Warren Buffett quotes - page 3

Over the years, Charlie [Munger, Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman] and I have observed many accounting-based frauds of staggering size. Few of the perpetrators have been punished; many have not even been censured. It has been far safer to steal large sums with pen than small sums with a gun. (Warren Buffett)
In a bull market, one must avoid the error of the preening duck that quacks boastfully after a torrential rainstorm, thinking that its paddling skills have caused it to rise in the world. A right-thinking duck would instead compare its position after the downpour to that of the other ducks on the pond.
Warren Buffett
People will always try to stop you doing the right thing if it is unconventional.
Warren Buffett
The greater the potential for reward in the value portfolio, the less risk there is.
Warren Buffett
I think the most important factor in getting out of the recession actually is just the regenerative capacity of - of American capitalism.
Warren Buffett
Only buy something that you'd be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years.
Warren Buffett
Time is the friend of the wonderful company, the enemy of the mediocre.
Warren Buffett
If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians.
Warren Buffett
Look at market fluctuations as your friend rather than your enemy; profit from folly rather than participate in it.
Warren Buffett
Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing.
Warren Buffett
We don't get paid for activity, just for being right. As to how long we'll wait, we'll wait indefinitely. (Warren Buffett)
It's class warfare. My class is winning, but they shouldn't be.
Warren Buffett
An irresistible footnote: in 1971, pension fund managers invested a record 122% of net funds available in equities - at full prices they couldn't buy enough of them. In 1974, after the bottom had fallen out, they committed a then record low of 21% to stocks.
Warren Buffett
Today people who hold cash equivalents feel comfortable. They shouldn't. They have opted for a terrible long-term asset, one that pays virtually nothing and is certain to depreciate in value.
Warren Buffett
If you understood a business perfectly and the future of the business, you would need very little in the way of a margin of safety. So, the more vulnerable the business is, assuming you still want to invest in it, the larger margin of safety you'd need. If you're driving a truck across a bridge that says it holds 10,000 pounds and you've got a 9,800 pound vehicle, if the bridge is 6 inches above the crevice it covers, you may feel okay, but if it's over the Grand Canyon, you may feel you want a little larger margin of safety...
Warren Buffett
Success in investing doesn't correlate with I. Q. once you're above the level of 25. Once you have ordinary intelligence, what you need is the temperament to control the urges that get other people into trouble in investing.
Warren Buffett
Ben's Mr. Market allegory may seem out-of-date in today's investment world, in which most professionals and academicians talk of efficient markets, dynamic hedging and betas. Their interest in such matters is understandable, since techniques shrouded in mystery clearly have value to the purveyor of investment advice. After all, what witch doctor has ever achieved fame and fortune by simply advising "Take two aspirins?"
Warren Buffett
The investor of today does not profit from yesterday's growth.
Warren Buffett
Risk is a part of God's game, alike for men and nations.
Warren Buffett
In fact, when we own portions of outstanding businesses with outstanding managements, our favorite holding period is forever.
Warren Buffett
But a 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 Buffett)
If you are not willing to own a stock for 10 years, do not even think about owning it for 10 minutes.
Warren Buffett
Americans 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 Buffett
There are 309 million people out there that are trying to improve their lot in life. And we've got a system that allows them to do it.
Warren Buffett
The only time to buy these is on a day with no "y" in it.
Warren Buffett