Warren Buffett Quotes

A by-product of our managerial style is the ability it gives us to easily expand Berkshire’s activities. We’ve read management treatises that specify exactly how many people should report to any one executive, but they make little sense to us. When you have able managers of high character running businesses about which they are passionate, you can have a dozen or more reporting to you and still have time for an afternoon nap. Conversely, if you have even one person reporting to you who is deceitful, inept or uninterested, you will find yourself with more than you can handle.

It's simply to say that managers and investors alike must understand that accounting numbers is the beginning, not the end, of business valuation.

Derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction.

operating earnings plus depreciation and amortization less normalized capital expenditures — was adequate to cover both interest and modest reductions in debt.

Writing a check separates a commitment from a conversation.

Draw a circle around the businesses you understand and then eliminate those that fail to qualify on the basis of value, good management and limited exposure to hard times. ... Buy into a company because you want to own it, not because you want the stock to go up. ... People have been successful investors because they've stuck with successful companies. Sooner or later the market mirrors the business.

Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.

If you wait till you know everything it's too late

I like thinking big. I always have. To me it's very simple: if you're going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big.

Those who attended [the annual meeting] last year saw your Chairman pitch to Ernie Banks. This encounter proved to be the titanic duel that the sports world had long awaited. After the first few pitches — which were not my best, but when have I ever thrown my best? — I fired a brushback at Ernie just to let him know who was in command. Ernie charged the mound, and I charged the plate. But a clash was avoided because we became exhausted before reaching each other.

My favourite holding period is forever

If you invested in a 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.

It's class warfare. My class is winning, but they shouldn't be.

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.

It's better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you'll drift in that direction.