1993

business investing

We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful. - Warren Buffett quote.
We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.
— Warren Buffett

investing

The fact that people are full of greed, fear, or folly is predictable. The sequence is not predictable. - Warren Buffett quote.
The fact that people are full of greed, fear, or folly is predictable. The sequence is not predictable.
— Warren Buffett “The Convictions of a Long-Distance Investor,” Channels, November 1986

human nature

A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, be greedy when others are fearful. - Warren Buffett quote.
A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, be greedy when others are fearful.

greed

You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don't do too many things wrong. - Warren Buffett quote.
You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don't do too many things wrong.
— Warren Buffett

investing

When proper temperament joins up with the proper intellectual framework, then you get rational behavior. - Warren Buffett quote.
When proper temperament joins up with the proper intellectual framework, then you get rational behavior.
— Warren Buffett Forbes 400, October, 1993

human nature

Read Ben Graham and Phil Fisher, read annual reports, but don't do equations with Greek letters in them. - Warren Buffett quote.
Read Ben Graham and Phil Fisher, read annual reports, but don't do equations with Greek letters in them.
— Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway 1993 annual meeting; Andy Kilpatrick, Of Permanent Value

investing

The key is that the stock market basically just sets prices, so it exists to serve you, not instruct you. - Warren Buffett quote.
The key is that the stock market basically just sets prices, so it exists to serve you, not instruct you.

investing

If calculus or algebra were required to be a great investor, I'd have to go back to delivering newspapers. - Warren Buffett quote.
If calculus or algebra were required to be a great investor, I'd have to go back to delivering newspapers.
— Warren Buffett Warren Buffett speech, New York Society of Security Analysis, December, 1994

investing

We have never bought a new issue of a junk bond. The only time to buy these is on a day with no "y" in it. - Warren Buffett quote.
We have never bought a new issue of a junk bond. The only time to buy these is on a day with no "y" in it.

investing

Wall Street is the only place that people ride to in a Rolls-Royce to get advice from those who take the subway. - Warren Buffett quote.
Wall Street is the only place that people ride to in a Rolls-Royce to get advice from those who take the subway.
— Warren Buffett

financial industry

Any business craving of the leader, however foolish, will be quickly supported by studies prepared by his troops. - Warren Buffett quote.
Any business craving of the leader, however foolish, will be quickly supported by studies prepared by his troops.
— Warren Buffett Los Angeles Times Magazine, April, 1991

management

Diversification is a protection against ignorance. It makes very little sense for those who know what they're doing. - Warren Buffett quote.
Diversification is a protection against ignorance. It makes very little sense for those who know what they're doing.

investing diversification

Marrying for money is probably a bad idea under any circumstances, but it is absolutely nuts if you are already rich. - Warren Buffett quote.
Marrying for money is probably a bad idea under any circumstances, but it is absolutely nuts if you are already rich.
— Warren Buffett Fortune magazine; Warren Buffett's speech at Columbia School of Business, October, 1993

marriage money

Lose money for the firm, and I will be understanding. Lose a shred of reputation for the firm, and I will be ruthless. - Warren Buffett quote.
Lose money for the firm, and I will be understanding. Lose a shred of reputation for the firm, and I will be ruthless.
— Warren Buffett
The business schools reward difficult, complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective. - Warren Buffett quote.
The business schools reward difficult, complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective.
— Warren Buffett Channels, November 1986

business investing

Look at stock market fluctuations as your friend rather than your enemy; profit from folly rather than participate in it. - Warren Buffett quote.
Look at stock market fluctuations as your friend rather than your enemy; profit from folly rather than participate in it.
— Warren Buffett Warren Buffett speech, New York Society of Security Analysis, December, 1994

investing

If you let yourself be undisciplined on the small things, you will probably be undisciplined on the large things as well. - Warren Buffett quote.
If you let yourself be undisciplined on the small things, you will probably be undisciplined on the large things as well.
— Warren Buffett Chicago Tribune, December, 1985

investing discipline

Why not invest your assets in the companies you really like? As Mae West said, 'Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.' - Warren Buffett quote.
Why not invest your assets in the companies you really like? As Mae West said, 'Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.'
— Warren Buffett

investing diversification

Consistently buy an S&P 500 low-cost index fund I think is the thing that makes the most sense practically all of the time. - Warren Buffett quote.
Consistently buy an S&P 500 low-cost index fund I think is the thing that makes the most sense practically all of the time.
— Warren Buffett CNBC's On The Money

