Top 968 Quotes & Sayings by Warren Buffett - Page 2

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.

You have no ability, if you're a financial institution and you're threatened with criminal prosecution, you have no ability to negotiate.

I think that both parties should declare the debt limit as a political weapon of mass destruction which can't be used. I mean, it is silly to have a country that has 237 years building up its reputation and then have people threaten to tear it down because they're not getting some other matter.

Value is what you get.

I just think that - when a country needs more income and we do, we're only taking in 15 percent of GDP, I mean, that - that - when a country needs more income, they should get it from the people that have it.

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.

I think the most important factor in getting out of the recession actually is just the regenerative capacity of - of American capitalism.

Why not invest your assets in the companies you really like? As Mae West said, 'Too much of a good thing can be wonderful'.

The big question about how people behave is whether they've got an Inner Scorecard or an Outer Scorecard. It helps if you can be satisfied with an Inner Scorecard.

We're still in a recession. We're not gonna be out of it for a while, but we will get out.

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.

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.

You’ve gotta keep control of your time, and you can’t unless you say no. You can’t let people set your agenda in life.

Learning how to live is much more important than learning how to make a living.

The most important investment you can make is in yourself... nobody can tax it or take it away from you.

The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.

Whatever you like to do, make it a hobby and whatever the world likes to do, make it a business.

The most important quality for an investor is temperament, not intellect.

Outstanding long-term results are produced primarily by avoiding dumb decisions, rather than by making brilliant ones.

The value of a business is the cash it's going to produce in the future.

We don't read other people's opinions. We want to get the facts, and then think.

You don't need to have extraordinary effort to achieve extraordinary results. You just need to do the ordinary, everyday things exceptionally well.

Investment students need only two well-taught courses - How to Value a Business and How to Think About Market Prices

Be fearful when the markets get greedy, be greedy when the markets get fearful.

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 best asset is your own self. You can become to an enormous degree the person you want to be

Trust is like the air we breathe--when it's present, nobody really notices; when it's absent, everybody notices.

The one piece of advice I can give you is, do what turns you on. Do something that if you had all the money in the world, you’d still be doing it. You’ve got to have a reason to jump out of bed in the morning.

The greatest investment a young person can make is in their own education, in their own mind. Because money comes and goes. Relationships come and go. But what you learn once stays with you forever.

There are three kinds of people: 1. Innovators. 2. Imitators. 3. Idiots.

What the wise do in the beginning, fools do in the end.

Look for 3 things in a person. Intelligence, Energy, & Integrity. If they don't have the last one, don't even bother with the first two.

If you want to soar like an eagle in life, you can't be flocking with the turkeys.

Knowing the edge of your competency is important. If you think you know more than you do, you will get in trouble.

The best investment you can make, is an investment in yourself... The more you learn, the more you'll earn.

The true investor welcomes volatility ... a wildly fluctuating market means that irrationally low prices will periodically be attached to solid businesses.

It's good to learn from your mistakes. It's better to learn from other people's mistakes.

Never test the depth of river with both the feet.

Failure comes from ego, greed, envy, fear, imitation. I have success not because I am smart, but because I am rational.

We don't get paid for being busy, we get paid for being right.

I never try to predict the market.

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

If you cannot control your emotions, you cannot control your money.

The trick is, when there is nothing to do, do nothing.

Time is the friend of the wonderful business. It's the enemy of the lousy business. If you're in a lousy business for a long time, you're going to get a lousy result, even if you buy it cheap. If you're in a wonderful business for a long time, even if you pay a little too much going in, you're going to get a wonderful result if you stay in a long time.

Investing in yourself is the best thing you can do. If you've got talents, no one can take them from you.

When I take a look at a company's annual report, if I don't understand it, they don't want me to understand it.

We don't have to be smarter than the rest. We have to be more disciplined than the rest.

Do not save what is left after spending, but spend what is left after saving.

The secret to happiness is having low expectations.

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.

If book knowledge made great investors, than the librarians would all be rich.

Honesty is a very expensive gift, Don't expect it from cheap people.

If you don't feel comfortable owning something for 10 years, then don't own it for 10 minutes.

Intensity is the price of excellence.

Don't risk what is important to you, to get what is not important to you.

If you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.

If you buy things you do not need, soon you will have to sell things you need.

The Stock Market is designed to transfer money from the Active to the Patient.

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