"Don't get caught up with what other people are doing. Being a contrarian isn't the key but being a crowd follower isn't either. You need to detach yourself emotionally."

"You are neither right nor wrong because the crowd disagrees with you. You are right because your data and reasoning are right."

"After 25 years of buying and supervising a great variety of businesses, Charlie and I have not learned how to solve difficult business problems. What we have learned is to avoid them."

"Speculation is most dangerous when it looks easiest."

"Investors should remember that excitement and expenses are their enemies."

"Keep things simple and don't swing for the fences. When promised quick profits, respond with a quick "no."

Half of all coin-flippers will win their first toss; none of those winners has an expectation of profit if he continues to play the game.

"What we learn from history is that people don't learn from history."

"There is nothing wrong with a 'know nothing' investor who realizes it. The problem is when you are a 'know nothing' investor but you think you know something."

"You only have to be able to evaluate companies within your circle of competence. The size of that circle is not very important; knowing its boundaries, however, is vital."

We believe that a policy of portfolio concentration may well decrease risk if it raises, as it should, both the intensity with which an investor thinks about a business and the comfort-level he must feel with its economic characteristics before buying into it.

"Diversification is a protection against ignorance. It makes very little sense for those who know what they're doing."

Basically, when you get to my age, you'll really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you.

We always live in an uncertain world. What is certain is that the United States will go forward over time.

There are 309 million people out there that are trying to improve their lot in life. And we've got a system that allows them to do it

I sent one e-mail in my life. I sent it to Jeff Raikes at Microsoft, and it ended up in court in Minneapolis, so I am one for one.

If you get to my age in life and nobody thinks well of you, I don't care how big your bank account is, your life is a disaster.

We're still in a recession. We're not gonna be out of it for a while, but we will get out.

Today people who hold cash equivalents feel comfortable. They shouldn't. They have opted for a terrible long-term asset, one that pays virtually nothing and is certain to depreciate in value.

If anything, taxes for the lower and middle class and maybe even the upper middle class should even probably be cut further. But I think that people at the high end - people like myself - should be paying a lot more in taxes. We have it better than we've ever had it.

Wall Street is the only place that people ride to in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway.

I just think that - when a country needs more income and we do, we're only taking in 15 percent of GDP, I mean, that - that - when a country needs more income, they should get it from the people that have it.

I am a huge bull on this country. We will not have a double-dip recession at all. I see our businesses coming back almost across the board.

I think that both parties should declare the debt limit as a political weapon of mass destruction which can't be used. I mean, it is silly to have a country that has 237 years building up its reputation and then have people threaten to tear it down because they're not getting some other matter.

I would say the most satisfying thing actually is watching my three children each pick up on their own interests and work many more hours per week than most people that have jobs at trying to intelligently give away that money in fields that they particularly care about.

Americans are in a cycle of fear which leads to people not wanting to spend and not wanting to make investments, and that leads to more fear. We'll break out of it. It takes time.

Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing

If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians.

Wall Street is the only place that people ride to in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway.

The smarter the journalists are, the better off society is. For to a degree, people read the press to inform themselves - and the better the teacher, the better the student body.

Doing something unimportant well does not make it important.

Lack of time is lack of priorities. 

Focus on impact, not approval. 

The most important actions are never comfortable.

No hurry, no pause. 

I want to measure twice, and cut once; therefore, the vast majority of my important work is deciding what to work on. 

I’m building a snowball the size of continents. The catch: it sometimes moves at a glacial pace. Big things take time, but that’s OK – almost nothing can stop a glacier from moving once it reaches critical mass.

My definition of luxury has changed over time. Now, it’s not about owning a lot of stuff. Luxury, to me, is feeling unrushed.

Emergencies are seldom that.

Different is better when it is more effective or more fun.

There is just less competition for bigger goals.

Too much, too many, and too often of what you want becomes what you don’t want.

If you are insecure, guess what? The rest of the world is, too. Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. You are better than you think.

Success can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations we are willing to have, and by the number of uncomfortable actions we are willing to take.

The question you should be asking isn’t, “What do I want?” or “What are my goals?” but “What would excite me?”

What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.

You are the average of the five people you associate with most, so do not underestimate the effects of your pessimistic, unambitious, or disorganized friends. If someone isn’t making you stronger, they’re making you weaker.

Focus on being productive instead of busy.

There has never been a better time for testing the uncommon.

Most people will choose unhappiness over uncertainty.