investing passive investing index funds

A pin lies in wait for every bubble, and when the two eventually meet, a new wave of investors learn some very old lessons. - Warren Buffett quote.
A pin lies in wait for every bubble, and when the two eventually meet, a new wave of investors learn some very old lessons.
— Warren Buffett

investing

For some reason people take their cues from price action rather than from values. Price is what you pay. Value is what you get. - Warren Buffett quote.
For some reason people take their cues from price action rather than from values. Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.
— Warren Buffett

investing value

In a difficult business, no sooner is one problem solved than another surfaces—never is there just one cockroach in the kitchen. - Warren Buffett quote.
In a difficult business, no sooner is one problem solved than another surfaces—never is there just one cockroach in the kitchen.
— Warren Buffett

business

We also believe candor benefits us as managers: The CEO who misleads others in public may eventually mislead himself in private. - Warren Buffett quote.
We also believe candor benefits us as managers: The CEO who misleads others in public may eventually mislead himself in private.
— Warren Buffett

management

It takes twenty years to build a reputation and five minutes to lose it. If you think about that, you will do things differently. - Warren Buffett quote.
It takes twenty years to build a reputation and five minutes to lose it. If you think about that, you will do things differently.
— Warren Buffett New York Times, April, 2005

business reputation

The less prudence with which others conduct their affairs, the greater the prudence with which we should conduct our own affairs. - Warren Buffett quote.
The less prudence with which others conduct their affairs, the greater the prudence with which we should conduct our own affairs.
— Warren Buffett Anthony Sampson, The Midas Touch (New York: Dutton, 1990)
The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say "no" to almost everything. - Warren Buffett quote.
The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say "no" to almost everything.
— Warren Buffett Bloomberg Businessweek

saying no

Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion. - Warren Buffett quote.
Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.
— Warren Buffett Harvard Business Review

leadership management business vision

With each investment you make, you should have the courage and the conviction to place at least 10% of your net worth in that stock. - Warren Buffett quote.
With each investment you make, you should have the courage and the conviction to place at least 10% of your net worth in that stock.
— Warren Buffett

investing

You have to think for yourself. It always amazes me how high IQ people mindlessly imitate. I never get good ideas talking to other people. - Warren Buffett quote.
You have to think for yourself. It always amazes me how high IQ people mindlessly imitate. I never get good ideas talking to other people.
— Warren Buffett U.S. News and World Report, June 1994, p. 58; Andy Kilpatrick, Of Permanent Value

critical thinking

No matter how great the talent or effort, some things just take time: You can't produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant. - Warren Buffett quote.
No matter how great the talent or effort, some things just take time: You can't produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.
— Warren Buffett

patience

The 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. - Warren Buffett quote.
The 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.
— Warren Buffett

investing

As far as I am concerned, the stock market doesn't exist. It is only there as a reference to see if anybody is offering to do anything foolish. - Warren Buffett quote.
As far as I am concerned, the stock market doesn't exist. It is only there as a reference to see if anybody is offering to do anything foolish.
— Warren Buffett

investing economics financial industry

Recommending something to be held for thirty years is a level of self- sacrifice you'll rarely see in a monastery, let alone a brokerage house. - Warren Buffett quote.
Recommending something to be held for thirty years is a level of self- sacrifice you'll rarely see in a monastery, let alone a brokerage house.
— Warren Buffett

investing financial industry

The trick is not to pick the right company. The trick is to essentially buy all the big companies through the S&P 500 and to do it consistently. - Warren Buffett quote.
The trick is not to pick the right company. The trick is to essentially buy all the big companies through the S&P 500 and to do it consistently.
— Warren Buffett

investing passive investing diversification index funds

We don't go into companies with the thought of effecting a lot of changes. That doesn't work any better in investments than it does in marriages. - Warren Buffett quote.
We don't go into companies with the thought of effecting a lot of changes. That doesn't work any better in investments than it does in marriages.
— Warren Buffett Fortune, April 1988

marriage business investing

Money, to some extent, sometimes lets you be in more interesting environments. But it can't change how many people love you or how healthy you are. - Warren Buffett quote.
Money, to some extent, sometimes lets you be in more interesting environments. But it can't change how many people love you or how healthy you are.
— Warren Buffett

health money

Great investment opportunities come around when excellent companies are surrounded by unusual circumstances that cause the stock to be misappraised. - Warren Buffett quote.
Great investment opportunities come around when excellent companies are surrounded by unusual circumstances that cause the stock to be misappraised.
— Warren Buffett “Meeting Charlie Munger,” Forbes, January, 1996

