I have a black belt in chutzpah. I was born with it. Some people, like some of the women I know, have a black belt in spending. They were born with that. But what they gave me was a black belt in chutzpah.

The average result has to be the average result. By definition, everybody can't beat the market. As I always say, the iron rule of life is that only 20% of the people can be in the top fifth. That's just the way it is.

The liabilities are always 100 percent good. It's the assets you have to worry about.

If you can buy the best companies, over time the pricing takes care of itself.

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

Wesco had a market capitalization of $40 million when we bought it [in the early 1970s]. It's $2 billion now. It's been a long slog to a perfectly respectable outcome - not as good as Berkshire Hathaway or Microsoft, but there's always someone in life who's done better.

I do not think you can trust bankers to control themselves. They are like heroin addicts.