They made a mistake. And it was an easy mistake to make. I don't regard setting incentives aggressively as a mistake. I… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Obviously, consideration of costs is key, including opportunity costs. Of course capital isn't free. It's easy to figure out your cost of… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
...People need to ask, "How do I play the hand that has been dealt me?" The world is not going to give… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Ben Franklin and Samuel Johnson, he credits their wisdom for his success. "They were both utterly brilliant men. And powerful communicators. Both… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Another thing I think should be avoided is extremely intense ideology because it cabbages up one's mind. You see it a lot… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Why should it be easy to do something that, if done well, two or three times, will make your family rich for… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
You need a different checklist and different mental models for different companies. I can never make it easy by saying, 'Here are… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
What do you want to avoid? Such an easy answer: sloth and unreliability. If you're unreliable it doesn't matter what your virtues… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Once you start doing something bad, then it's easy to take the next step - and in the end, you're a moral… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Bernie Ebbers and Ken Lay were caricatures - they were easy to spot. They were almost psychopaths. But it's much harder to… — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Berkshireis in the business of making easy predictions If a deal looks too hard, the partners simply shelve it. — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
We're the tortoise that has outrun the hare because it chose the easy predictions. — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
Almost all good businesses engage in 'pain today, gain tomorrow' activities. — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
The tax code gives you an enormous advantage if you can find some things you can just sit with. — Charlie Munger Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
![“Bernie Ebbers and Ken Lay were caricatures - they were easy to spot. They were almost psychopaths. But it's much harder to spot problems at companies like Royal Dutch [Shell].” quote by Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/582/charlie-munger-458_caricatures_bernie-ebbers-and-ken-lay-were-caricatur_1930979.jpg)
![“They [Mc Donalds] take people and give them a first job, which enables them to get a second job. They do a very good job of educating troubled young people to be good citizens and they're probably more successful than charter schools.” quote by Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/a55/charlie-munger-458_be-good_they-mc-donalds-take-people-and-give-the_41809.jpg)
![“It is way less certain to be a wonderful business in the future. The threat is alternative mediums of information. Every newspaper is scrambling to parlay their existing advantage into dominance on the Internet. But it is way less sure [that this will occur] than the certainty 20 years ago that…” quote by Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/8d0/charlie-munger-458_advantage_it-is-way-less-certain-to-be-a-wonderful_59627.jpg)