investing

Managing your career is like investing—the degree of difficulty does not count. So you can save yourself money and pain by getting on the right train. - Warren Buffett quote.
Managing your career is like investing—the degree of difficulty does not count. So you can save yourself money and pain by getting on the right train.
— Warren Buffett

career investing

There is a huge difference between the business that grows and requires lots of capital to do so and the business that grows and doesn't require capital. - Warren Buffett quote.
There is a huge difference between the business that grows and requires lots of capital to do so and the business that grows and doesn't require capital.
— Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway 1994 annual meeting; Andy Kilpatrick, Of Permanent Value

business

Most people get interested in stocks when everyone else is. The time to get interested is when no one else is. You can't buy what is popular and do well. - Warren Buffett quote.
Most people get interested in stocks when everyone else is. The time to get interested is when no one else is. You can't buy what is popular and do well.
— Warren Buffett “Omaha’s Plains Dealer,” Newsweek, April, 1985

investing contrarian

I never attempt to make money on the stock market. I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years. - Warren Buffett quote.
I never attempt to make money on the stock market. I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years.
— Warren Buffett

investing long-term thinking

We do not have, never have had, and never will have an opinion about where the stock market, interest rates, or business activity will be a year from now. - Warren Buffett quote.
We do not have, never have had, and never will have an opinion about where the stock market, interest rates, or business activity will be a year from now.
— Warren Buffett Forbes, October, 1997; Andy Kilpatrick, Of Permanent Value

investing economics

A friend of mine spent twenty years looking for the perfect woman; unfortunately, when he found her, he discovered that she was looking for the perfect man. - Warren Buffett quote.
A friend of mine spent twenty years looking for the perfect woman; unfortunately, when he found her, he discovered that she was looking for the perfect man.
— Warren Buffett

relationships

The great personal fortunes in this country weren't built on a portfolio of fifty companies. They were built by someone who identified one wonderful business. - Warren Buffett quote.
The great personal fortunes in this country weren't built on a portfolio of fifty companies. They were built by someone who identified one wonderful business.

business

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. - Warren Buffett quote.
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.
— Warren Buffett

funny investing financial industry

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. - Warren Buffett quote.
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.

wealth

When a management team with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact. - Warren Buffett quote.
When a management team with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact.
— Warren Buffett

management business

Of the seven deadly sins, envy is the silliest, because if you have it, you don't feel better. You feel worse. I've had some good times with gluttony. We won't get into lust. - Warren Buffett quote.
Of the seven deadly sins, envy is the silliest, because if you have it, you don't feel better. You feel worse. I've had some good times with gluttony. We won't get into lust.

funny envy morals sin

When management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for poor fundamental economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact. - Warren Buffett quote.
When management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for poor fundamental economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact.
— Warren Buffett

investing

The really good business manager doesn't wake up in the morning and say, 'This is the day that I am going to cut costs,' any more than he wakes up and decides to practice breathing. - Warren Buffett quote.
The really good business manager doesn't wake up in the morning and say, 'This is the day that I am going to cut costs,' any more than he wakes up and decides to practice breathing.
— Warren Buffett Fortune, April 1988

management business

I can't be involved in fifty or seventy-five things. That's a Noah's ark way of investing; you end up with a zoo that way. I like to put meaningful amounts of money in a few things. - Warren Buffett quote.
I can't be involved in fifty or seventy-five things. That's a Noah's ark way of investing; you end up with a zoo that way. I like to put meaningful amounts of money in a few things.
— Warren Buffett Wall Street Journal, September 1987

investing diversification

At the beginning, prices are driven by fundamentals, and at some point, speculation drives them. It's that old story: What the wise man does in the beginning, the fool does in the end. - Warren Buffett quote.
At the beginning, prices are driven by fundamentals, and at some point, speculation drives them. It's that old story: What the wise man does in the beginning, the fool does in the end.

investing

Our method is very simple. We just try to buy businesses with good-to-superb underlying economics run by honest and able people and buy them at sensible prices. That's all I'm trying to do. - Warren Buffett quote.
Our method is very simple. We just try to buy businesses with good-to-superb underlying economics run by honest and able people and buy them at sensible prices. That's all I'm trying to do.
— Warren Buffett December 6, 1994, special meeting of the New York Society of Financial Analysts

investing

Can you really explain to a fish what it is like to walk on land? One day on land is worth a thousand years talking about it, and one day running a business has exactly the same kind of value. - Warren Buffett quote.
Can you really explain to a fish what it is like to walk on land? One day on land is worth a thousand years talking about it, and one day running a business has exactly the same kind of value.
— Warren Buffett Carol J. Loomis, “The Inside Story of Warren Buffett,” Fortune, April, 1988

