Quotes By Warren Buffett

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

If you buy the things you don't need, you will soon be selling the things that you need.

Of one thing be certain: if a CEO is enthused about a particularly foolish acquisition, both his internal staff and his outside advisors will come up with whatever projections are needed to justify his stance. Only in fairy tales are emperors told that they are naked.

I've often felt there might be more to be gained by studying business failures than business successes.

The gross profits in many workouts appear quite small. It's a little like looking for parking meters with some time left on them. However, the predictability coupled with a short holding period produces quite decent average annual rates of return after allowance for the occasional substantial loss.

As an investor with small capital, one should prefer businesses that have high returns on capital and that require little incremental investment to grow.

The greater the potential for reward in the value portfolio, the less risk there is.

In 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.

The best education you can get is investing in yourself, and that doesn't mean college or university.

Be fearful when there is greed and be greedy when there is fear.

Life is like a snowball. The important thing is finding wet snow and a really long hill.

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

At age 19, I read a book [The Intelligent Investor] and what I'm doing today, at age 76, is running things through the same thought process I learned from the book I read at 19.

The speed at which a business success is recognized, furthermore, is not that important as long as the company's intrinsic value is increasing at a satisfactory rate. In fact, delayed recognition can be an advantage: It may give us the chance to buy more of a good thing at a bargain price.

It's not that I want money. It's the fun of making money and watching it grow.

I always knew I was going to be rich. I don't think I ever doubted it for a minute.

The best thing that happens to us is when a great company gets into temporary trouble...We want to buy them when they're on the operating table.

There is nothing like writing to force you to think and get your thoughts straight.

Money will not change how healthy you are or how many people love you.

The most common cause of low prices is pessimism - sometimes pervasive, sometimes specific to a company or industry. We want to do business in such an environment, not because we like pessimism but because we like the prices it produces.