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I think that, every time you saw the word EBITDA, you should substitute the word "bullshit" earnings.
Just avoid things like racing trains to the crossing, doing cocaine, etc. Develop good mental habits.
Our job is to find a few intelligent things to do, not to keep up with every damn thing in the world.
One could imagine a period like Japan13 years ago, however, in which indexing over time wouldn't work.
Remember that reputation and integrity are your most valuable assets - and can be lost in a heartbeat.
Assume life will be really tough, and then ask if you can handle it. If the answer is yes, you've won.
We have never had the will to enforce the immigration laws. What you see is what you'll continue to get.
We only want what success we can get despite encouraging others to share our general view about reality.
It would be nice if this [finding really cheap stocks] happened all the time. Unfortunately, it doesn't.
You have a real asset-price bubble in places like parts of California and the suburbs of Washington, D.C.
The more hard lessons you can learn vicariously rather than through your own hard experience, the better.
The harder you work, the more confidence you get. But you may be working hard on something that is false.
When you locate a bargain, you must ask, 'Why me, God? Why am I the only one who could find this bargain?'
I think corporate managers should learn to be better investors because it would make them better managers.
Learn how to ignore the examples from others when they are wrong, because few skills are more worth having.
Those who will not face improvements because they are changes, will face changes that are not improvements.
In the corporate world, if you have analysts, due diligence, and no horse sense, you've just described hell.
You must force yourself to consider opposing arguments. Especially when they challenge your best loved ideas.
This is a good life lesson: getting the right people into your system is the most important thing you can do.
I've got some advice for the young: If you've got anything you really want to do, don't wait until you're 93.
It would be easier to screw up American Express than Coke or Gillette, but it's an immensely strong business.
The iron rule of nature is: you get what you reward for. If you want ants to come, you put sugar on the floor.
The interesting thing is the field is so big - it's enormous. One thing a modern civilization needs is energy.
Berkshireis in the business of making easy predictions If a deal looks too hard, the partners simply shelve it.
Once you start doing something bad, then it's easy to take the next step - and in the end, you're a moral sewer.
You don't have to be brilliant, only a little bit wiser than the other guys, on average, for a long, long, time.
Most people are too fretful, they worry to much. Success means being very patient, but aggressive when it's time.
When it gets into these spikes, with shortages and uproar and so forth, people go bananas, but that's capitalism.
The ethos of not fooling yourself is one of the best you could possibly have. It's powerful because it's so rare.
A lot of success in life and business comes from knowing what you want to avoid: early death, a bad marriage, etc.
I try to get rid of people who always confidently answer questions about which they don't have any real knowledge.
Why should it be easy to do something that, if done well, two or three times, will make your family rich for life?
The first chance you have to avoid a loss from a foolish loan is by refusing to make it; there is no second chance.
People are trying to be smart - all I am trying to do is not to be idiotic, but it's harder than most people think.
You don't have to have perfect wisdom to get very rich - just a bit better than average over a long period of time.
I never allow myself to have an opinion on anything that I don't know the other side's argument better than they do.
I think that one should recognize reality even when one doesn't like it; indeed, especially when one doesn't like it.
I'm a bull on Berkshire Hathaway. There may be some considerable waiting, but I think there are some good days ahead.
The game is to keep learning, and I don't think people are going to keep learning who don't like the learning process.
The normal expectancy of the average investor - for example, the pension funds of AT&T or IBM - is 6% for a long time.
We tend to buy things - a lot of things - where we don't know exactly what will happen, but the outcome will be decent.
It's human nature to extrapolate the recent past into the future, but it's terrible that managements go along with this.
Whenever you think something or some person is ruining your life, it's you. A victimization mentality is so debilitating.
Berkshireis not as good as it was in terms of percentage compounding [going forward], but it's still a hell of a business.
Without numerical fluency, in the part of life most of us inhibit, you are like a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest.
Wrigley is a great business, but that doesn't solve the problem. Buying great businesses at advantageous prices is very tough.
If you skillfully follow the multidisciplinary path, you will never wish to come back. It would be like cutting off your hands.
... some important factor doesn't lose its "share of force" just because some "expert" can better measure other types of force.
Cicero's words also increased my personal satisfaction by supporting my long-standing rejection of a conventional point of view.
How do you compete against a true fanatic? You can only try to build the best possible moat and continuously attempt to widen it.