business

If I can't make money in a $5 trillion U.S. market, it may be a little bit of wishful thinking to think that all I have to do is get a few thousand miles offshore and I'll start showing my stuff. - Warren Buffett quote.
If I can't make money in a $5 trillion U.S. market, it may be a little bit of wishful thinking to think that all I have to do is get a few thousand miles offshore and I'll start showing my stuff.
— Warren Buffett The University of North Carolina Center for Public Television, 1995; Andy Kilpatrick, Of Permanent Value (Birmingham, AL: AKPE, 2004); Berkshire Hathaway 2005 annual meeting

investing

We never look back. We just figure there is so much to look forward to that there is no sense thinking of what we might have done. It just doesn't make any difference. You can only live life forward. - Warren Buffett quote.
We never look back. We just figure there is so much to look forward to that there is no sense thinking of what we might have done. It just doesn't make any difference. You can only live life forward.
— Warren Buffett Q&A session with University of Florida MBA students

business investing

When a chief executive officer is encouraged by his advisers to make deals, he responds much as would a teenage boy who is encouraged by his father to have a normal sex life. It's not a push he needs. - Warren Buffett quote.
When a chief executive officer is encouraged by his advisers to make deals, he responds much as would a teenage boy who is encouraged by his father to have a normal sex life. It's not a push he needs.
— Warren Buffett

management

The stock market is a no-called-strike game. You don't have to swing at everything—you can wait for your pitch. The problem when you're a money manager is that your fans keep yelling, 'Swing, you bum!' - Warren Buffett quote.
The stock market is a no-called-strike game. You don't have to swing at everything—you can wait for your pitch. The problem when you're a money manager is that your fans keep yelling, 'Swing, you bum!'

investing

Costs really matter in investments. If returns are going to be 7 or 8 percent and you're paying 1 percent for fees, that makes an enormous difference in how much money you're going to have in retirement. - Warren Buffett quote.
Costs really matter in investments. If returns are going to be 7 or 8 percent and you're paying 1 percent for fees, that makes an enormous difference in how much money you're going to have in retirement.
— Warren Buffett

investing

Chapter 8 in Ben Graham's The Intelligent Investor about the attitude towards stock market fluctuations and chapter 20 on the margin of safety are the two most important essays ever written on investing. - Warren Buffett quote.
Chapter 8 in Ben Graham's The Intelligent Investor about the attitude towards stock market fluctuations and chapter 20 on the margin of safety are the two most important essays ever written on investing.
— Warren Buffett

investing

In the search for companies to acquire, we adopt the same attitude one might find appropriate in looking for a spouse: It pays to be active, interested, and open-minded, but it does not pay to be in a hurry. - Warren Buffett quote.
In the search for companies to acquire, we adopt the same attitude one might find appropriate in looking for a spouse: It pays to be active, interested, and open-minded, but it does not pay to be in a hurry.
— Warren Buffett

business investing

I look for businesses in which I think I can predict what they're going to look like in ten to fifteen years' time. Take Wrigley's chewing gum. I don't think the Internet is going to change how people chew gum. - Warren Buffett quote.
I look for businesses in which I think I can predict what they're going to look like in ten to fifteen years' time. Take Wrigley's chewing gum. I don't think the Internet is going to change how people chew gum.
— Warren Buffett

investing

In looking for someone to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. But the most important is integrity, because if they don't have that, the other two qualities, intelligence and energy, are going to kill you. - Warren Buffett quote.
In looking for someone to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. But the most important is integrity, because if they don't have that, the other two qualities, intelligence and energy, are going to kill you.
— Warren Buffett Omaha World-Herald, January, 1994, p. 17S; Q&A session with University of Florida students, 1998

management career

The rich are always going to say that, you know, just give us more money and we'll go out and spend more and then it will all trickle down to the rest of you. But that has not worked the last 10 years, and I hope the American public is catching on. - Warren Buffett quote.
The rich are always going to say that, you know, just give us more money and we'll go out and spend more and then it will all trickle down to the rest of you. But that has not worked the last 10 years, and I hope the American public is catching on.
— Warren Buffett

economics

I learned that it pays to hang around with people better than you are, because you will float upward a little bit. And if you hang around with people that behave worse than you, pretty soon you'll start sliding down the pole. It just works that way. - Warren Buffett quote.
I learned that it pays to hang around with people better than you are, because you will float upward a little bit. And if you hang around with people that behave worse than you, pretty soon you'll start sliding down the pole. It just works that way.
A good managerial record is far more a function of what business boat you get into than it is of how effectively you row. 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. - Warren Buffett quote.
A good managerial record is far more a function of what business boat you get into than it is of how effectively you row. 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.
— Warren Buffett

