Quotes by Author: Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

"Most institutional and individual investors will find the best way to own common stock is through an index fund that charges minimal fees. Those following this path are sure to beat the net results [after fees and expenses] delivered by the great majority of investment professionals."

- Shareholder Letter

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Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

"The American economy is going to do fine. But it won't do fine every year and every week and every month. I mean, if you don't believe that, forget about buying stocks anyway... It's a positive-sum game, long term. And the only way an investor can get killed is by high fees or by trying to outsmart the market."

- Warren Buffett, Confidence and Leadership

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Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

"the active investors will have their returns diminished by a far greater percentage than will their inactive brethren. That means that the passive group – the "know-nothings" – must win."

- 2007 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Letter, page 18

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Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

"Investors, of course, can, by their own behavior make stock ownership highly risky. And many do. Active trading, attempts to "time" market movements, inadequate diversification, the payment of high and unnecessary fees to managers and advisors, and the use of borrowed money can destroy the decent returns that a life-long owner of equities would otherwise enjoy. Indeed, borrowed money has no place in the investor's tool kit. "

- Quotes & Quips from Warren Buffett's 2014 Shareholder Letter, WSJ

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Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

When trillions of dollars are managed by Wall Streeters charging high fees, it will usually be the manager who reap outsized profits, not the clients. Both large and small investors should stick with low-cost index funds.

- February, 2017 Shareholder Letter, p 23

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Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

"There are a few investment managers, of course, who are very good – though in the short run, it’s difficult to determine whether a great record is due to luck or talent. Most advisors, however, are far better at generating high fees than they are at generating high returns. In truth, their core competence is salesmanship. Rather than listen to their siren songs, investors – large and small – should instead read Jack Bogle’s The Little Book of Common Sense Investing."

- Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Letter, p.18

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Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

"Buy a cross section of American industry, and if a cross section of American industry doesn't work, certainly trying to pick the little beauties here and there isn't going to work either."

- CNN Money

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Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

"Investors...can't pick stocks that are better than average. Stocks are a good thing to own over time. There's only two things you can do wrong: You can buy the wrong ones, and you can buy or sell them at the wrong time. And the truth is you never need to sell them."

- Azquotes.com

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Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

"If you knew what was going to happen in the economy, you still wouldn't necessarily know what was going to happen in the stock market."

- Fortune Magazine, "What Warren Thinks..."

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Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

"Investors should remember that excitement and expenses are their enemies. And if they insist on trying to time their participation in equities, they should try to be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful."

- 2004 Annual Report of Berkshire Hathaway

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Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

"Inactivity strikes us as intelligent behavior."

- 1996 Annual Report of Berkshire Hathaway

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Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

"Our favorite holding period is forever."

- 1988 Annual Report of Berkshire Hathaway

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Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

"The only value of stock forecasters is to make fortune-tellers look good."

- Warren Buffett (2009). “Warren Buffett on Business: Principles from the Sage of Omaha”, p.165, John Wiley & Sons

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Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

"We continue to make more money when snoring than when active."

- 1996 Annual Report of Berkshire Hathaway

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Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

"Our stay-put behavior reflects our view that the stock market serves as a relocation center at which money is moved from the active to the patient."

- 1991 Annual Report of Berkshire Hathaway

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Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

"Anything can happen anytime in markets. And no advisor, economist, or TV commentator--and definitely not Charlie nor I--can tell you when chaos will occur. Market forecasters will fill your ear but will never fill your wallet. "

- Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Letter, p.19

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Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

"Our system works. Over time, people will live better and better. We have a system that unleashes human potential, and now China has a system that unleashes human potential. We will have interruptions. We overshoot and undershoot sometimes, but your kids and grandkids will live better than you. Over time, we move ahead at a pretty damn rapid rate."

- Azquotes.com

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Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

"With a wonderful business, you can figure out what will happen; you can't figure out when it will happen. You don't want to focus on when, you want to focus on what. If you're right about what, you don't have to worry about when."

- The Motley Fool, Warren Buffett Tells You How to Turn $40 Into $10 Million

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Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

"If you're right about the business, you'll make a lot of money... it's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price."

- Motley Fool

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Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

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

- Letter from Warren E. Buffet to the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Berkshire Hathaway Inc.: Shareholder letters

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Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

"The commission of the investment sins listed above is not limited to 'the little guy.' Huge institutional investors, viewed as a group, have long underperformed the unsophisticated index-fund investor who simply sits tight for decades. A major reason has been fees: Many institutions pay substantial sums to consultants who, in turn, recommend high-fee managers. And that is a fool’s game. "

- Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Letter, p.19

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Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

"The greatest Enemies of the Equity investor are Expenses and Emotions."

- The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by John C. Bogle

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Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

"If you can eliminate the government as a 39.6% partner, then you will be much better off."

- Azquotes.com

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Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

"I think the most important factor in getting out of the recession actually is just the regenerative capacity of American capitalism. And we had many recessions in the history of this country when nobody even heard of fiscal policy or monetary policy. The country always comes back."

- CNBC

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Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

"...it's important to have the right monetary policy. It's important for, to have the right fiscal policy. But it's nowhere near as important as just the normal regenerative capacity of American capitalism."

- CNBC's Squawk Box

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Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

"Our favorite holding period is forever."

- 1988 Annual Report of Berkshire Hathaway

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Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

"You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out."

- Letter to Shareholders, February 28, 2002

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