Warren Buffett Quotes
376 Warren Buffett Quotes
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[In February 2011.] The third best investment I ever made was the purchase of my home, though I would have made far more money had I instead rented and used the purchase money to buy stocks. (The two best investments were wedding rings.) For the $31,500 I paid for our house, my family and I gained 52 years of terrific memories with more to come. But a house can be a nightmare if the buyer’s eyes are bigger than his wallet…
Warren Buffett
[In February 2011 on
Lou Simpson] Lou has never been one to advertise his talents. But I will: Simply put, Lou is one of the investment greats.
Warren Buffett
[In February 2011 on investing style.] Fund consultants like to require style boxes such as ‘long-short,’ ‘macro,’ ‘international equities.’ At Berkshire our only style box is ‘smart.’
Warren Buffett
[In February 2011.] You can be highly successful as an investor without having the slightest ability to value an option. What students should be learning is how to value a business. That’s what investing is all about.
Warren Buffett
[In February 2011.] Some people have become very rich through the use of borrowed money. However, that’s also been a way to get very poor. When leverage works, it magnifies your gains. Your spouse thinks you’re clever, and your neighbors get envious. But leverage is addictive. Once having profited from its wonders, very few people retreat to more conservative practices. And as we all learned in third grade – and some relearned in 2008 – any series of positive numbers, however impressive the numbers may be, evaporates when multiplied by a single zero. History tells us that leverage all too often produces zeroes, even when it is employed by very smart people.
Warren Buffett
[In February 2011.] Credit is like oxygen. When either is abundant, its presence goes unnoticed. When either is missing, that’s all that is noticed.
Warren Buffett
[In February 2011.] By being so cautious in respect to leverage, we penalize our returns by a minor amount. Having loads of liquidity, though, lets us sleep well. Moreover, during the episodes of financial chaos that occasionally erupt in our economy, we will be equipped both financially and emotionally to play offense while others scramble for survival. That’s what allowed us to invest $15.6 billion in 25 days of panic following the Lehman bankruptcy in 2008.
Warren Buffett
[In May 2011 on how he would like to be remembered in 100 years.] A teacher.
Warren Buffett
[In February 2012.] The primary job of a Board of Directors is to see that the right people are running the business and to be sure that the next generation of leaders is identified and ready to take over tomorrow.
Warren Buffett
[In February 2012.] More than 98% of my net worth is in Berkshire stock, all of which will go to various philanthropies. Being so heavily concentrated in one stock defies conventional wisdom. But I’m fine with this arrangement, knowing both the quality and diversity of the businesses we own and the calibre of the people who manage them.
Warren Buffett
[In February 2012.] Wise monetary and fiscal policies play an important role in tempering recessions, but these tools don’t create households nor eliminate excess housing units.
Warren Buffett
[In February 2012.] In my early days I, too, rejoiced when the [stock] market rose. Then I read Chapter Eight of Ben Graham’s ‘The Intelligent Investor’, the chapter dealing with how investors should view fluctuations in stock prices. Immediately the scales fell from my eyes, and low prices became my friend. Picking up that book was one of the luckiest moments in my life.
Warren Buffett
[In February 2012.] Investing is forgoing consumption now in order to have the ability to consume more at a later date.
Warren Buffett
[In February 2012.] Governments determine the ultimate value of money, and systemic forces will sometimes cause them to gravitate to policies that produce inflation.
Warren Buffett
[In February 2012.] Gold… has two significant shortcomings, being neither of much use nor procreative… If you own one ounce of gold for an eternity, you will still own one ounce at its end.
Warren Buffett
[In February 2012.] As ‘bandwagon’ investors join any party, they create their own truth – for a while.
Warren Buffett
[In February 2012.] We heard ‘cash is king’ in late 2008, just when cash should have been deployed rather than held. Similarly, we heard ‘cash is trash’ in the early 1980s just when fixed-dollar investments were at their most attractive level in memory. On those occasions, investors who required a supportive crowd paid dearly for that comfort.
Warren Buffett
[In 2013 on why he lives in Omaha and didn’t move to New York when he could have become a full partner in an investment firm in 1956 when Benjamin Graham was retiring.] I’m very happy when I’m home. That’s why I’ve never moved.
Warren Buffett
[In 2013 on Berkshire Hathaway.] I spent my lifetime working on it. I believe Berkshire’s as permanent as you can come up with.
Warren Buffett
[In March 2013] Mae West had it right: ‘Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.’
Warren Buffett
[In March 2013] Of course, the immediate future is uncertain; America has faced the unknown since 1776. It’s just that sometimes people focus on the myriad of uncertainties that always exist while at other times they ignore them (usually because the recent past has been uneventful).
Warren Buffett
[In March 2013 on trying to ‘time’ the stock market.] Charlie and I believe it’s a terrible mistake to try to dance in and out of it based upon the turn of tarot cards, the predictions of ‘experts’, or the ebb and flow of business activity. The risks of being out the game are huge compared to the risk of being in it.
Warren Buffett
[In March 2013] There are lots of ways to lose money in insurance, and the industry never ceases searching for new ones.
Warren Buffett
[In March 2013] Charlie and I believe in operating with many redundant layers of liquidity, and we avoid any sort of obligation that could drain our cash in a material way. That reduces our returns in 99 years out of 100. But we will survive in the 100th while many others fail. And we will sleep well in all 100.
Warren Buffett
[In March 2013] Value is destroyed when purchases are made above intrinsic value.
Warren Buffett
[In March 2013] You can successfully run a restaurant that serves hamburgers or, alternatively, one that features Chinese food. But you can’t switch capriciously [Sudden unpredictable changes.] between the two and retain the fans of either.
Warren Buffett
[In February 2014] Charlie and I have always considered a ‘bet’ on ever-rising U.S. prosperity to be very close to a sure thing.
Warren Buffett
[In February 2014] Competitive dynamics almost guarantee that the insurance industry – despite the float income all companies enjoy – will continue its dismal record of earning subnormal returns as compared to other businesses.
Warren Buffett
[In February 2014] Simply put, insurance is the sale of promises… Sometimes, the promise will not be tested for decades
Warren Buffett
[In February 2014] A business with terrific economics can be a bad investment if the purchase price is excessive.
Warren Buffett
[In February 2015.] A business with terrific economics can be a bad investment if it is bought for too high a price.
Warren Buffett
[In February 2014] 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.
Warren Buffett
[In February 2014] Keep things simple and don’t swing for the fences. When promised quick profits, respond with a quick ‘no.’
Warren Buffett
[In February 2014] If you don’t feel comfortable making a rough estimate of the asset’s future earnings, just forget it and move on. No one has the ability to evaluate every investment possibility.
Warren Buffett
[In February 2014] I am unable to speculate successfully, and I am skeptical of those who claim sustained success at doing so.
Warren Buffett
[In February 2014] The fact that a given asset has appreciated in the recent past is never a reason to buy it.
Warren Buffett
[In February 2014] Games are won by players who focus on the playing field - not by those whose eyes are glued to the scoreboard. If you can enjoy Saturdays and Sundays without looking at stock prices, give it a try on weekdays.
Warren Buffett
[In February 2014] Forming macro opinions or listening to the macro or market predictions of others is a waste of time. Indeed, it is dangerous because it may blur your vision of the facts that are truly important.
Warren Buffett
[In February 2014] Disasters… when a long-rising market induces purchases that are based on anticipated price behavior and a desire to be where the action is.
Warren Buffett
[In February 2014] Remember the late Barton Biggs’ observation: ‘A bull market is like sex. It feels best just before it ends.’
Warren Buffett
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