Warren Buffetts wisdom about Investing

“The year 2015 marks the fiftieth anniversary of Berkshire Hathaway under Warren Buffett's leadership, a milestone worth commemorating. The tenure sets a record”

—Warren Buffett

“If options aren't a form of compensation, what are they? If compensation isn't an expense, what is it? And, if expenses shouldn't go into the calculation of earnings, where in the world should they go?”

—Warren Buffett

“Our goal will be to acquire either part or all of businesses that we believe we understand, that have good, sustainable underlying economics, and that are run by managers whom we like, admire and trust.”

—Warren Buffett

“Buy the dip.”

—Warren Buffett

“Some time ago Ken Galbraith, in his witty and insightful The Great Crash, coined a new economic term: “the bezzle,” defined as the current amount of undiscovered embezzlement. This financial creature has a magical quality: The embezzlers are richer by the amount of the bezzle, while the embezzlees do not yet feel poorer.”

—Warren Buffett

“While investors and managers must place their feet in the future, their memories and nervous systems often remain plugged into the past.”

—Warren Buffett

“Money is Like Cow Poop, it Does No Good Unless You Spread It Around”

—Warren Buffett

“Over-all, we probably would have retained better prospects for the next five years if profits had not risen so dramatically this year.”

—Warren Buffett

“Managers who want to expand their domain at the expense of owners might better consider a career in government.”

—Warren Buffett

“Cash combined with courage in a time of crisis is priceless.”

—Warren Buffett

“You do not need to be terrifically smart to do well as an investor at all.”

—Warren Buffett

“Regardless of the impact upon immediately reportable earnings, we would rather buy 10% of Wonderful Business T at X per share than 100% of T at 2x per share. Most corporate managers prefer just the reverse.”

—Warren Buffett

“A small chance of distress or disgrace cannot, in our view, be offset by a large chance of extra returns.”

—Warren Buffett

“The Great Bubble ended on March 10, 2000 (though we didn’t realize that fact until some months later). On that day, the NASDAQ (recently 1,731) hit its all-time high of 5,132. That same day, Berkshire shares traded at $40,800, their lowest price since mid-1997.”

—Warren Buffett

“Especially favourable future prospects were regarded by shrewd investors as something to look for but not to pay for”

—Warren Buffett

“At Berkshire, full reporting means giving you the information that we would wish you to give to us if our positions were reversed.”

—Warren Buffett

“What the wise man does in the beginning, the fool does in the end.”

—Warren Buffett

“You don’t have to be an expert on every company, or even many. You only have to be able to evaluate companies within your circle of competence. The size of that circle is not very important; knowing its boundaries, however, is vital.”

—Warren Buffett

“Loss of focus is what most worries Charlie and me when we contemplate investing in businesses that in general look outstanding. All too often, we’ve seen value stagnate in the presence of hubris or of boredom that caused the attention of managers to wander.”

—Warren Buffett

“Don't work for money, make money work for you.”

—Warren Buffett

“For these investors, it would have been far better if Orville had failed to get off the ground at Kitty Hawk: The more the industry has grown, the worse the disaster for owners.”

—Warren Buffett

“It is not greed that drives the world but envy.”

—Warren Buffett

“If you buy things you don't need, soon you will have to sell things you need.”

—Warren Buffett

“The best investment you can make is in yourself.”

—Warren Buffett

“There's never just one cockroach in the kitchen.”

—Warren Buffett

“Charlie and I would follow a buy-and-hold policy even if we ran a tax-exempt institution.”

—Warren Buffett

“Can you imagine any public company embracing a business model that would lead to the decline in revenue that we experienced from 1986 through 1999?”

—Warren Buffett

“A good business is not always a good purchase - although it's a good place to look for one.”

—Warren Buffett

“My favourite holding period is forever”

—Warren Buffett

“For investors as a whole, returns decrease as motion increases.”

—Warren Buffett

“For Buffett, managers are stewards of shareholder capital. The best managers think like owners in making business decisions.”

—Warren Buffett

“It’s not that I want money. It’s the fun of making money and watching it grow.”

—Warren Buffett

“If you aren't willing to own a stock for ten years, don't even think about owning it for ten minutes.”

