Warren Buffett Quotes

Don't invest in pieces of papers (stocks), invest in great businesses underlying them

Buy a business, don't rent stocks.

Investing is the greatest business in the world because you never have to swing. You stand at the plate; the pitcher throws you General Motors at 47! U.S. Steel at 39! And nobody calls a strike on you. There's no penalty except opportunity. All day you wait for the pitch you like; then, when the fielders are asleep, you step up and hit it.

Investment philosophy is the clear understanding that by owning shares of stocks he owns businesses, not pieces of paper.

Buy into a company because you want to own it, not because you want the stock to go up.

An investor should ordinarily hold a small piece of an outstanding business with the same tenacity that an owner would exhibit if he owned all of that business.

When we own portions of outstanding businesses with outstanding managements, our favorite holding period is forever.

When we own portions of outstanding businesses with outstanding managements, our favorite holding period is forever. We are just the opposite of those who hurry to sell and book profits when companies perform well but who tenaciously hang on to businesses that disappoint. Peter Lynch aptly likens such behavior to cutting the flowers and watering the weeds.

I always think long term about anything. That's why I have never sold anything that I've ever purchased. And I never purchase anything that I don't think I'm going to keep for a lifetime.

Only buy something that you'd be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years.

Small, slow growth is the best I expect from an investment. I'm a real saver: frugal - like my parents.

Our favorite holding period is forever.

I buy things that are good properties that I'm going to have forever. I just don't have any intention to sell anything. I believe you acquire good assets and you keep them and operate them.

When buying shares, ask yourself, would you buy the whole company?

A great business at a fair price is superior to a fair business at a great price.

Too many investors overvalue companies in the near term while undervaluing them in the long term.

Building your own business is the best way to become rich. Then you can begin investing in other assets.

The pure administration of Graham-and-Doddery really needs a long-term lock-up like Warren Buffett has, or it will have occasional quite dreadful client problems.

Ignore the stock market, ignore the economy, and buy a business you understand.

We say we are trying to buy into businesses with excellent economics, run by honest and able people at a decent price. We buy very few securities, so we look at it as "focused" investing.

Anyone who prefers owning part of your company to being paid in cash reveals a preference for the long term and a commitment to increasing your company's value in the future.

The intelligent investor should recognize that market panics can create great prices for good companies and good prices for great companies.

If you own a wonderful business...the best thing to do is keep it. All you're going to do is trade your wonderful business for a whole bunch of cash, which isn't as good as the business, and you got the problem of investing in other businesses, and you probably paid a tax in between. So my advice to anybody who owns a wonderful business is keep it.

Shares are not mere pieces of paper. They represent part ownership of a business. So, when contemplating an investment, think like a prospective owner.

The investor's primary interest lies in acquiring and holding suitable securities at suitable prices.