Too often, executive compensation in the U.S. is ridiculously out of line with performance. That won't change, moreover, because the deck is stacked against investors when it comes to the CEO's pay.

We have a country where I don't know whether it's a million households a year or more, but good form.

Take the job you would take if you were independently wealthy. You're going to do well at it.

Writing checks to the IRS that include strings of zeros does not bother me ... Overall, we feel extraordinarily lucky to have been dealt a hand in life that enables us to write large checks to the government rather than one requiring the government to regularly write checks to us-say, because we are disabled or unemployed.

Only buy something that you'd be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years.

Buy companies with strong histories of profitability and with a dominant business franchise.

What motivates most gold purchasers is their belief that the ranks of the fearful will grow ... As 'bandwagon' investors join any party, they create their own truth - for a while.