—Warren Buffett

“Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing.”

—Warren Buffett

“Despite our policy of candor, we will discuss our activities in marketable securities only to the extent legally required. Good investment ideas are rare, valuable and subject to competitive appropriation just as good product or business acquisition ideas are.”

—Warren Buffett

“Don’t ask the barber whether you need a haircut.”

—Warren Buffett

“From this irritating reality comes The First Law of Corporate Survival for ambitious CEOs who pile on leverage and run large and unfathomable derivatives books: Modest incompetence simply won’t do; it’s mindboggling screw-ups that are required.”

—Warren Buffett

“The only time to buy these is on a day with no 'y' in it.”

—Warren Buffett

“Derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction.”

—Warren Buffett

“In the 54 years (Charlie Munger and I) have worked together, we have never forgone an attractive purchase because of the macro or political environment, or the views of other people. In fact, these subjects never come up when we make decisions.”

—Warren Buffett

“There is no tougher job in corporate America than running an airline: Despite the huge amounts of equity capital that have been injected into it, the industry, in aggregate, has posted a net loss since its birth after Kitty Hawk. Airline managers need brains, guts, and experience—and”

—Warren Buffett

“It is better to be approximately right than precisely wrong.”

—Warren Buffett

“Our favorite holding period is forever. We are just the opposite of those who hurry to sell and book profits when companies perform well but who tenaciously hang on to businesses that disappoint. Peter Lynch aptly likens such behavior to cutting the flowers and watering the weeds.”

—Warren Buffett

“Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked.”

—Warren Buffett

“The rich invest in time, the poor invest in money.”

—Warren Buffett

“Stocks of companies selling commodity-like products should come with a warning label: “Competition may prove hazardous to human wealth.“”

—Warren Buffett

“I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful”

—Warren Buffett

“Buy a stock the way you would buy a house. Understand and like it such that you’d be content to own it in the absence of any market.”

—Warren Buffett

“Derivatives are like sex. It's not who we're sleeping with, it's who they're sleeping with that's the problem.”

—Warren Buffett

“Never depend on single income. Make investment to create a second source.”

—Warren Buffett

“We need a moderately-priced stock market… 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. For the investor, a too-high purchase price for the stock of an excellent company can undo the effects of a subsequent decade of favorable business developments.”

—Warren Buffett

“...not doing what we love in the name of greed is very poor management of our lives.”

—Warren Buffett

“If you buy things you do not need, soon you will have to sell things you need.”

—Warren Buffett

“Writing a check separates a commitment from a conversation.”

—Warren Buffett

“Intensity is the price of excellence.”

—Warren Buffett

“In the long run managements stressing accounting appearance over economic substance usually achieve little of either.”

—Warren Buffett

“An investor should act as though he had a lifetime decision card with just twenty punches on it.”

—Warren Buffett

“I am not a businessman, I am an artist”

—Warren Buffett

“The most important investment you can make is in yourself.”

—Warren Buffett

“Wall Street is the only place that people drive to in a Rolls Royce to take advice from people who ride the subway.”

—Warren Buffett

“Diversification is protection against ignorance. It makes little sense if you know what you are doing.”

—Warren Buffett

“You know ... you keep doing the same things and you keep getting the same result over and over again.”

—Warren Buffett

“Investors should be skeptical of history-based models. Constructed by a nerdy-sounding priesthood using esoteric terms such as beta, gamma, sigma and the like, these models tend to look impressive. Too often, though, investors forget to examine the assumptions behind the models. Beware of geeks bearing formulas.”

—Warren Buffett

“Gold gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head.”

—Warren Buffett

“Life is like a snowball. The important thing is finding wet snow and a really long hill.”

—Warren Buffett

“Opportunities come infrequently. When it rains gold, put out the bucket, not the thimble”

—Warren Buffett

“In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.”

—Warren Buffett

“Forecasts may tell you a great deal about the forecaster; they tell you nothing about the future.”

—Warren Buffett

“In the world of business, the people who are most successful are those who are doing what they love.”

—Warren Buffett

“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.”

—Warren Buffett