When you listen to tax-cut rhetoric, remember that giving one class of taxpayer a break requires - now or down the line - that an equivalent burden be imposed on other parties. In other words, if I get a break, someone else pays. Government can't deliver a free lunch to the country as a whole. It can however, determine who pays for lunch.

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

I put heavy weight on certainty. It's not risky to buy securities at a fraction of what they're worth.

Would you rather be the world's greatest lover, but have everyone think you're the world's worst lover? Or would you rather be the world's worst lover but have everyone think you're the world's greatest lover? Now, that's an interesting question.

I believe the chance of any event causing Berkshire to experience financial problems is essentially zero. We will always be prepared for the thousand-year flood; in fact, if it occurswe will be selling life jackets to the unprepared.

I think that trying to invest through 535 people is a tough job, you know, and so I would give more latitude.

I prefer liquor store robbers with hungry kids to companies that locate offshore to avoid U.S. taxes.