38 Quotes by Warren Buffett on Business, Investments and Life
Warren Buffett is the chairman and CEO Berkshire Hathaway and is largely considered as one of the worlds most successful investors. As of July 2020, he is the 4th richest person in the world with a net worth of 71.8 Billion Dollars (USD).
Here at Turtle Quote, we took a look at Warren Buffets interviews and notes to extract the best Quotes by Warren Buffett on Business, Investments and Life.
Quotes by Warren Buffett
“Rule number one: Never lose money. Rule number two: Never forget rule number one.”
– Warren Buffett, “Rules That Warren Buffett Lives By” by Stephanie Loiacono at Yahoo Finance (23 February 2010)
“If you invested in a very low cost index fund where you don’t put the money in at one time, but average in over 10 years you’ll do better than 90% of people who start investing at the same time.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting (2004)
“Success in investing doesn’t correlate with I.Q. once you’re above the level of 125. 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, As quoted in Homespun Wisdom from the “Oracle of Omaha” by Amy Stone in BusinessWeek (5 June 1999)
“In the stock market you do not base your decisions on what the market is doing, but on what you think is rational.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, The Warren Buffett Portfolio: Mastering the Power of the Focus Investment Strategy (2000), p. 112
“You want to be greedy when others are fearful. You want to be fearful when others are greedy. It’s that simple.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, Interview with Charlie Rose, on PBS (1 October 2008)
“I think I could make you 50% a year on $1 million. No, I know I could. I guarantee that.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, As quoted in “Wisdom from the ‘Oracle of Omaha'” by Amy Stone in BusinessWeek (5 June 1999)
“I could end the deficit in five minutes. You just pass a law that says that any time there’s a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, Interview on CNBC (1 July 2011)
“The market isn’t so good at making sure that the wealth that’s produced is being distributed fairly or wisely.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, AS QUOTED IN THE AUDACITY OF HOPE: THOUGHTS ON RECLAIMING THE AMERICAN DREAM (2006), CH. 5
“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.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, 1997 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting, as quoted in Of Permanent Value : The Story of Warren Buffett, by Andrew Kilpatrick, Vol. 2 (2007), p. 1615
“I call investing the greatest business in the world … because you never have to swing.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, Interview in Forbes magazine (1 November 1974)
“I try to buy stock in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, In a panel discussion after the premier of the 2008 documentary I.O.U.S.A.
“We don’t get paid for activity, just for being right. As to how long we’ll wait, we’ll wait indefinitely.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, 1998 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting, quoted in Wait: The Art and Science of Delay (2012) by Frank Partnoy, p. 177
“Investors making purchases in an overheated market need to recognize that it may often take an extended period for the value of even an outstanding company to catch up with the price they paid.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, 1998 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting, as quoted in The Essays of Warren Buffett : Lessons for Corporate America (1998), p. 92
Quotes by Warren Buffet on Life
“If you’re in the luckiest 1 percent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 percent.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, at Clinton Fund-Raiser, in Bloomberg (27 June 2007)
“People will always try to stop you doing the right thing if it is unconventional.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, My $650,100 Lunch with Warren Buffett” by Guy Spier, in TIME (30 June 2008)
“I happen to have a talent for allocating capital. But my ability to use that talent is completely dependent on the society I was born into.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, as quoted in The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (2006), Ch. 5
“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, Corporate Survival: The Critical Importance of Sustainability Risk Management (2005) by Dan Robert Anderson, p. 138
“Wall Street is the only place that people ride to work in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, As quoted in The Money Adventure (1998) by Egbert Sukop, p. 128
“I don’t have a problem with guilt about money.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, As quoted in Warren Buffett Speaks: Wit and Wisdom from the World’s Greatest Investor (1997) by Janet C. Lowe, pp. 165-166
“I like thinking big. I always have. To me it’s very simple: if you’re going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, As quoted in Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist (1995), by Roger Lowenstein, p. 77
“Never count on making a good sale.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, As quoted in Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist (1995), by Roger Lowenstein, p. 77
“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, Statement of January 1991, as quoted in Of Permanent Value: The Story of Warren Buffett (2007) by Andrew Kilpatrick
“Love is the greatest advantage a parent can give.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, Quoted in “Should You Leave It All to the Children?” by Richard I. Kirkland Jr, in Fortune (29 September 1986)
“Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.”
– WARREN BUFFETT
“You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don’t do too many things wrong.”
– WARREN BUFFETT
Quotes by Warren Buffett from his ‘Pledge’
“Some material things make my life more enjoyable; many, however, would not.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, My Philanthropic Pledge
“Too often, a vast collection of possessions ends up possessing its owner.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, MY PHILANTHROPIC PLEDGE
“The asset I most value, aside from health, is interesting, diverse, and long-standing friends.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, MY PHILANTHROPIC PLEDGE
“My wealth has come from a combination of living in America, some lucky genes, and compound interest.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, MY PHILANTHROPIC PLEDGE
“I’ve worked in an economy that rewards someone who saves the lives of others on a battlefield with a medal, rewards a great teacher with thank-you notes from parents, but rewards those who can detect the mispricing of securities with sums reaching into the billions.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, MY PHILANTHROPIC PLEDGE
Quotes by Warren Buffett from Berkshire Hathaway Chairman’s Letters
“I make no attempt to forecast the general market — my efforts are devoted to finding undervalued securities.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, Letter to shareholders (2nd November 1959)
“Our favorite holding period is forever.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, 1988 Chairman’s Letter
“After 25 years of buying and supervising a great variety of businesses, Charlie and I have not learned how to solve difficult business problems. What we have learned is to avoid them.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, 1989 Chairman’s Letter
“The most common cause of low prices is pessimism …. We want to do business in such an environment, not because we like pessimism but because we like the prices it produces. It’s optimism that is the enemy of the rational buyer.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, 1990 Chairman’s Letter
“We will reject interesting opportunities rather than over-leverage our balance sheet.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, Berkshire Hathaway Inc.: An Owner’s Manual (1999)
“After all, you only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, 2001 Chairman’s Letter
“Price is what you pay; value is what you get.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, 2008 Chairman’s Letter
“Never count on the kindness of strangers in order to meet tomorrow’s obligations.”
– WARREN BUFFETT, 2008 Chairman’s Letter
We hope that you enjoyed our selection of Quotes By Warren Buffett. If you did, then perhaps you may also like our collection of quotes by Bill Gates!
