Quotes from Warren Buffett

Don't ask the barber whether you need a haircut.)

Our goal is more modest: We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.

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 is madness to risk losing what you need in pursuing what you simply desire.

I do wish, however, that Ms. Olson would give me some credit for the progress I've already made. In 1944, I filed my first 1040, reporting my income as a thirteen-year-old newspaper carrier. The return covered three pages. After I claimed the appropriate business deductions, such as $35 for a bicycle, my tax bill was $7. I sent my check to the Treasury and it — without comment — promptly cashed it. We lived in peace.

It's not that I want money. It's the fun if making money and watching it grow.

It's not that I want money. It's the fun of making money and watching it grow.

For Buffett, managers are stewards of shareholder capital. The best managers think like owners in making business decisions.

For investors as a whole, returns decrease as motion increases.

My favourite holding period is forever

A good business is not always a good purchase - although it's a good place to look for one.

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it.

A small chance of distress or disgrace cannot, in our view, be offset by a large chance of extra returns.

If you've got the power to raise prices without losing business to a competitor, you've got a very good business. If you have to have a prayer session before raising the price by 10%, then you've got a bad business.

Read 500 pages like this every week. That's how knowledge builds up, like compound interest.

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.

My life couldn't be happier. In fact, it'd be worse if I had six or eight houses. So, I have everything I need to have, and I don't need any more because it doesn't make a difference after a point

I would rather be certain of a good result than hopeful of a great one.

Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing.

The requisites for board membership should be business savvy, interest in the job, and owner-orientation.

Too often, a vast collection of possessions ends up possessing its owner.

Naming the plane has not been easy. I initially suggested 'The Charles T. Munger.' Charlie countered with 'The Aberration.' We finally settled on 'The Indefensible.

with others, are likely to experience such a year.

A line from Bobby Bare's country song explains what too often happens with acquisitions: "I've never gone to bed with an ugly woman, but I've sure woke up with a few.