Warren Buffett

Can you really explain to a fish what it’s like to walk on land? One day on land is worth a thousand years of talking about it, and one day running a business has exactly the same kind of value.

Successful investing takes time, discipline and patience. No matter how great the talent or efforts, some things just take time. You can’t produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.

If you are in a poker game and after 20 minutes you don’t know who the patsy is, then you’re the patsy.

The most important investment you can make is in yourself.

I measure success by how many people love me.

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.

The tooth fairy teaches children that they can sell body parts for money.

Our friendship was based on my payouts. That wasn’t a friendship when – as, for example, it’s me, my friends, we are friends for many years, and it doesn’t matter for me what the position is, where they work; we simply are friends. And with Mr. Berezovsky, our friendship was based on my payoffs.

[‘Why don’t you manage me’ – Laura Nyro] Eventually I thought do I really believe that she could be one of the biggest stars in the world? Should I give up my career at this point in my life, where I’m doing so well, and put all my marbles in Laura’s [Nyro] basket? And I woke up one morning and I thought if you really believe it – go for it.

Success cannot come from standstill men. Methods change and men must change with them.

I’ve learned a tremendous amount from Oprah.

In the end, all business operations can be reduced to three words: people, product, and profits. Unless you’ve got a good team, you can’t do much with the other two.

An imitation may be quite successful in its own way, but imitation can never be Success. Success is a first-hand creation.

Advertising is only evil when it advertises evil things.

I have no Napoleonic dream. I’m just hard-working and pragmatic.

See what a 25-cent raise will do to us, said Mr. Ford. So they figured the daily and monthly cost of a 25-cent increase. Put on another quarter and see what that will cost, he said. And so they went on, 25 cents a step. Finally the wage of $2.34 stood at $4.75–more than 100 percent increase. One of the associates–a good financial head–remarked rather sarcastically that if they were going to be fools, why not be first-class fools and make it $5. All right, said Mr. Ford, let’s make it $5.

Edison, to a greater extent than has ever been recognized, is the father of American industrial methods.

I believe in trusting men, not only once but twice – in giving a failure another chance.

The art of effective listening is essential to clear communication, and clear communication is necessary to management success.

Your business, and your brand, must first let people know what you care about, and that you care about them.

Our modern industrialism, changed to motives of public service, will provide means to remove every injustice that gives soil for prejudice.