21 Inspiring quotes from Warren Buffet

Warren Buffet seems to be one of the most quoted individuals around.

This is probably because he’s the world’s most successful investor but also he has some very interesting things to say.

Motley Fool recently published a heap of new quotes the Oracle of Omaha gave at the recent Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting.

Here’s a selection:

1. “When people get fearful, they get fearful en masse. Confidence comes back one at a time. When they get greedy, they get greedy en masse.”
2. On economic forecasts: “Why spend time talking about something you don’t know anything about? People do it all the time, but why do it?”
3. “Equities will do well over time — you just have to avoid getting excited when other people are getting excited.”

1. “Four or five times during their lifetimes, [investors will] see incredible opportunities probably in equity markets … [they] have to have the mental fortitude to jump in when most are jumping out.”
2. Responding to a shareholder who thanked him for letting attendees in early from the cold and rain: “If we had a company that sold coats, we would have left you out there.”
3. A 16-year-old will have more accidents than me, not because I’m a better driver, but because the 16-year-old is driving a lot more and is trying to impress the girl sitting next to him. That doesn’t work for me anymore.
4. On big investments: “Our competitive advantage is that we had no competitors.”
5. On Harley-Davidson and its customers’ loyalty: “Any company that gets its customers to tattoo ads on their chests can’t be all bad.”
6. On using lists: “I never make lists. I can’t recall ever making a list in my life … maybe I’ll start.”
7. On challenges to the U.S.: “Our system works, but if you ask me the No. 1 problem, it’s that health care cost.”
8. On advice he’d give to himself 50 years ago: “Find what turns you on.” (He’s referring to work. Get your mind out of the gutter!)
9. “If we do something stupid, it’s because we do something stupid … no external factors are pressing on us, and it’s a great way to operate.”
10. “We will have another bubble, but usually you don’t get it the same way you got it before.”
11. “There some parts of the game that we don’t understand, so we don’t play with them.”
12. On how he picks stocks: “It’s not because I calculate some precise P/E ratio or book value ratio, but because I have an idea of what the company will look like in five years, and that there’s a discrepancy between price and value.” [adrotate group=”25"]
13. “If [investors] try to time their purchases, they will do very well for their broker and not very well for themselves.”
14. “I find it totally unproductive to discuss politics with people.”
15. On the national debt: “This is not by far the country’s toughest hour … we’ll do fine.”
16. “Our job when we hire people to manage money is to figure out if they’re lucky coin flippers.”
17. “When we see falling prices, we think it’s an opportunity to buy.”
18. “It would be a terrible mistake to put me in charge of social media at Berkshire Hathaway. And Charlie wouldn’t be a good choice, either.”

Originally published at Property Update.