Beta and modern portfolio theory and the like - none of it makes any sense to me.

The only intelligence investing is value investing...to acquire more than one is paying for.

I talked to one accountant, a very nice fellow who I would have been glad to have his family marry into mine. He said, "What these other accounting firms have done is very unethical. The [tax avoidance scheme] works best if it's not found out [by the IRS], so we only give it to our best clients, not the rest, so it's unlikely to be discovered. So my firm is better than the others." [Laughter] I'm not kidding. And he was a perfectly nice man. People just follow the crowd...Their mind just drifts off in a ghastly way.

You must force yourself to consider opposing arguments. Especially when they challenge your best loved ideas.

Berkshire was built on the eternal verities: basic mathematics, basic horse sense, basic fear, and basic diagnosis of human nature to make predictions regarding human behavior. We stuck to the basics with a certain amount of discipline and it has worked out quite well.

The game of life is the game of everlasting learning. At least it is if you want to win.

We want very good leaders who have a lot of power.