Warren Buffett

Predicting rain doesn't count. Building arks does.

The best thing I did was to choose the right heroes.

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.

I bought a company in the mid-'90s called Dexter Shoe and paid $400 million for it. And it went to zero. And I gave about $400 million worth of Berkshire stock, which is probably now worth $400 billion. But I've made lots of dumb decisions. That's part of the game.

There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult.

When a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact.

The first rule is not to lose. The second rule is not to forget the first rule.

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.

Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.

I buy expensive suits. They just look cheap on me.

In the 20th century, the United States endured two world wars and other traumatic and expensive military conflicts; the Depression; a dozen or so recessions and financial panics; oil shocks; a flu epidemic; and the resignation of a disgraced president. Yet the Dow rose from 66 to 11,497.

The investor of today does not profit from yesterday's growth.

Derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction.

Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.

Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked.

I always knew I was going to be rich. I don't think I ever doubted it for a minute.

It's better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you'll drift in that direction.

Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing.

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

In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.