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Warren Buffett
Warren Edward Buffett (born August 30, 1930) is an American investor, businessman, and philanthropist. He is one of the most successful investors in history, the primary shareholder and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, and in 2008 was ranked by Forbes as the richest person in the world with an estimated...
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Filter this CollectionI don't have a problem with guilt about money. The way I see it is that my money represents an enormous number of claim checks on society. It's like I have these little pieces of paper that I can turn into consumption. If I wanted to, I could hire 10,000 people to do nothing but paint my picture every day for the rest of my life. And the GNP would go up. But the utility of the product would be zilch, and I would be keeping those 10,000 people from doing AIDS research, or teaching, or nursing. I don't do that though. I don't use very many of those claim checks. There's nothing material I want very much. And I'm going to give virtually all of those claim checks to charity when my wife and I die.
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I personally think that society is responsible for a very significant percentage of what I've earned. If you stick me down in the middle of Bangladesh or Peru or someplace, you find out how much this talent is going to produce in the wrong kind of soil... I work in a market system that happens to reward what I do very well - disproportionately well. Mike Tyson, too. If you can knock a guy out in 10 seconds and earn $10 million for it, this world will pay a lot for that. If you can bat .360, this world will pay a lot for that. If you're a marvelous teacher, this world won't pay a lot for it. If you are a terrific nurse, this world will not pay a lot for it. Now, am I going to try to come up with some comparable worth system that somehow (re)distributes that? No, I don't think you can do that. But I do think that when you're treated enormously well by this market system, where in effect the market system showers the ability to buy goods and services on you because of some peculiar talent - maybe your adenoids are a certain way, so you can sing and everybody will pay you enormous sums to be on television or whatever -I think society has a big claim on that.
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I want to give my kids enough so that they could feel that they could do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing
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You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don't do too many things wrong.
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Our favorite holding period is forever.
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The business schools reward difficult complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective.
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There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult.
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I don't look to jump over 7-foot bars: I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over.
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Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing.
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The investor of today does not profit from yesterday's growth.
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I always knew I was going to be rich. I don't think I ever doubted it for a minute.
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Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.
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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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It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.
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If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians.
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It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.
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If a business does well, the stock eventually follows.
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When a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact.
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We enjoy the process far more than the proceeds.
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Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.
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Rule No.1: Never lose money. Rule No.2: Never forget rule No.1.
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A public opinion poll is no substitute for thought.
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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.
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Great investment opportunities come around when excellent companies are surrounded by unusual circumstances that cause the stock to be misappraised.
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