Look for the big

Our exemplar is the older man who crashed his grocery cart into that of a much younger fellow while both were shopping. The elderly man explained apologetically that he had lost track of his wife and was preoccupied searching for her. His new acquaintance said that by coincidence his wife had also wandered off and suggested that it might be more efficient if they jointly looked for the two women. Agreeing, the older man asked his new companion what his wife looked like. "She’s a gorgeous blonde," the fellow answered, "with a body that would cause a bishop to go through a stained glass window, and she’s wearing tight white shorts. How about yours?" The senior citizen wasted no words: “Forget her, we’ll look for yours.

- Warren Buffett

Buffett’s investment philosophy ...

Whenever we buy common stocks...we approach the transaction as if we were buying into a private business. We look at the economic prospects of the business, the people in charge of running it, and the price we must pay. We do not have in mind any time or price for sale. Indeed, we are willing to hold a stock indefinitely so long as we expect the business to increase in intrinsic value at a satisfactory rate. When investing, we view ourselves as business analysts — not as market analysts, not as macroeconomic analysts and not even as security analysts.

- Warren Buffett

Market quotes

(Remember) the market is there to serve us, not instruct us. It just tells us prices. If something is out of line, then you can do something about it - the critical part is how you handle that piece of information, how you play out your hand. Let the market serve you rather than instruct you, and you can’t miss.

- Warren Buffett

You are correct because....

Being contrarian has no special value over being a trend follower. You are correct because the facts are right. In focusing on business and investment decisions, look for things that are important and knowable.

- Warren Buffett

Commodity boom

We have failed to profit from one of the biggest commodity booms in history and will probably continue to fail in that way.

- Charles Munger

Bear Markets

I buy stocks when the lemmings are headed the other way.

- Warren Buffett

Condition to buy a stock

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

- Warren Buffett