Acknowledging what you don't know is the dawning of wisdom.

You have to know accounting. It's the language of practical business life. It was a very useful thing to deliver to civilization. I've heard it came to civilization through Venice which of course was once the great commercial power in the Mediterranean. However, double entry bookkeeping was a hell of an invention.

After nearly making a terrible mistake not buying See's, we've made this mistake many times. We are apparently slow learners. These opportunity costs don't show up on financial statements, but have cost us many billions.

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

Berkshireis in the business of making easy predictions If a deal looks too hard, the partners simply shelve it.

To some extent, stocks are like Rembrandts. They sell based on what they've sold in the past. Bonds are much more rational. No-one thinks a bond's value will soar to the moon.

It’s not greed that drives the world, but envy.