It is unquestionably true that the investment companies have their money more conventionally invested than we do. To many people conventionality is indistinguishable from conservatism. In my view, this represents erroneous thinking. Neither a conventional nor an unconventional approach, per se, is conservative.

A very rich person should leave his kids enough to do anything, but not enough to do nothing.

I bought a company in the mid-90s called Dexter Shoe and paid $400 million for it. And it went to zero. And I gave about $400 million worth of Berkshire stock, which is probably now worth $400 billion. But I've made lots of dumb decisions. That's part of the game.

Stocks are the only thing that people are happy to buy when the price goes up.

The extraordinary business does not require good management.

Like I say, I don't think it'll be done perfectly. Maybe we'll end up with a little bit better [economy] system.

When asked how he became so successful in investing, Buffett answered: 'we read hundreds and hundreds of annual reports every year.