Warren Buffett's 50 Most Iconic Quotes

Warren Buffett is widely regarded as the greatest investor of all time.

Co-founder of Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett has amassed over $100 billion in networth over his years of investing.

His wisdom and lessons are simple, yet have helped millions of investors navigate the stock market to begin building wealth.

Here is a list of my favourite 50 Warren Buffett money quotes.

1. Opportunities come infrequently. When it rains gold, put out the bucket, not the thimble.

2. The most important investment you can make is in yourself.

3. Tell me who your heroes are and I’ll tell you who you’ll turn out to be.

4. It is not necessary to do extraordinary things to get extraordinary results.

5. The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.

6. Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.

7. Honesty is a very expensive gift. Don’t expect it from cheap people.

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

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

10. The best chance to deploy capital is when things are going down.

11. Predicting rain doesn’t count, building the ark does.

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

13. Remember that the stock market is a manic depressive.

14. 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.

15. The most important thing to do if you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging.

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

17. Beware the investment activity that produces applause; the great moves are usually greeted by yawns.

18. Risk comes from not knowing what you are doing.

19. Never invest in a business you cannot understand.

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

21. Time is the friend of the wonderful company, the enemy of the mediocre.

22. The three most important words in investing are margin of safety.

23. It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price, than a fair company at a wonderful price.

24. If a business does well, the stock eventually follows.

25. For the investor, a too-high purchase price for the stock of an excellent company can undo the effects of a subsequent decade of favourable business developments.

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

27. All there is to investing is picking good stocks at good times and staying with them as long as they remain good companies.

28. 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.

29. Calling someone who trades actively in the market an investor is like calling someone who repeatedly engages in one-night stands a romantic.

30. The stock market is designed to transfer money from the active to the patient.

31. If you aren’t thinking about owning a stock for 10 years, don’t even think about owning it for 10 minutes.

32. Our favourite holding period is forever.

33. Do not take yearly results too seriously. Instead, focus on four or five-year averages.

34. The most important quality for an investor is temperament, not intellect. You need a temperament that neither derives great pleasure from being with the crowd or against the crowd.

35. The stock market is a no-called-strike game. You don’t have to swing at everything — you can wait for your pitch.

36. Investing is not a game where the guy with the 160 IQ beats the guy with 130 IQ.

37. There is nothing wrong with a ‘know nothing’ investor who realises it. The problem is when you are a ‘know nothing’ investor but you think you know something.

38. Forecasts may tell you a great deal about the forecaster; they tell you nothing about the future.

39. Buy a stock the way you would buy a house. Understand and like it such that you’d be content to own it in the absence of any market.

40. Diversification is protection against ignorance. It makes little sense if you know what you are doing.

41. For 240 years, it’s been a terrible mistake to bet against America, and now is no time to start.

42. Widespread fear is your friend as an investor because it serves up bargain purchases.

43. The best thing that happens to us is when a great company gets into temporary trouble…We want to buy them when they’re on the operating table.

44. Speculation is most dangerous when it looks easiest.

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

46. Money is not everything. Make sure you earn a lot before speaking such nonsense.

47. Whether we’re talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down.”

48. You only have to be able to evaluate companies within your circle of competence. The size of that circle is not very important; knowing its boundaries, however, is vital.

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

50. An investor should act as though he had a lifetime decision card with just twenty punches on it.

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