[The] stock market serves as a relocation center at which money is moved from the active to the patient.
Warren Edward Buffett
Time is the enemy of the poor business and the friend of the great business. If you have a business that\'s earning 20%-25% on equity, time is your friend. But time is your enemy if your money is in a low return business.
Warren Edward Buffett
Some material things make my life more enjoyable; many, however, would not. I like having an expensive private plane, but owning a half-dozen homes would be a burden. Too often, a vast collection of possessions ends up possessing its owner. The asset I most value, aside from health, is interesting, diverse, and long-standing friends. My wealth has come from a combination of living in America, some lucky genes, and compound interest. Both my children and I won what I call the ovarian lottery. (For starters, the odds against my 1930 birth taking place in the U.S. were at least 30 to 1. My being male and white also removed huge obstacles that a majority of Americans then faced.) My luck was accentuated by my living in a market system that sometimes produces distorted results, though overall it serves our country well. Ive 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. In short, fates distribution of long straws is wildly capricious. The reaction of my family and me to our extraordinary good fortune is not guilt, but rather gratitude. Were we to use more than 1% of my claim checks on ourselves, neither our happiness nor our well-being would be enhanced. In contrast, that remaining 99% can have a huge effect on the health and welfare of others. That reality sets an obvious course for me and my family: Keep all we can conceivably need and distribute the rest to society, for its needs. My pledge starts us down that course.
Warren Edward Buffett
Someone\\\'s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.
Warren Edward Buffett
We never want to count on the kindness of strangers in order to meet tomorrows obligations. When forced to choose, I will not trade even a nights sleep for the chance of extra profits.
Warren Edward Buffett
Time is the enemy of the poor business and the friend of the great business. If you have a business that's earning 20%-25% on equity, time is your friend. But time is your enemy if your money is in a low return business.
Warren Edward Buffett
We're more comfortable in that kind of business. It means we miss a lot of very big winners. But we wouldn't know how to pick them out anyway. It also means we have very few big losers - and that's quite helpful over time. We're perfectly willing to trade away a big payoff for a certain payoff.
Warren Edward Buffett
If you're an investor, you're looking on what the asset is going to do, if you're a speculator, you're commonly focusing on what the price of the object is going to do, and that's not our game.
Warren Edward Buffett
Never count on making a good sale. Have the purchase price be so attractive that even a mediocre sale gives good results.
Warren Edward Buffett
Putting people into homes, though a desirable goal, shouldnt be our countrys primary objective. Keeping them in their homes should be the ambition.
Warren Edward Buffett