We may well have a competitive advantage buying decent businesses at decent prices. But they won't be fabulous businesses and fabulous prices. There's too much competition and money out there, with many buyout specialists.

There are two kinds of businesses: The first earns 12%, and you can take it out at the end of the year. The second earns 12%, but all the excess cash must be reinvested - there's never any cash. It reminds me of the guy who looks at all of his equipment and says, 'There's all of my profit.' We hate that kind of business.

Learn how to ignore the examples from others when they are wrong, because few skills are more worth having.

Rationality is not just something you do so that you can make more money, it is a binding principle. Rationality is a really good idea. You must avoid the nonsense that is conventional in one's own time. It requires developing systems of thought that improve your batting average over time.

Cicero's words also increased my personal satisfaction by supporting my long-standing rejection of a conventional point of view.

Good businesses can survive a little bad management.

Why would you want to invest with a guy whose thought process says, "If a second layer of fees is good, then let's add a third layer.