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âNever invest in a business you cannot understand.'
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âAlways invest for the long term.'
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âBuy a business, don't rent stocks.'
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âSomeone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted
a tree a long time ago.'
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âI really like my life. I've arranged my life so that I can
do what I want.'
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âWe will only do with your money what we would do with our
own.'
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âIf you don't feel comfortable owning something for 10 years,
then don't own it for 10 minutes.'
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âI am a better investor because I am a businessman and a
better businessman because I am an investor.'
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âPrice is what you pay. Value is what you get.'
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âThe Stock Market is designed to transfer money from the
Active to the Patient.'
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âStop trying to predict the direction of the stock market,
the economy, interest rates, or elections.'
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âI 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 ten years.'
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âI 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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âFor some reason, people take their cues from price action
rather than from values. What doesn't work is when you start doing things that
you don't understand or because they worked last week for somebody else. The
dumbest reason in the world to buy a stock is because it's going up.'
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âWe don't get paid for activity, just for being right. As to
how long we will wait, we'll wait indefinitely.'
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âAs Buffet said in the speech, âHe's not looking at quarterly
earnings projections, he's not looking at next year's earnings, he's not
thinking about what day of the week it is, he doesn't care what investment
research from any place says, he's not interested in price momentum, volume or
anything. He's simply asking: What is the business worth?'
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âBuy companies with strong histories of profitability and
with a dominant business franchise.'
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âMost people get interested in stocks when everyone else is.
The time to get interested is when no one else is. You can't buy what is popular
and do well.'
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âWhen asked how he became so successful in investing, Buffett
answered: âwe read hundreds and hundreds of annual reports every year.'
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âWhen a management team with a reputation for brilliance
joins a business with poor fundamental economics, it is the reputation of the
business that remains intact.'
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âOnly those who will be sellers of equities in the near
future should be happy at seeing stocks rise. Prospective purchasers should
much prefer sinking prices.'
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âDiversification is a protection against ignorance. It makes
very little sense for those who know what they're doing.'
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âWide diversification is only required when investors do not
understand what they are doing.'
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âYou're neither right nor wrong because other people agree
with you. You're right because your facts are right and your reasoning is right
â that's the only thing that makes you right. And if your facts and reasoning
are right, you don't have to worry about anybody else.'
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âIt 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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âThe first rule is not to lose. The second rule is not to
forget the first rule.'
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âOnly buy something that you'd be perfectly happy to hold if
the market shut down for 10 years.'
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âI will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be
fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful.'
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âWhy not invest your assets in the companies you really like?
As Mae West said, âToo much of a good thing can be wonderful.'
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âOur favorite holding period is forever.'
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âRisk comes from not knowing what you're doing.'
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âTime is the friend of the wonderful company, the enemy of
the mediocre.'
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âUnless you can watch your stock holding decline by 50%
without becoming panic-stricken, you should not be in the stock market.'
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âThe critical investment factor is determining the intrinsic
value of a business and paying a fair or bargain price.'
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âInvestors 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.'
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âRisk can be greatly reduced by concentrating on only a few
holdings.'
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âIt is not necessary to do extraordinary things to get
extraordinary results.'
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âAn 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.'
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âGreat investment opportunities come around when excellent
companies are surrounded by unusual circumstances that cause the stock to be
misappraised.'
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âIn the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer
than the windshield.'
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âIf a business does well, the stock eventually
follows.'
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âCash never makes us happy, but it's better to have the money
burning a hole in Berkshire's pocket than resting comfortably in someone
else's.'
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âA public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought.'
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âI 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. âI'm
paying $32 billion today for the Coca Cola Company because.â 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.'
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âThe investor of today does not profit from yesterday's
growth.'
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âYou 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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âIt's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price
than a fair company at a wonderful price.'
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âYou ought to be able to explain why you're taking the job
you're taking, why you're making the investment you're making, or whatever it
may be. And if it can't stand applying pencil to paper, you'd better think it
through some more. And if you can't write an intelligent answer to those
questions, don't do it.'
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âLook at market fluctuations as your friend rather than your
enemy; profit from folly rather than participate in it.'
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âAn investor needs to do very few things right as long as he
or she avoids big mistakes.'