Managers and investors alike must understand that accounting numbers are the beginning, not the end, of business valuation. — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
When we own portions of outstanding businesses with outstanding managements, our favorite holding period is forever. — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
In a difficult business, no sooner is one problem solved than another surfaces - never is there just one cockroach in the… — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
Things you like to do should be a hobby of yours, but things the world does should be a business of yours. — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
Basically, the single-most important decision in evaluating a business is pricing power. — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
I'd rather have a $10 million business making 15 per cent than a $100 million business making 5 per cent. — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
The single most important decision in evaluating a business is pricing power, — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
The reaction of weak management to weak operations is often weak accounting. — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
If I taught a class, on my final exam I would take an Internet company and ask, 'How much is this company… — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
In an inflationary world, a toll bridge (like company) would be a great thing to own because you've laid out the capital… — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
SUPPOSE that an investor you admire and trust comes to you with an investment idea. This is a good one, he says… — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
I do not like debt and do not like to invest in companies that have too much debt, particularly long-term debt. With… — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
As an investor with small capital, one should prefer businesses that have high returns on capital and that require little incremental investment… — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
I'm always interested in understanding the math of things and understanding as much as I can about all aspects of business. And… — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
There's not many businesses where someone can come in and offer to cut the price in half and somebody doesn't think about… — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
The best thing that happens to us is when a great company gets into temporary trouble...We want to buy them when they're… — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
The most common cause of low prices is pessimism - some times pervasive, some times specific to a company or industry. We… — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
In the end, alchemy, whether it is metallurgical or financial, fails. A base business can not be transformed into a golden business… — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
Intrinsic value can be defined simply: It is the discounted value of the cash that can be taken out of a business… — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
Part of making good decisions in business is recognizing the poor decisions you've made and why they were poor. I've made lots… — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
If you know how to value businesses, it's crazy to own 50 stocks or 40 stocks or 30 stocks, probably because there… — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
Who would think of buying or selling a private business because of someone's guess on the stock market? The availability of a… — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
The range of derivatives contracts is limited only by the imagination of man (or sometimes, so it seems, madmen). Say you want… — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
Would your reply possibly be this? Well, it all depends on what my tax rate will be on the gain you're saying… — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price. — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
Buy into a company because you want to own it, not because you want the stock to go up. — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
The business schools reward difficult complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective. — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
I've often felt there might be more to be gained by studying business failures than business successes. — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
I am a better investor because I am a businessman, and a better businessman because I am no investor. — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
Earnings can be pliable as putty when a charlatan heads the company reporting them. — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
In our view, derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction carrying dangers that, while latent, are potentially lethal. — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
I insist on a lot of time being spent, almost every day, to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in… — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
We've had public companies in the past in that business and they bleed. We've got a lot more blood than they do. — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
Every company that has an economist working for him has one employee too many. — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
I like to go for cinches. I like to shoot fish in a barrel. But I like to do it after the… — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
Our goal is to find an outstanding business at a sensible price, not a mediocre business at a bargain price. — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
Failing conventionally is the route to go; as a group, lemmings may have a rotten image, but no individual lemming has ever… — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
The ideal business is one that earns very high returns on capital and that keeps using lots of capital at those high… — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
Investors should remember that excitement and expenses are their enemies. And if they insist on trying to time their participation in equities,… — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
I always say that in investing you want to buy stock in a company that has a business that's so good that… — Warren Buffett Copy Share Image
To invest successfully over a lifetime does not require a stratospheric IQ, unusual business insights, or inside information. What's needed is a sound intellectual… — Warren Buffett Copy Share
“Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.” — Warren Buffett Copy Share
Making money isn't the backbone of our guiding purpose; it is the by-product of our guiding purpose. — Warren Buffett Copy Share
We set no volume goals in our insurance business generally-and certainly not in reinsurance-as virtually any volume can be achieved if profitability standards are… — Warren Buffett Copy Share
Everybody's got a different circle of competence. The important thing is not how big the circle is. The important thing is staying inside the… — Warren Buffett Copy Share
It is better to point out your own mistakes than have somebody else do it. — Warren Buffett Copy Share
I've read about all the sales today. If you're an auto dealer, you're feeling it. If you're a furniture retailer like we are, you're… — Warren Buffett Copy Share
I was lucky enough to be born in a time and place where society values my talent, and gave me a good education to… — Warren Buffett Copy Share
The most common cause of low prices is pessimism - some times pervasive, some times specific to a company or industry. We want to… — Warren Buffett Copy Share
The reaction of weak management to weak operations is often weak accounting. — Warren Buffett Copy Share
What you really want to do in investments is figure out what's important and knowable. If it's unimportant or unknowable you forget about it. — Warren Buffett Copy Share
I don't measure my life by the money I've made. Other people might, but certainly don't. — Warren Buffett Copy Share
I mean the truth is, I've never had it so good in terms of taxes. I am paying the lowest tax rate that I've… — Warren Buffett Copy Share
The most important quality for an investor is temperament, not intellect. You need a temperament that neither derives great pleasure from being with the… — Warren Buffett Copy Share
Investors, of course, can, by their own behavior make stock ownership highly risky. And many do. Active trading, attempts to "time" market movements, inadequate… — Warren Buffett Copy Share
