Managers and investors alike must understand that accounting numbers are the beginning, not the end, of business valuation.

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

The much-maligned idle rich have received a bad rap: They have maintained their wealth while many There is scarcely an instance of a man who has made a fortune by speculation and kept it. Andrew Carnegie of the energetic rich, aggressive real estate operators, corporate acquirers, oil drillers, etc. have their fortunes disappear.

Opportunities come infrequently. When it rains gold, put out the bucket, not the thimble.

Very successful people say no to almost everything.

I don't think you can have a better secretary of the Treasury than Hank Paulson.

They say the chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken. The chains you put around yourself now have enormous consequences as you go through life.