It's remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.
There's a difference between having an edge and being stupid.
The main thing is to have a gutsy approach and use your head.
We all make mistakes, but intelligence enables us to do it on purpose.
...wisdom is in large part the knowledge of how to avoid doing dumb things, and thus grows globally as a function of the published inventory of stupid mistakes.
Outstanding long-term results are produced primarily by avoiding dumb decisions, rather than by making brilliant ones.
That's really what I want in a leader; I want somebody who's really, really smart.
Intelligence is to provide the facts to us. The facts will usually take you to the truth. And then, when we get the truth, we have got to make the decisions and do what's best for this country.
The qualitative factors upon which most stress is laid are the nature of the business and the character of the management. These elements are exceedingly important, but they are also exceedingly difficult to deal with intelligently.
