Buy into a company because you want to own it, not because you want the stock to go up.
Warren BuffettAmericans are in a cycle of fear which leads to people not wanting to spend and not wanting to make investments, and that leads to more fear. We'll break out of it. It takes time.
Warren BuffettOpportunities come infrequently. When it rains gold, put out the bucket, not the thimble.
Warren BuffettInvestment philosophy is the clear understanding that by owning shares of stocks he owns businesses, not pieces of paper.
Warren BuffettDo what you love and work for whom you admire the most, and you've given yourself the best chance in life you can.
Warren BuffettIf you have more than 120 or 130 I.Q. points, you can afford to give the rest away. You don't need extraordinary intelligence to succeed as an investor.
Warren BuffettAccounting consequences do not influence our operating or capital-allocation decisions. When acquisition costs are similar, we much prefer to purchase $2 of earnings that is not reportable by us under standard accounting principles than to purchase $1 of earnings that is reportable.
Warren BuffettA prediction about the direction of the stock market tells you nothing about where stocks are headed, but a whole lot about the person doing the predicting.
Warren BuffettIntrinsic 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.
Warren BuffettIn investing, just as in baseball, to put runs on the scoreboard, one must watch the playing field, not the scoreboard.
Warren BuffettTo invest successfully, you need not understand beta, efficient markets, modern portfolio theory, option pricing or emerging markets. You may, in fact, be better off knowing nothing of these. That, of course, is not the prevailing view at most business schools, whose finance curriculum tends to be dominated by such subjects. In our view, though, investment students need only two well-taught courses - How to Value a Business, and How to Think About Market Prices.
Warren BuffettIn looking for people to hire, look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence and energy. And if they don't have the first, the other two will kill you.
Warren BuffettResolution Trust Company was set up to liquidate a bunch of assets that the government had inherited because the savings and loans went broke.
Warren BuffettWell, one time some attractive woman sat next to Charlie and asked him what he owed his success to, and, unfortunately, she insisted on a one word answer. He had a speech prepared that would have gone on for several hours. But when forced to boil it down to one word, he said that was "rational". You know, he comes equipped for rationality, and he applies it in business. He doesn't always apply it elsewhere, but he applies it in business and that has made him a huge business success.
Warren BuffettInvestment decision should be made on the basis of the most probable compounding of after-tax net worth with minimum risk.
Warren BuffettI think that they hoped the private sector would come in. And the private sector tried to come in until they saw the size of the problem. I mean, from were people on that weekend that thought they'd had a solution. And then the hole kept getting bigger and bigger. And all of a sudden became apparent that 20 billion wouldn't do it and 30 billion wouldn't do it and 40 billion wouldn't do it. So it got beyond anybody's ability to certainly to do it in a short period of time.
Warren BuffettI think that trying to invest through 535 people is a tough job, you know, and so I would give more latitude.
Warren BuffettOutstanding long-term results are produced primarily by avoiding dumb decisions, rather than by making brilliant ones.
Warren BuffettYou don't need to have extraordinary effort to achieve extraordinary results. You just need to do the ordinary, everyday things exceptionally well.
Warren BuffettI mean, in terms of alternatives, some people have suggested for example that why don't we - why isn't America doing what Berkshire Hathaway is doing? Why isn't that a better deal for America?
Warren BuffettWould your reply possibly be this? Well, it all depends on what my tax rate will be on the gain you're saying we're going to make. If the taxes are too high, I would rather leave the money in my savings account, earning a quarter of 1 percent. Only in Grover Norquist's imagination does such a response exist.
Warren BuffettYou ought to be able to explain why you’re taking the job you’re taking, why you’re making the investment you’re making, or whatever it may be. And if it can’t stand applying pencil to paper, you’d better think it through some more. And if you can’t write an intelligent answer to those questions, don’t do it.
Warren BuffettI think the most important factor in getting out of the recession actually is just the regenerative capacity of - of American capitalism.
Warren BuffettThe stock market is a no-called-strike game. You don’t have to swing at everything – you can wait for your pitch.
Warren BuffettIf you can't read the scoreboard. You don't know the score. If you don't know the score, you can't tell the winners from the losers.
Warren BuffettI've argued with the senators and congressmen I've talked to. You don't want to be too little too late. If you buy them at the right price, you may be buying two trillion of face value.
Warren BuffettLike I say, I don't think it'll be done perfectly. Maybe we'll end up with a little bit better [economy] system.
Warren BuffettA pin lies in wait for every bubble. And when the two eventually meet, a new wave of investors learns some very old lessons: First, many in Wall Street (a community in which quality control is not prized) will sell investors anything they will buy. Second, speculation is most dangerous when it looks easiest.
Warren BuffettWe're paying maybe 25 percent of the income tax, but the payroll tax is over a third of the receipts of the federal government. And they don't take that from me on capital gains. They don't take that from me on dividends.
Warren Buffett