Benign neglect, bordering on sloth, remains the hallmark of our investment process.
My idea of a group decision is to look in the mirror.
I never buy anything unless I can fill out on a piece of paper my reasons. I may be wrong, but I would know the answer to that ...I'm paying $32 billion today for the Coca Cola Company because... If you can't answer that question, you shouldn't buy it. If you can answer that question, and you do it a few times, you'll make a lot of money.
...I will give you two pieces of advice. Invest as much in yourself as you can; you are your own best asset by far. Then follow your passion; you want to be really excited to get out of bed every morning.
We only want to link up with people whom we like, admire, and trust. ... We do not wish to join with managers who lack admirable qualities, no matter how attractive the prospects of their business. We've never succeeded in making a good deal with a bad person.
I try to buy stock in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will.
I have no use whatsoever for projections or forecasts. They create an illusion of apparent precision. The more meticulous they are, the more concerned you should be. We never look at projections, but we care very much about, and look very deeply at, track records. If a company has a lousy track record, but a very bright future, we will miss the opportunity.
My favorite time frame for holding a stock is forever.
Part of making good decisions in business is recognizing the poor decisions you've made and why they were poor. I've made lots of mistakes. I'm going to make more. It's the name of the game. You don't want to expect perfection in yourself. You want to strive to do your best. It's too demanding to expect perfection in yourself.
We're perfectly willing to trade away a big payoff for a certain payoff.
I look for businesses in which I think I can predict what they're going to look like in ten to fifteen years time. Take Wrigley's chewing gum. I don't think the internet is going to change how people chew gum.
It's us fun being a horse when the tractor comes along, or the blacksmith when the car comes along.
I prefer liquor store robbers with hungry kids to companies that locate offshore to avoid U.S. taxes.
You don't need to be a rocket scientist. Investing is not a game where the guy with the 160 IQ beats the guy with 130 IQ.
When you combine ignorance and leverage, you get some pretty interesting results.
Investors making purchases in an overheated market need to recognize that it may often take an extended period for the value of even an outstanding company to catch up with the price they paid.
I buy expensive suits - they just look cheap on me.
Time is your friend, impulse is your enemy. Take advantage of compound interest and don't be captivated by the siren song of the market.
In a bull market, one must avoid the error of the preening duck that quacks boastfully after a torrential rainstorm, thinking that its paddling skills have caused it to rise in the world. A right-thinking duck would instead compare its position after the downpour to that of the other ducks on the pond.
We really can say no in 10 seconds or so to 90%+ of all the things that come along simply because we have these filters.
We would do best in a market where everyone acted foolishly.
No formula in finance tells you that the moat is 28 feet wide and 16 feet deep. That's what drives the academics crazy. They can compute standard deviations and betas, but they can't understand moats.
The most important thing in terms of your circle of competence is not how large the area of it is, but how well you've defined the perimeter.
In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.
If a business does well, the stock eventually follows.
