If you can tell me who your heroes are, I can tell you how you're going to turn out in life.

When Berkshire buys common stock, we approach the transaction as if we were buying into a private business.

That's the reality of what they're going to sell them to the Treasury for.

Charlie and I decided long ago that in an investment lifetime, it's too hard to make hundreds of smart decisions. That judgment became ever more compelling as Berkshire's capital mushroomed and the universe of investments that could significantly affect our results shrank dramatically. Therefore, we adopted a strategy that required our being smart and not too smart at that, only a very few times. Indeed, we now settle for one good idea a year.

A contrarian approach is just as foolish as a follow-the-crowd strategy. What's required is thinking rather than polling.

I'm just lucky to have been in the right place at the right time. Another place, another time, I wouldn't have been as successful. Society enabled me to make my money and my money should go to society.

It is impossible to unsign a contract, so do all your thinking before you sign.