15 of Warren Buffett's best aphorisms on investing, love and life
Warren Buffett, 82, is the world’s most successful (and richest) value investor. The 'Oracle of Omaha' is also famous for his aphorisms not just about investing, but also life in general. His biographer Alice Schroeder says that while Mr. Buffett likes to speak in folksy aphorisms, in fact, his investing is very complicated. Here are some of Report on Business's favourites:
“Investing is simple, but not easy.” (Photo: Warren Buffett, competes in a newspaper tossing competition at the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting in May, 2012.)Kent Sievers/The Associated Press
"Derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction." (Photo: Warren Buffett at a 2011 news conference in Japan.)Kim Kyung Hoon/Reuters
“It's only when the tide goes out that you learn who's been swimming naked.”DARRYL DYCK/The Globe and Mail
“Life is like a snowball. The important thing is finding wet snow and a really long hill.”MARTIN S. LERMAN/The Associated Press
“Basically, when you get to my age, you’ll really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you.” (Photo: Warren Buffett sits with his late wife, Susan and daughter, Susie, at a Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting.)Jeff Taylor/Reuters
"Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No. 1." (Photo: Warren Buffet uses an oversized paddle against Olympian Ariel Hsing during several rounds of ping pong at in a May, 2012 shareholders meeting.)Alyssa Schukar/The Associated Press
“If you aren't willing to own a stock for ten years, don't even think about owning it for ten minutes.” (Photo: Warren Buffett among fellow billionaires on the cover of the 2012 Forbes 400 issue on philanthropy.)Reuters
"Never invest in a business you can’t understand." (Photo: Warren Buffett plays with a western band during a 2007 shareholders meeting.)Nati Harnik/The Associated Press
"I buy expensive suits. They just look cheap on me." (Photo: Warren Buffett at a 2008 shareholders meeting.)CARLOS BARRIA/Reuters
"Why not invest your assets in the companies you really like? As Mae West said, 'Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.'" (Photo: Warren Buffett poses on a motorcycle at a 2008 shareholders meeting.)CARLOS BARRIA/Reuters
“Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.” (Photo: Warren Buffett plays bridge with shareholders during a 2008 meeting.)CARLOS BARRIA/Reuters
"A very rich person should leave his kids enough to do anything, but not enough to do nothing." (Photo: Warren Buffett with his son, Peter, and daughter, Susie, at a Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting in 2007.)Nati Harnik/The Associated Press
“Wall Street is the only place that people ride to in a Rolls Royce to take advice from those who take the subway.”JUMANA EL HELOUEH/Reuters
"It’s class warfare; my class is winning, but they shouldn’t be." (Photo: Warren Buffett featured in a Geico video prepared for a shareholders meeting. Geico is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.)
"If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians." (Photo: A man holds a copy of the 2008 book <i>Even Buffett Isn't Perfect</i> by Vahan Janjigian at a 2008 shareholders meeting.)Carlos Barria/Reuters