Warren Buffett Quotes

I am a huge bull on this country. We will not have a double-dip recession at all. I see our businesses coming back almost across the board.

A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought.

It's the deleveraging that's going on right now that has caused the credit crisis.

Investors, of course, can, by their own behavior make stock ownership highly risky. And many do. Active trading, attempts to "time" market movements, inadequate diversification, the payment of high and unnecessary fees to managers and advisors, and the use of borrowed money can destroy the decent returns that a life-long owner of equities would otherwise enjoy. Indeed, borrowed money has no place in the investor's tool kit.

If, when making a stock investment, you're not considering holding it at least ten years, don't waste more than ten minutes considering it.

When it's raining gold, reach for a bucket, not a thimble.

The most important quality for an investor is temperament, not intellect. You need a temperament that neither derives great pleasure from being with the crowd or against the crowd.

Turnarounds seldom turn.

We always live in an uncertain world. What is certain is that the United States will go forward over time.

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.

If you can eliminate the government as a 39.6% partner, then you will be much better off.

I know the country works extremely well. You know, but when it isn't clogged up.

As one of my older friends says, "Nostalgia just isn't what it used to be." Let's take a stab at it, anyway.

We've used up a lot of bullets. And we talk about stimulus. But the truth is, we're running a federal deficit that's 9 percent of GDP. That is stimulative as all get out. It's more stimulative than any policy we've followed since World War II.

The real fortunes in this country have been made by people who have been right about the business they invested in, and not right about the timing of the stock market.

When we own portions of outstanding businesses with outstanding managements, our favorite holding period is forever.

We need a tax system that essentially takes very good care of the people who just really aren't as well adapted to the market system but are nevertheless doing useful things in the society.

Asking for financial advice from a financial planner is like asking a barber if you need a hair cut.

The rich invest in time, the poor invest in money.

You can't buy what is popular and do well.

There's nothing inappropriate about having debt in America. It's what helped us grow over time. And it's when debt gets out of control that you worry.

When 40 billion of treasury bills are sold like, seven day treasury bills, at a yield of 1/20th of one percent, that means the whole country is basically at the point virtually, or a lot of the country is at the point of putting the money under the mattress.

If you knew what was going to happen in the economy, you still wouldn't necessarily know what was going to happen in the stock market.

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.

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

The ability to say no is a tremendous advantage for an investor.

When you get to my age, you’ll measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you. That’s the ultimate test of how you’ve lived your life.

... but the important thing is that when you do find one where you really do know what you are doing, you must buy in quantity.... Charlie and I have made a dozen or so very big decisions relative to net worth, although not as big as they should have been. And in each of those, we've known that we were almost certain to be right going in.

To win, the first thing you have to do is not lose.

To be successful, you should concentrate on the world of companies, not arcane accounting mathematics.

I look at everything. That's my job. I really do, every day. I think about everything.

Investors should be skeptical of history-based models. Constructed by a nerdy-sounding priesthood using esoteric terms such as beta, gamma, sigma and the like, these models tend to look impressive. Too often, though, investors forget to examine the assumptions behind the models. Beware of geeks bearing formulas.

Our approach is very much profiting from lack of change rather than from change.

You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don't do too many things wrong.

There are certain things that cannot be adequately explained to a virgin either by words or pictures.

When people tell me they've learned from experience, I tell them the trick is to learn from other people's experience.

The greatest Enemies of the Equity investor are Expenses and Emotions.

You do things when the opportunities come along. I've had periods in my life when I've had a bundle of ideas come along, and I've had long dry spells. If I get an idea next week, I'll do something. If not, I won't do a damn thing.

Writing a check separates a commitment from a conversation.

It's a big mistake to try and mislead people. They will turn around.

I am quite serious when I say that I do not believe there are, on the whole earth besides, so many intensified bores as in these United States. No man can form an adequate idea of the real meaning of the word, without coming here.

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.

You're dealing with a lot of silly people in the marketplace; it's like a great big casino and everyone else is boozing. If you can stick with Pepsi, you should be OK.

Nothing sedates rationality like large doses of effortless money.

The critical investment factor is determining the intrinsic value of a business and paying a fair or bargain price.

In earlier years, a lesser effort produced literally dozens of comparable opportunities. It is difficult to be objective about the causes for such diminution of one's own productivity. Three factors that seem apparent are: (1) a somewhat changed market environment; (2) our increased size; and (3) substantially more competition.

If you've got the power to raise prices without losing business to a competitor, you've got a very good business. And if you have to have a prayer session before raising the price by a tenth of a cent, then you've got a terrible business. I've been in both, and I know the difference.

I look for businesses in which I think I can predict what they're going to look like in ten to fifteen years time. Take Wrigley's chewing gum. I don't think the internet is going to change how people chew gum.