7 Warren Buffett Quotes For Active Investors

There have been several well known and influential investors over the years, but perhaps none as consistent in approach and value investing as Warren Buffett. He also provided the investing community with some pretty quote worthy material over the years in his interviews, speeches, books, and letters.

When reading through the endless list of Warren Buffett quotes, many of which I hadn’t seen before, I was both humored and moved by his simple, yet focused, view toward investing. Whether you are a fan of his or not, it’s hard to argue with his approach in finding well-known and rooted companies that he understands with good management. Oh, and he likes to get in at a good price (which we all can appreciate).

Hope you enjoy the following sampling of quotes by the investing icon.

7 Warren Buffett quotes for active investors:

1.  I try to buy stock in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will.  (2008 panel discussion at I.O.U.S.A. documentary)

2.  Investors making purchases in an overheated market need to recognize that it may often take an extended period for the value of even an outstanding company to catch up with the price they paid. (1998 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting)

3.  You’re dealing with a lot of silly people in the marketplace; it’s like a great big casino and everyone else is boozing. If you can stick with Pepsi, you should be O.K.  (Forbes – November 1974)

4.  I happen to have a talent for allocating capital. But my ability to use that talent is completely dependent on the society I was born into. If I’d been born into a tribe of hunters, this talent of mine would be pretty worthless. I can’t run very fast. I’m not particularly strong. I’d probably end up as some wild animal’s dinner.  But I was lucky enough to be born in a time and place where society values my talent, and gave me a good education to develop that talent, and set up the laws and the financial system to let me do what I love doing — and make a lot of money doing it. (2006 in The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama).

5.  You want to be greedy when others are fearful. You want to be fearful when others are greedy. It’s that simple. … They’re pretty fearful. In fact, in my adult lifetime, I don’t think I’ve ever seen people as fearful economically as they are right now.  (Charlie Rose Interview, PBS – October 2008

6.  Success in investing doesn’t correlate with I.Q. once you’re above the level of 25. Once you have ordinary intelligence, what you need is the temperament to control the urges that get other people into trouble in investing. (BusinessWeek – June 1999)

7.  Never count on making a good sale. Have the purchase price be so attractive that even a mediocre sale gives good results.  (The Making Of An American Capitalist by Roger Lowenstein 1995).

Source for quotes and quote sources: WikiQuote

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No position in any of the mentioned securities at the time of publication. Any opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author, and do not in any way represent the views or opinions of any other person or entity.