Warren Buffett Quotes

We will reject interesting opportunities rather than over-leverage our balance sheet.

We've always been modestly leveraged, and we've never believed in a great deal of leverage on either our private equity business or on our investment banking business. And I think it really goes back to my uncle and dad growing up in the Depression and just seeing what happened to people who were overly levered.

Edelman maintains a very conservative balance sheet. We do small acquisitions. This helps me sleep well at night.

I've seen more people fail because of liquor and leverage -- leverage being borrowed money. You really don't need leverage in this world much. If you're smart, you're going to make a lot of money without borrowing.

I am very conservative. I don't invest in anything that is risky. If someone comes to me with a project idea, I let them risk their money, not mine.

I haven't been as wild with my money as somebody like me might have been. I've been very safe, very conservative with investments. I don't blow money. I don't have a ton of houses. I know things can go away. I've already had that experience.

I have only ever borrowed money for investment. I have been sound money all my life.

In real estate, you make 10% of your money because you're a genius and 90% because you catch a great wave.

The activists play the balance sheet by selling a division to buy back stock and leveraging the balance sheet and buying back more stock.

People are very focused on value and preservation of capital. They're a lot less risk-prone than they used to be.

Capital structure isn't an eyeshade economic thing: It's about your ability to protect your workforce and your service levels.

Keep a strong balance sheet, don't get over-leveraged, and try to protect the security of your employees.

The wise ones bet heavily when the world offers them that opportunity. They bet big when they have the odds. And the rest of the time, they don't. It's just that simple.

An argument is made that there are just too many question marks about the near future; wouldn't it be better to wait until things clear up a bit? You know the prose: "Maintain buying reserves until current uncertainties are resolved," etc. Before reaching for that crutch, face up to two unpleasant facts: The future is never clear and you pay a very high price for a cheery consensus. Uncertainty actually is the friend of the buyer of long-term values.

The way to build long-term returns is through preservation of capital and home runs.

To have a true investment, there must be a true margin of safety. And a true margin of safety is one that can be demonstrated by figures, by persuasive reasoning, and by reference to a body of actual experience.

Berkshire's past record has been almost ridiculous. If Berkshirehad used even half the leverage of, say, Rupert Murdoch, it would be five times its current size.

An investor needs to do very few things right as long as he or she avoids big mistakes.

By refusing to pay too much for an investment, you minimize the chances that your wealth will ever disappear or suddenly be destroyed.

There is a time to make money and a time to not lose money.

Price fluctuations have only one significant meaning for the true investor. They provide him with an opportunity to buy wisely when prices fall sharply and to sell wisely when they advance a great deal.

Confronted with a challenge to distill the secret of sound investment into three words, we venture the motto, Margin of Safety.

The most important word in the world of money is cash flow. The second most important word is leverage.

A good portfolio is more than a long list of good stocks and bonds. It is a balanced whole, providing the investor with protections and opportunities with respect to a wide range of contingencies.

...in terms of business mistakes that I've seen over a long lifetime, I would say that trying to minimize taxes too much is one of the great standard causes of really dumb mistakes. I see terrible mistakes from people being overly motivated by tax considerations. Warren and I personally don't drill oil wells. We pay our taxes. And we've done pretty well, so far. Anytime somebody offers you a tax shelter from here on in life, my advice would be don't buy it.