Timeless Buffet Quotes

1. “Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No.2: Never forget rule No. 1.”

2. “Shares are not mere pieces of paper. They represent part ownership of a business. So, when contemplating an investment, think like a prospective owner.”

3. “An investor should ordinarily hold a small piece of an outstanding business with the same tenacity that an owner would exhibit if he owned all of that business.”

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

5. “Buy companies with strong histories of profitability and with a dominant business franchise.”

6. “The critical investment factor is determining the intrinsic value of a business and paying a fair or bargain price.”

7. “The investor of today does not profit from yesterday’s growth.”

8. “Unless you can watch your stock holding decline by 50% without becoming panic-stricken, you should not be in the stock market”

9. “Focus on return on equity, not earnings per share.”

10. “Stop trying to predict the direction of the stock market, the economy, interest rates, or elections.”

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

12. “Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing.”

13. “You are neither right nor wrong because the crowd disagrees with you. You are right because your data and reasoning are right.”

14. “Wild swings in share prices have more to do with the “lemming- like” behaviour of institutional investors than with the aggregate returns of the company they own.”

15. “When Berkshire buys common stock, we approach the transaction as if we were buying into a private business.”

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

17. “We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.”

18. “Does management resist the institutional imperative?”

19. “We do not view the company itself as the ultimate owner of our business assets but instead view the company as a conduit through which our shareholders own assets.”

20. “Growth and value investing are joined at the hip.”

21. “Wall Street is the only pace that people ride to in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway.”

22. “What it is, it’s a gathering of owners and these people feel like owners, we treat them like owners and we try to have them have a good time while their here. But these are people who are real shareholder owners, as opposed to somebody who owns a ticker symbol and is thinking about next quarters earnings or something of the sort. So it’s a different breed of shareholder”

23. “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.”

24. “Do not take yearly results too seriously. Instead, focus on four or five-year averages.”

25. “Calculate “owner earnings” to get a true reflection of value.”

26. “The advice “you never go broke taking a profit” is foolish.”

27. “Lethargy, bordering on sloth should remain the cornerstone of an investment style.”

28. “Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy only when others are fearful.”

29. “As far as you are concerned, the stock market does not exist. Ignore it.”

30. “Look for companies with high profit margins.”

31. “Remember that the stock market is manic-depressive.”

32. “Risk can be greatly reduced by concentrating on only a few holdings.”

33. “Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.”

34. “All there is to investing is picking good stocks at good times and staying with them as long as they remain good companies.”

35. “Never invest in a business you cannot understand.”

36. “Only buy something that you’d be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years.”

37. “Our favorite holding period is forever.”

38. “Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.”

39. “Many stock options in the corporate world have worked in exactly that fashion: they have gained in value simply because management retained earnings, not because it did well with the capital in its hands.”

40. “An investor should act as though he had a lifetime decision card with just twenty punches on it.”

41. “Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.”

42. “By definition if you’ve got a million and a half shares roughly, you know you’ve only got so many seats, and you want people in those seats that are as in sync with you, and your objectives, and your time horizons, and all of that as you can. I mean that’s how you have happy church, a happy home, a happy school or what ever it may be, is to have people there that are more or less are on the same wave length.”

43. “Turn-arounds” seldom turn.”

44. “Always invest for the long term.”

45. “Look at market fluctuations as your friend rather than your enemy. Profit from folly rather than participate in it.”

46. “Accounting consequences do not influence our operating or capital-allocation decisions. When acquisition costs are similar, we much prefer to purchase $2 of earnings that is not reportable by us under standard accounting principles than to purchase $1 of earnings that is reportable.”

47. “An investor needs to do very few things right as long as he or she avoids big mistakes.”

48. “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.”

49. “If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians.”

50. “It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.”

51. “If, when making a stock investment, you’re not considering holding it at least ten years, don’t waste more than ten minutes considering it.”