Warren Buffett on life & habits
Buffett believes character matters more than IQ, and that admirable traits are habits you can choose, more easily when young. He puts reputation above money, urges getting bad news out fast, doing work you love, reading constantly, learning something every day, writing down evidence that contradicts you, and living within your income. He says his fortune came from lucky wiring and birthplace, so he gives it away to problems with no natural funders and trusts others' judgment on how to do it.
16 points · 6 appearances · 1998–2026
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1998–2020
“So, what we really want to do is buy businesses that we would be happy to own forever. It's the same way I feel about people buy Berkshire. I want people to buy Berkshire to plan to hold it forever. They may not for one reason or another, but I want them at the time they buy it to think they are buying a business that they're going to own forever. And I don't say that's the only way to buy things. It's just that that's the group I want to have join me because I don't want to have a changing group over time. I measure Berkshire by how little activity there is in it. If I had a church and I was the preacher and half the congregation left every Sunday, I wouldn't say, 'Oh, this is marvelous to have all this liquidity among my members, you know.' This terrific turnover, you know. I would rather get a church where all the seats are filled, you know, every Sunday by the same people. Well, that's the way we look at the businesses we buy. We want to buy something that we're really happy to own virtually forever. And we can't find a lot of those.”
1998–2026
“People behave very peculiarly and in terms of the reactions because they, they're human beings and they get excited when others get excited, they get greedy when others get greedy, they get fearful one other get fearful, and they'll continue to do so. And you will see, you know, if, you will see things you won't believe in your lifetime and securities markets, and the country will do very well over time, but you will see these huge waves. And then, and if you can stay objective throughout that, you can detach yourself temperamentally from the crowd, you get very rich and you won't have to be very bright. I mean, it, I'm sure you are, but that one, you know, it just, it doesn't take brains, it takes temperament.”
1998–2020
“I've never been pessimistic about the United States. I bought my first stock in the spring of 1942. I was 11. And if you remember, you would, you don't remember, no one watching this will remember, but we were losing the war at that time and we were getting totally creamed in the South Pacific, and the Philippines fell and the death march at Bataan and all that sort of thing. It was not until the Battle of Midway, which was a little later, the things started turning around, but I was optimistic on the country then and I've been optimistic on the country ever since”
1998–2020
“Basically, I don't want to buy any stock where if they close the New York Stock Exchange tomorrow for 5 years, I won't be happy owning it. I buy a farm and I don't get a quote on it for 5 years and I'm happy if the farm does okay. You know, I buy an apartment house, don't get a quote on it for 5 years, I'm happy if the apartment house produces the returns that I expect. But people buy a stock and they look at the price the next morning and they decide whether they're doing well or not doing well. That's crazy cuz they're buying a piece of a business. That's what Graham, the most fundamental part of what he taught me, you know. You're not buying a stock, you're buying a part ownership in a business. You will do well if the business does well and if you didn't pay a totally silly price. And that's what it's all about.”