management business

There comes a time when you ought to start doing what you want. Take a job that you love. You will jump out of bed in the morning. I think you are out of your mind if you keep taking jobs that you don't like because you think that it will look good on your résumé. Isn't that a little like saving up sex for your old age? - Warren Buffett quote.
There comes a time when you ought to start doing what you want. Take a job that you love. You will jump out of bed in the morning. I think you are out of your mind if you keep taking jobs that you don't like because you think that it will look good on your résumé. Isn't that a little like saving up sex for your old age?
— Warren Buffett

career

I'm very suspect of the person who is very good at one business—it also could be a good athlete or a good entertainer—who starts thinking they should tell the world how to behave on everything. For us to think that just because we made a lot of money, we're going to be better at giving advice on every subject—well, that's just crazy. - Warren Buffett quote.
I'm very suspect of the person who is very good at one business—it also could be a good athlete or a good entertainer—who starts thinking they should tell the world how to behave on everything. For us to think that just because we made a lot of money, we're going to be better at giving advice on every subject—well, that's just crazy.
— Warren Buffett Q&A session with University of Florida MBA students
Wouldn't it be great if we could buy love for $1 million. But the only way to be loved is to be lovable. You always get back more than you give away. If you don't give any, you won't get any. There's nobody I know who commands the love of others who doesn't feel like a success. And I can't imagine people who aren't loved feel very successful. - Warren Buffett quote.
Wouldn't it be great if we could buy love for $1 million. But the only way to be loved is to be lovable. You always get back more than you give away. If you don't give any, you won't get any. There's nobody I know who commands the love of others who doesn't feel like a success. And I can't imagine people who aren't loved feel very successful.

love

Imagine that you had a car and that was the only car you'd have for your entire lifetime. Of course, you'd care for it well, changing the oil more frequently than necessary, driving carefully, etc. Now, consider that you only have one mind and one body. Prepare them for life, care for them. You can enhance your mind over time. A person's main asset is themselves, so preserve and enhance yourself. - Warren Buffett quote.
Imagine that you had a car and that was the only car you'd have for your entire lifetime. Of course, you'd care for it well, changing the oil more frequently than necessary, driving carefully, etc. Now, consider that you only have one mind and one body. Prepare them for life, care for them. You can enhance your mind over time. A person's main asset is themselves, so preserve and enhance yourself.

self-improvement health exercise

Stocks are the things to own over time. Productivity will increase and stocks will increase with it. There are only a few things you can do wrong. One is to buy or sell at the wrong time. Paying high fees is the other way to get killed. The best way to avoid both of these is to buy a low-cost index fund, and buy it over time. Be greedy when others are fearful, and fearful when others are greedy, but don't think you can outsmart the market. - Warren Buffett quote.
Stocks are the things to own over time. Productivity will increase and stocks will increase with it. There are only a few things you can do wrong. One is to buy or sell at the wrong time. Paying high fees is the other way to get killed. The best way to avoid both of these is to buy a low-cost index fund, and buy it over time. Be greedy when others are fearful, and fearful when others are greedy, but don't think you can outsmart the market.

investing

How do you beat Bobby Fischer? You play him at any game but chess.
— Warren Buffett Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It

business

If you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.
— Warren Buffett

wealth investing

Qualities of good character and integrity make an enormous difference in achieving success.
— Warren Buffett

character integrity

You have lived a successful life if, as you grow older, the people who you hope love you actually do.
— Warren Buffett

success

It's been my general experience that things that seem disastrous at the time usually do work out for the best.
— Warren Buffett

failure

Most behavior is habitual. They say the chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.
— Warren Buffett

habit

Tom Murphy said, "Warren, you can always tell someone to go to hell tomorrow." It's such an easy way of putting it. You haven't missed the opportunity. Just forget about it for a day. If you feel the same way tomorrow, tell them then—but don't spout off in a moment of anger.
— Warren Buffett

anger

One of the best things you can do in life is to surround yourself with people who are better than you are. High-grade people. You will end up behaving more like them, and they, in turn, will get it back from you. It's like a planetary system. If you hang around with people who behave worse than you, pretty soon you'll start being pulled in that direction. That's just the way it seems to work. Who you choose to associate with matters.
— Warren Buffett

advisory self-improvement