Charlie Munger Quotes

Our job is to find a few intelligent things to do, not to keep up with every damn thing in the world

We both 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. So Warren and I do more reading and thinking and less doing than most people in business.

An example of a really responsible system is the system the Romans used when they built an arch. The guy who created the arch stood under it as the scaffolding was removed. It’s like packing your own parachute.

Pain-Avoiding Psychological Denial One should recognize reality even when one doesn’t like it.

Crowd folly, the tendency of humans, under some circumstances, to resemble lemmings, explains much foolish thinking of brilliant men and much foolish behavior.

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

It’s not possible for investors to consistently outperform the market. Therefore you’re best served investing in a diversified portfolio of low-cost index funds [or exchange-traded funds].

"The reason we avoid the word "synergy" is because people generally claim more synergistic benefits than will come. Yes, it exists, but there are so many false promises. Berkshire is full of synergies - we don't avoid synergies, just claims of synergies."

To get what you want, you have to deserve what you want. The world is not yet a crazy enough place to reward a whole bunch of undeserving people.

It's not the bad ideas that do you in, it’s the good ideas. And you may say, 'That can't be so. That's paradoxical. What he [Graham] meant was that if a thing is a bad idea, it’s hard to overdo. But where there is a good idea with a core of essential and important truth, you can’t ignore it. And then it's so easy to overdo it. So the good ideas are a wonderful way to suffer terribly if you overdo them

Forgetting your mistakes is a terrible error if you’re trying to improve your cognition. Reality doesn’t remind you. Why not celebrate stupidities in both categories?

It's not supposed to be easy. Anyone who finds it easy is stupid.

It is remarkable how much long-term advantage we have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.

Show me the incentive and I'll show you the outcome.

Stay within a well-defined circle of competence.