Buffett was born August 30th, 1930 in Omaha. In honor of his birthday, Forbes has a list of his sayings, some of which I excerpt here:
“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”
“Can you really explain to a fish what it’s like to walk on land? One day on land is worth a thousand years of talking about it, and one day running a business has exactly the same kind of value.”
“Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.”
“Never invest in a business you can’t understand.”
“The most important quality for an investor is temperament, not intellect. You need a temperament that neither derives great pleasure from being with the crowd or against the crowd.”
“Forecasts may tell you a great deal about the forecaster; they tell you nothing about the future.”
“Successful investing takes time, discipline and patience. No matter how great the talent or efforts, some things just take time. You can’t produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.”
“The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.”
“It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction.”
“The most important investment you can make is in yourself.”
“Honesty is a very expensive gift. Don’t expect it from cheap people.”
“Without passion, you don’t have energy. Without energy, you have nothing.”
“Tell me who your heroes are and I’ll tell you who you’ll turn out to be.”
Thanks to Robert Marks for the link.