Charlie Munger Quotes

So there’s an iron rule that just as you want to start getting worldly wisdom by asking “Why, why, why?,” in communicating with other people about everything, you want to include why, why, why. Even if it’s obvious, it’s wise to stick in the why.

So you have to figure out what your own aptitudes are. If you play games where other people have the aptitudes and you don’t, you’re going to lose. And that’s as close to certain as any prediction you can make. You have to figure out where you’ve got an edge. And you’ve got to play within your own circle of competence.

The fourth helpful notion is that the best and most practical wisdom is elementary academic wisdom. But there is one extremely important qualification: You must think in a multidisciplinary manner. You must routinely use all the easy-to-learn concepts from the freshman course in every basic subject.

Without numerical fluency … you are like a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest

Fourth, in filling scarce academic vacancies, professors of superstrong, passionate political ideology, whether on the left or right, should usually be avoided. So also for students. Best-form multidisciplinarity requires an objectivity such passionate people have lost, and a difficult synthesis is not likely to be achieved by minds in ideological fetters. In our day, some Harvard Law professors could and did point to a wonderful example of just such ideology-based folly. This, of course, was the law school at Yale, which was then viewed by many at Harvard as trying to improve legal education by importing a particular political ideology as a dominant factor.

Opportunity doesn’t come often, so seize it when it does. Opportunity meeting the prepared mind — that’s the game.

And the models have to come from multiple disciplines — because all the wisdom of the world is not to be found in one little academic department. That’s why poetry professors, by and large, are so unwise in a worldly sense. They don’t have enough models in their heads. So you’ve got to have models across a fair array of disciplines.

The ability to destroy your ideas rapidly instead of slowly when the occasion is right is one of the most valuable things. You have to work hard on it. Ask yourself what are the arguments on the other side. It’s bad to have an opinion you’re proud of if you can’t state the arguments for the other side better than your opponents. This is a great mental discipline.

The school of life is always open, if you aren't learning more, you are falling further behind

A great business at a fair price is superior to a fair business at a great price.

And he will also suffer from the psychological defect caught by the proverb “To a man with a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.” The fifth helpful notion is that really big effects, lollapalooza effects, will often come only from large combinations of factors.

Warren talks about these discounted cash flows. I’ve never seen him do one.

We both (Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett) insist on a lot of time being available almost every day to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in American business. We read and think.

I never allow myself to have an opinion on anything that I don't know the other side's argument better than they do.

The idea that life is a series of adversities and each one is an opportunity to behave well instead of badly is a very, very good idea.