Over the very long term, history shows that the chances of any business surviving in a manner agreeable to a company's owners are slim at best.

In fact I've probably never seen such a wide moat.

A lot of success in life and business comes from knowing what you want to avoid: early death, a bad marriage, etc.

To say accounting for derivatives is Americais a sewer is an insult to sewage.

Understanding both the power of compound interest and the difficulty of getting it is the heart and soul of understanding a lot of things.

Berkshire has the lowest turnover of any major company in the U.S.The Walton family owns more of Wal-Mart than Buffett owns of Berkshire, so it isn't because of large holdings. It's because we have a really unusual shareholder body that thinks of itself as owners and not holders of little pieces of paper.

To atone, I teach and try to set an example... I love spreading this stuff around. Just because it's trite doesn't mean it isn't right. In fact, I like to say, 'If it's trite, it's right.'