You are lucky in life if you have the right heroes. I advise all of you, to the extent you can, to pick out a few heroes

[The U.S. Treasury] can borrow basically unlimited amounts. They can stay there for years and years. These assets will be worth more money over time. So when Merrill Lynch sells a bunch of mortgage-related assets at 22 cents on the dollar like they did a month or so ago, the buyer goes - is going to make money, and he's going to make a lot more money if it happens to be an institution like the U.S. government which has very, very cheap borrowing costs.

It's a nightmare to administer some of this sort of thing, but I want to tell the shareholders of Berkshire, to the percent we own marketable securities or things for which there are market, even if those markets - I want to tell them what it's all about.

This economy doesn't work well without the lubrication of credit and trust.

Intrinsic value can be defined simply: It is the discounted value of the cash that can be taken out of a business during its remaining life.

I never invest in anything that I don't understand.

Two rules: 1. Preserve the principal 2. When in doubt, see Rule #1.