"Forecasts may tell you a great deal about the forecaster; they tell you nothing about the future."
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Quote collection
Warren Buffett quotes (page 11 of 48)
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"The key to investing is not assessing how much an industry is going to affect society, or how much it will grow, but rather determining the competitive advantage of any given company and, above all, the durability of that advantage."
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"We believe that according the name 'investors' to institutions that trade actively is like calling someone who repeatedly engages in one-night stands a 'romantic.'"
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"Intrinsic value can be defined simply: It is the discounted value of the cash that can be taken out of a business during its remaining life. The calculation of intrinsic value, though, is not so simple. As our definition suggests, intrinsic value is an estimate rather than a precise figure, and it is additionally an estimate that must be changed if interest rates move or forecasts of future cash flows are revised."
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"You’d get very rich if you thought of yourself as having a card with only twenty punches in a lifetime, and every financial decision used up one punch. You’d resist the temptation to dabble. You’d make more good decisions and you’d make more big decisions."
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"There are a few investment managers, of course, who are very good - though in the short run, it's difficult to determine whether a great record is due to luck or talent. Most advisors, however, are far better at generating high fees than they are at generating high returns. In truth, their core competence is salesmanship. Rather than listen to their siren songs, investors - large and small - should instead read Jack Bogle's The Little Book of Common Sense Investing."
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"I buy expensive suits - they just look cheap on me."
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"I never attempt to make money on the stock market. I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years."
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"The trick is, when there is nothing to do, do nothing."
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"The Noah rule: Predicting rain doesn't count; building arks does."
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"All I have to do is think and not be influenced by others."
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"We don't get paid for activity, just for being right. As to how long we'll wait, we'll wait indefinitely."
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"Investing is laying out money now to get more money back in the future."
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"You have to turn over a lot of rocks to find those little anomalies. You have to find the companies that are off the map - way off the map."
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"Investment ideas, like women are often more exciting than punctual."
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"Well, one time some attractive woman sat next to Charlie and asked him what he owed his success to, and, unfortunately, she insisted on a one word answer. He had a speech prepared that would have gone on for several hours. But when forced to boil it down to one word, he said that was "rational". You know, he comes equipped for rationality, and he applies it in business. He doesn't always apply it elsewhere, but he applies it in business and that has made him a huge business success."
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"If you don’t feel comfortable making a rough estimate of the asset’s future earnings, just forget it and move on. No one has the ability to evaluate every investment possibility. But omniscience isn’t necessary; you only need to understand the actions you undertake."
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"That would be nice if [people] stuck [treasury bills] all under a mattress, but they got to buy something with them. Sometimes they buy a treasury note, sometimes they set up sovereign wealth funds. They can do all kinds of things. They can buy our companies here. As long as we consume more than we produce, and we trade away little pieces of the country daily, they're going to own something. Now, they can't run from American assets. I mean every day the rest of the world is going to have about two billion more of American assets than we have, as long as they sell us these goods."
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"Our favorite holding period is forever."
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"The typical large company has a compensation committee, They don't look for Dobermans on that committee, they look for chihuahuas."
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