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Warren Buffett: 292 quotes24 likes

“Long ago, Sir Isaac Newton gave us three laws of motion, which were the work of genius. But Sir Isaac's talents didn't extend to investing: He lost a bundle in the South Sea Bubble, explaining later, "I can calculate the movement of the stars, but not the madness of men." If he had not been traumatized by this loss, Sir Isaac might well have gone on to discover the Fourth Law of Motion: For investors as a whole, returns decrease as motion increases.”

Warren Buffett

2005 Chairman's Letter http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2005.html Letters to Shareholders (1957 - 2012)

“We have tried occasionally to buy toads at bargain prices with results that have been chronicled in past reports. Clearly our kisses fell flat. We have done well with a couple of princes — but they were princes when purchased. At least our kisses didn’t turn them into toads. And, finally, we have occasionally been quite successful in purchasing fractional interests in easily-identifiable princes at toad-like prices.”

Warren Buffett

1981 Chairman's Letter http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/1981.html Letters to Shareholders (1957 - 2012)

“In fact, when we own portions of outstanding businesses with outstanding managements, our favorite holding period is forever.”

Warren Buffett

1988 Chairman's Letter http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/1988.html Letters to Shareholders (1957 - 2012)

“We don't get paid for activity, just for being right. As to how long we'll wait, we'll wait indefinitely.”

Warren Buffett

1998 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting, quoted in Wait: The Art and Science of Delay (2012) by Frank Partnoy, p. 177

“Investors should remember that excitement and expenses are their enemies. And if they insist on trying to time their participation in equities, they should try to be fearful when others are greedy and greedy only when others are fearful.”

Warren Buffett

2004 Chairman's Letter http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2004.html Letters to Shareholders (1957 - 2012)

“We will reject interesting opportunities rather than over-leverage our balance sheet.”

Warren Buffett

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.: An Owner's Manual (1999)
Letters to Shareholders (1957 - 2012)

“Putting people into homes, though a desirable goal, shouldn’t be our country’s primary objective. Keeping them in their homes should be the ambition.”

Warren Buffett

2008 Chairman's Letter
Letters to Shareholders (1957 - 2012)

“I try to buy stock in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will.”

Warren Buffett

In a panel discussion after the premier of the 2008 documentary I.O.U.S.A.. Panel at the Premier, 0:05:42ff., DVD extras, I.O.U.S.A. (2008)

“Investors making purchases in an overheated market need to recognize that it may often take an extended period for the value of even an outstanding company to catch up with the price they paid.”

Warren Buffett

1998 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting, as quoted in The Essays of Warren Buffett : Lessons for Corporate America (1998), p. 92

“For example: (1) As if governed by Newton's First Law of Motion, an institution will resist any change in its current direction; (2) Just as work expands to fill available time, corporate projects or acquisitions will materialize to soak up available funds; (3) Any business craving of the leader, however foolish, will be quickly supported by detailed rate-of-return and strategic studies prepared by his troops; and (4) The behavior of peer companies, whether they are expanding, acquiring, setting executive compensation or whatever, will be mindlessly imitated.”

Warren Buffett

1989 Chairman's Letter http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/1989.html Letters to Shareholders (1957 - 2012)

“Intrinsic value can be defined simply: It is the discounted value of the cash that can be taken out of a business during its remaining life. The calculation of intrinsic value, though, is not so simple. As our definition suggests, intrinsic value is an estimate rather than a precise figure, and it is additionally an estimate that must be changed if interest rates move or forecasts of future cash flows are revised.”

Warren Buffett

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.: An Owner's Manual http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/owners.html (1999) Letters to Shareholders (1957 - 2012)

“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

1996 Chairman's Letter http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/1996.html Letters to Shareholders (1957 - 2012)

“The best thing that happens to us is when a great company gets into temporary trouble… We want to buy them when they're on the operating table.”

Warren Buffett

http://www.businessweek.com/1999/99_27/b3636006.htm "Homespun Wisdom from the 'Oracle of Omaha'" Businessweek (5 July 1999)
Quotes from the press

“I like to study failure, actually. My partner says, "I want to know where I'll die so I'll never go there." We want to see what has caused businesses to go bad. The biggest thing that kills them is complacency…. The danger would always be that you rest on your laurels.”

Warren Buffett

Rules for success

“Over the years, Charlie [Munger, Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman] and I have observed many accounting-based frauds of staggering size. Few of the perpetrators have been punished; many have not even been censured. It has been far safer to steal large sums with pen than small sums with a gun.”

Warren Buffett

1988 Chairman's Letter http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/1988.html Letters to Shareholders (1957 - 2012)

“What counts for most people in investing is not how much they know, but rather how realistically they define what they don't know.”

Warren Buffett

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-genius-of-warren-buffett-in-23-quotes-2015-08-19 "The genius of Warren Buffett in 23 quotes" MarketWatch (19 August 2015)
Quotes from the press

“An irresistible footnote: in 1971, pension fund managers invested a record 122% of net funds available in equities — at full prices they couldn't buy enough of them. In 1974, after the bottom had fallen out, they committed a then record low of 21% to stocks.”

Warren Buffett

1978 Chairman's Letter http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/1978.html Letters to Shareholders (1957 - 2012)

“We're going to move a lot of crude (oil) in this country, and we have to learn how to do it very safely.”

Warren Buffett

http://www.investing.com/news/economy-news/buffett:-moving-oil-by-rail-safely-is-a-major-industry-concern-279336 "Buffett: Moving Oil By Rail Safely Is A Major Industry Concern" Investing.com (24 April 2014)
Quotes from the press

“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

1997 Chairman's Letter
Letters to Shareholders (1957 - 2012)

“If you invested in a very low cost index fund — where you don’t put the money in at one time, but average in over 10 years — you’ll do better than 90% of people who start investing at the same time.”

Warren Buffett

Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting (2004), as quoted at The Buffett http://www.thebuffett.com/quotes.html