I think I've been in the top 5% of my age cohort all my life in understanding the power of incentives, and all my life I've underestimated it.

You want to deliver to the world what you would buy if you were on the other end.

Berkshireis not as good as it was in terms of percentage compounding [going forward], but it's still a hell of a business.

The basic concept of value to a private owner and being motivated when you're buying and selling securities by reference to intrinsic value instead of price momentum - I don't think that will ever be outdated.

It is way less certain to be a wonderful business in the future. The threat is alternative mediums of information. Every newspaper is scrambling to parlay their existing advantage into dominance on the Internet. But it is way less sure [that this will occur] than the certainty 20 years ago that the basic business would grow steadily, so there's more downside risk. The perfectly fabulous economics of this business could become grievously impaired.

The ethos of not fooling yourself is one of the best you could possibly have. It's powerful because it's so rare.

Once you start doing something bad, then it's easy to take the next step - and in the end, you're a moral sewer.