"Honesty is a very expensive gift. Do not expect it from cheap people."
"Only those who will be sellers of equities in the near future should be happy at seeing stocks rise. Prospective purchasers should much prefer sinking prices."
"Only those who will be sellers of equities in the near future should be happy at seeing stocks rise. Prospective purchasers should much prefer sinking prices."
"The critical investment factor is determining the intrinsic value of a business and paying a fair or bargain price."
"Long ago, Sir Isaac Newton gave us three laws of motion, which were the work of genius. But Sir Isaac's talents didn't extend to investing: He lost a bundle in the South Sea Bubble, explaining later, 'I can calculate the movement of the stars, but not the madness of men.' If he had not been traumatized by this loss, Sir Isaac might well have gone on to discover the Fourth Law of Motion: For investors as a whole, returns decrease as motion increases."
"Investors should remember that excitement and expenses are their enemies. And if they insist on trying to time their participation in equities, they should try to be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful."
"I never buy anything unless I can fill out on a piece of paper my reasons. I may be wrong, but I would know the answer to that. “I"m paying $32 billion today for the Coca Cola Company because.” If you can"t answer that question, you shouldn"t buy it. If you can answer that question, and you do it a few times, you"ll make a lot of money."
"Great investment opportunities come around when excellent companies are surrounded by unusual circumstances that cause the stock to be misappraised."
"In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield."
"You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out."
"You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don"t do too many things wrong."
"It"s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price."
"You 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."
"Look at market fluctuations as your friend rather than your enemy; profit from folly rather than participate in it."
"An investor needs to do very few things right as long as he or she avoids big mistakes."
"Time is the friend of the wonderful company, the enemy of the mediocre."
"Do a lot of reading"
"A great investment opportunity occurs when a marvelous business encounters a one-time huge, but solvable problem."
"The investor of today does not profit from yesterday"s growth."
"The fact that people will be full of greed, fear, or folly is predictable. The sequence is not predictable."
"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."
"I do not like debt and do not like to invest in companies that have too much debt, particularly long-term debt. With long-term debt, increases in interest rates can drastically affect company profits and make future cash flows less predictable."
"We will reject interesting opportunities rather than over-leverage our balance sheet."
"I always knew I was going to be rich. I don"t think I ever doubted it for a minute."
"Turnarounds seldom turn."
"If at first you do succeed, quit trying on investing."
"I don"t measure my life by the money I"ve made. Other people might, but certainly don"t."
"Anything can happen in stock markets and you ought to conduct your affairs so that if the most extraordinary events happen, that you"re still around to play the next day."
"You shouldn"t own common stocks if a 50 per cent decrease in their value in a short period of time would cause you acute distress."
"With few exceptions when a manager with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for poor economics, it is the reputation of the business which remains intact."
"The business schools reward complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective."
"It"s not debt per say that overwhelms an individual corporation or country. Rather it is a continuous increase in debt in relation to income that causes trouble."
"I'll tell you why I like the cigarette business. It costs a penny to make. Sell it for a dollar. It's addictive. And there's fantastic brand loyalty."
"You do not adequately protect yourself by being half awake when other are sleeping."
"We like to buy businesses, but we don"t like to sell them."
"Money to some extent sometimes let you be in more interesting environments. But it can"t change how many people love you or how healthy you are."
"Enjoy your work and work for whom you admire."
"With enough insider information and a million dollars, you can go broke in a year."
"In a commodity business, it"s very hard to be smarter than your dumbest competitor."
"A hyperactive stock market is the pickpocket of enterprise."
"Valuing a business is part art and part science."
"It"s us fun being a gorse when the tractor comes along, or the blacksmith when the car comes along."
"Chains of habits are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken."
Warren Buffett is the second richest man in America with a net worth of $44 Billoin, only next to Bill Gates’ $61 Bllion. He is the founder and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK), a holding company which owns subsidiaries that engage in diverse business activities. This post contains the second part of 50 Warren Buffett Quotes on investing and finance. Here is the first part of Warren Buffett Quotes.
