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Thinking Quotes by Charlie Munger

84 Thinking quotes by Charlie Munger

All Thinking quotes Charlie Munger’s page

Charlie Munger stresses that a good opinion must include the strongest arguments against it. He points out that much of advertising works by simple Pavlovian associations, like a favorite soda brand. He likens a free‑market economy to an ecosystem where different species thrive together.

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I don't think vengeance is much good.

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Warren spends 70 hours a week thinking about investing .

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People calculate too much and think too little.

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I think that, every time you saw the word EBITDA, you should substitute the word "bullshit" earnings.

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Never, ever, think about something else when you should be thinking about the power of incentives.

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Whenever you think something or some person is ruining your life, it's you. A victimization mentality is so debilitating.

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I feel that by getting rich in the way I did, I think my own example has hurt my own country.

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I think that one should recognize reality even when one doesn't like it; indeed, especially when one doesn't like it.

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I think there's something to be said for developing the disposition to own stocks without fretting.

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The game is to keep learning, and I don't think people are going to keep learning who don't like the learning process.

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I think I've been in the top 5% of my age cohort all my life in understanding the power of incentives, and…

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Of course the self-serving bias is something you want to get out of yourself. Thinking that what's good for you is good…

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Part of that, I think, is being able to tune out folly, as distinguished from recognizing wisdom. You've got whole categories of…

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Some people seem to think there's no trouble just because it hasn't happened yet. If you jump out the window at the…

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Is anyone really surprised that Warren, who is the ultimate embodiment of concentrated decision-making power, picked somebody [Bill and Melinda Gates] who…

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In the 1930s, there was a stretch where you could borrow more against the real estate than you could sell it for.…

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Organized common (or uncommon) sense -- very basic knowledge -- is an enormously powerful tool. There are huge dangers with computers. People…

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The quality of the medical care delivered, including the pharmaceutical industry, has improved a lot. I don't think it's crazy for a…

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The theory of modern education is that you need a general education before you specialize. And I think to some extent, before…

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A lot of people think if you just had more process and more compliance -- checks and doublechecks and so forth --…

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We believe there should be a huge area between everything you should do and everything you can do without getting into legal…

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Mutual funds charge 2% per year and then brokers switch people between funds, costing another 3-4 percentage points. The poor guy in…

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I think the reason why we got into such idiocy in investment management is best illustrated by a story that I tell…

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I have what I call an iron prescription that helps me keep sane when I naturally drift toward preferring one ideology over…

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The ethical rule is from Samuel Johnson who believed that maintenance of easily removable ignorance by a responsible office holder was treacherous…

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The Berkshire-style investors tend to be less diversified than other people. The academics have done a terrible disservice to intelligent investors by…

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I think that if you have a single payer system and an opt-out for people who want to pay more [for better…

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It's been my experience in life if you just keep thinking and reading, you don't have to work.

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I think corporate managers should learn to be better investors because it would make them better managers.

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I'm a bull on Berkshire Hathaway. There may be some considerable waiting, but I think there are some good days ahead.

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I do not think you can trust bankers to control themselves. They are like heroin addicts.

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I think it is undeniably true that the human brain must work in models. The trick is to have your brain work…

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Fancy computers are engaging in legalized front-running. The profits are clearly coming from the rest of us - our college endowments and…

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Bull markets go to people's heads. If you're a duck on a pond, and it's rising due to a downpour, you start…

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I think track records are very important. If you start early trying to have a perfect one in some simple thing like…

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When I run into a paradox I think either I'm a total horse's ass to have gotten to this point, or I'm…

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Accounting is a big subject and there are huge forces in play. The entire momentum of existing thinking and existing custom is…

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If you buy something because it's undervalued, then you have to think about selling it when it approaches your calculation of its…

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Look at those hedge funds - you think they can wait? They don't know how to wait! I have sat for years…

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Black-Scholes works for short-term options, but if it's a long-term option and you think you know something [about the underlying asset], it's…

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More by Charlie Munger

Almost all good businesses engage in 'pain today, gain tomorrow' activities.

If you want good behavior, don't pay on a commission basis. Our judges aren't paid so much a case. We keep them pretty well…

Acquire worldly wisdom and adjust your behavior accordingly. If your new behavior gives you a little temporary unpopularity with your peer group then to…

I think time and time again, in reality, psychological notions and economic notions interplay, and the man who doesn't understand both is a damned…

I have what I call an iron prescription that helps me keep sane when I naturally drift toward preferring one ideology over another and…

The tax code gives you an enormous advantage if you can find some things you can just sit with.

The great lesson in microeconomics is to discriminate between when technology is going to help you and when it's going to kill you. And…

Some years ago one oil company bought a fertilizer company, and every other major oil company practically ran out and bought a fertilizer company.…

They [Mc Donalds] take people and give them a first job, which enables them to get a second job. They do a very good…

What good is envy? It’s the one sin you can’t have any fun at.

We believe that almost all really good investment records will involve relatively little diversification. The basic idea that it was hard to find good…

It is way less certain to be a wonderful business in the future. The threat is alternative mediums of information. Every newspaper is scrambling…

In the corporate world, if you have analysts, due diligence, and no horse sense, you've just described hell.

We have to have a special insight, or we'll put it in the 'too tough' basket. All of you have to look for a…

I've heard that one-half of the students at elite schools want to go into private equity or hedge funds. They want to keep up…