I bet Richard Fuld doesn't have an ounce of contrition. It's just megalomania. When it's like that, you need rules to prevent… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
The beauty of a financial institution is that there are a lot of ways to go to hell in a bucket. You… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Kellogg's and Campbell's moats have also shrunk due to the increased buying power of supermarkets and companies like Wal-Mart. The muscle power… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
It’s waiting that helps you as an investor, and a lot of people just can’t stand to wait. If you didn’t get… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
To some extent, stocks are like Rembrandts. They sell based on what they've sold in the past. Bonds are much more rational.… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Once you get into debt, it’s hell to get out. Don’t let credit card debt carry over. You can’t get ahead paying… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Wrigley is a great business, but that doesn't solve the problem. Buying great businesses at advantageous prices is very tough. — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
I think the notion...that liquidity is this - of tradable common stock - is a great contributor to capitalism - I think… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
[In picking stocks] You really have to know a lot about business. You have to know a lot about competitive advantage. You… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
I think there's an awful lot of twaddle and bullshit on EVA. The whole game is to turn retained earnings into more… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
It would be one of the most irritating experiences in the world to do a lot of work to uncover a fraud… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
To us, investing is the equivalent of going out and betting against the pari-mutuel system. We look for a horse with one… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
The hedge fund known as "Long Term Capital Management" collapsed last fall through overconfidence in its highly leveraged methods, despite I.Q.'s of… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
The model I like to sort of simplify the notion of what goes on in a market for common stocks is the… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
When we were young, there weren't very many smart people in the investment world. You should have seen the people in the… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
A lot of opportunities in life tend to last a short while, due to some temporary inefficiency... For each of us, really… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Using volatility as a measure of risk is nuts. Risk to us is 1) the risk of permanent loss of capital, or… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
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… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Why would you want to invest with a guy whose thought process says, "If a second layer of fees is good, then… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
The idea of excessive diversification is madness. Wide diversification, which necessarily includes investment in mediocre businesses, only guarantees ordinary results. — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
We may well have a competitive advantage buying decent businesses at decent prices. But they won't be fabulous businesses and fabulous prices.… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
The cost of being a publicly traded stock has gone way, way up. It doesn't make sense for a little company to… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
All intelligent investing is value investing - acquiring more that you are paying for. You must value the business in order to… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
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… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
[With] closet indexing…you're paying a manager a fortune and he has 85% of his assets invested parallel to the indexes. If you… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Proper accounting is like engineering. You need a margin of safety. Thank God we don't design bridges and airplanes the way we… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Accounting is a big subject and there are huge forces in play. The entire momentum of existing thinking and existing custom is… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
After nearly making a terrible mistake not buying See's, we've made this mistake many times. We are apparently slow learners. These opportunity… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
For many of our shareholders, our stock is all they own, and we're acutely aware of that. Our culture [of conservatism] runs… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Most people will see declining returns [due to inflation]. One of the great defenses if you're worried about inflation is not to… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
It took us months of buying all the Coke stock we could to accumulate $1 billion worth - equal to 7% of… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
We bought a doomed textile mill [Berkshire Hathaway] and a California S&L [Savings & Loan; Wesco] just before a calamity. Both were… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
If all you needed to do is to figure out what company is better than others, everyone would make a lot of… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
In the 1930s, there was a stretch where you could borrow more against the real estate than you could sell it for.… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
The total amount paid out in dividends is roughly equal to the amount lost in trading and investment advice, so net dividends… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
You're looking for a mispriced gamble. That's what investing is. And you have to know enough to know whether the gamble is… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Berkshire has the lowest turnover of any major company in the U.S.The Walton family owns more of Wal-Mart than Buffett owns of… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
'Crowd folly', the tendency of humans, under some circumstances, to resemble lemmings, explains much foolish thinking of brilliant men and much foolish… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
So you can get very remarkable investment results if you think more like a winning pari-mutuel player. Just think of it as… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
In investment management today, everybody wants not only to win, but to have a yearly outcome path that never diverges very much… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Almost all good businesses engage in 'pain today, gain tomorrow' activities. — Charlie Munger Copy Share
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… — Charlie Munger Copy Share
Acquire worldly wisdom and adjust your behavior accordingly. If your new behavior gives you a little temporary unpopularity with your peer group then to… — Charlie Munger Copy Share
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… — Charlie Munger Copy Share
I have what I call an iron prescription that helps me keep sane when I naturally drift toward preferring one ideology over another and… — Charlie Munger Copy Share
The tax code gives you an enormous advantage if you can find some things you can just sit with. — Charlie Munger Copy Share
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… — Charlie Munger Copy Share
Some years ago one oil company bought a fertilizer company, and every other major oil company practically ran out and bought a fertilizer company.… — Charlie Munger Copy Share
They [Mc Donalds] take people and give them a first job, which enables them to get a second job. They do a very good… — Charlie Munger Copy Share
We believe that almost all really good investment records will involve relatively little diversification. The basic idea that it was hard to find good… — Charlie Munger Copy Share
It is way less certain to be a wonderful business in the future. The threat is alternative mediums of information. Every newspaper is scrambling… — Charlie Munger Copy Share
In the corporate world, if you have analysts, due diligence, and no horse sense, you've just described hell. — Charlie Munger Copy Share
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… — Charlie Munger Copy Share
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… — Charlie Munger Copy Share
![“The beauty of a financial institution is that there are a lot of ways to go to hell in a bucket. You can push credit too far, do a dumb acquisition, leverage yourself excessively - it's not just derivatives [that can bring about your downfall].” quote by Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/628/charlie-munger-458_acquisition_the-beauty-of-a-financial-institution-is_1034580.jpg)
![“[In picking stocks] You really have to know a lot about business. You have to know a lot about competitive advantage. You have to know a lot about the maintainability of competitive advantage. You have to have a mind that quantifies things in terms of value. And you have to be able to compare…” quote by Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/496/charlie-munger-458_able_in-picking-stocks-you-really-have-to-kno_2554597.jpg)
![“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 insane to use Black-Scholes.” quote by Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/491/charlie-munger-458_assets_black-scholes-works-for-short-term-optio_947554.jpg)
![“[With] closet indexing…you're paying a manager a fortune and he has 85% of his assets invested parallel to the indexes. If you have such a system, you're being played for a sucker.” quote by Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9d9/charlie-munger-458_assets_with-closet-indexing-you-re-paying-a-man_3084217.jpg)
![“For many of our shareholders, our stock is all they own, and we're acutely aware of that. Our culture [of conservatism] runs pretty deep.” quote by Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f5f/charlie-munger-458_conservatism_for-many-of-our-shareholders-our-stock-i_2097753.jpg)
![“Most people will see declining returns [due to inflation]. One of the great defenses if you're worried about inflation is not to have a lot of silly needs in your life - you don't need a lot of material goods.” quote by Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c1b/charlie-munger-458_customer_most-people-will-see-declining-returns-d_2532092.jpg)
![“We bought a doomed textile mill [Berkshire Hathaway] and a California S&L [Savings & Loan; Wesco] just before a calamity. Both were bought at a discount to liquidation value.” quote by Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/802/charlie-munger-458_calamity_we-bought-a-doomed-textile-mill-berkshir_858385.jpg)
