35 Quotes From Warren Buffett On Success And Finance

Warren Buffett, 72 year old, self made billionaire with a net worth of over $62.0 billion , was announced by Forbes in 2008 as the richest man in the world . Since that time his net worth has increased considerably. As of March 2017 he is considered the second wealthiest person in the United States with a net worth of $73.3 billion. He is considered the fourth wealthiest person in the world. He has earned such titles as "Wizard", "Oracle", or "Sage" of the financial world. The king of investments, Warren Buffett is the principle shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway, a textile firm he took over in 1965.

• "Risk is a part of God's game, alike for men and nations."

• "If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians."

• "Diversification is a protection against ignorance. It makes little sense for those who know what they're doing."

• "Investing is simple, but not easy."

• "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."

• "Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing."

• "Our favorite holding period is forever."

• "Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago."

• "Wall Street is the only place that people ride to in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway."

• "Success in investing doesn't correlate with I.Q. once you're above the level of 25. Once you have ordinary intelligence, what you need is the temperament to control the urges that get other people into trouble in investing."

• "We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy, and to be greedy only when others are fearful."

• "Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing."

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

• "I 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 five years."

• "I don't look to jump over 7-foot bars: I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over."

• "If a business does well, the stock eventually follows."

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

• "It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price."

• "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."

• "Look at market fluctuations as your friend rather than your enemy; profit from folly rather than participate in it."

• "Of the billionaires I have known, money just brings out the basic traits in them. If they were jerks before they had money, they are simply jerks with a billion dollars."

• "Only buy something that you'd be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years."

• "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."

• "Time is the friend of the wonderful company, the enemy of the mediocre."

• "We believe that according the name 'investors' to institutions that trade actively is like calling someone who repeatedly engages in one-night stands a 'romantic.'"

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

• "We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful."

• "Why not invest your assets in the companies you really like? As Mae West said, 'Too much of a good thing can be wonderful'."

• "Your premium brand had better be delivering something special, or it's not going to get the business."

• "You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don't do too many things wrong."

• "Look at market fluctuations as your friend rather than your enemy; profit from folly rather than participate in it."

• "I am quite serious when I say that I do not believe there are, on the whole earth besides, so many intensified bores as in these United States. No man can form an adequate idea of the real meaning of the word, without coming here."

• "The business schools reward difficult complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective."

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

What does Warren Buffett look for in people he works with? He often suggests an exercise to evaluate the most useful qualities one should have, or could develop, to succeed. One of his criteria is to look for a person that you would want to give 10% of your earnings for the rest of your life. Interesting question, wouldn't you agree? After you have thought of the person you would give your income to, list on a piece of paper, the person's positive attributes on the left of the paper and their negative attributes on the right side of the paper. After that exercise Buffett's advice is simple, "attempt to eliminate the qualities in the right column, and develop the qualities in the left column."

“You’re looking for three things, generally, in a person,” Buffett tells us. “Intelligence, energy, and integrity. And if they don’t have the last one, don’t even bother with the first two."

Buffett suggests that developing these positive attributes in yourself is completely possible but it is up to you. No body can limit your potential.

“You decide to be dishonest, stingy, uncharitable, egotistical, all the things people don’t like in other people,” argues Buffett. “They are all choices. Some people think there’s a limited little pot of admiration to go around, and anything the other guy takes out of the pot, there’s less left for you. But it’s just the opposite.”