The goal of a nonprofessional should not be to pick winners – neither he nor his 'helpers' can do that – but should rather be to own a cross section of businesses that in aggregate are bound to do well.

Our favorite holding period is forever.

You don't need to be a rocket scientist. Investing is not a game where the guy with the 160 IQ beats the guy with 130 IQ.

The investor of today does not profit from yesterday's growth.

I never attempt to make money on the stock market. I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years.

Cash, though, is to a business as oxygen is to an individual: never thought about when it is present, the only thing in mind when it is absent.

Beware of geeks bearing formulas.

The business schools reward difficult complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective.

The most important investment you can make is in your family.

The four most dangerous words in investing are: 'This time it's different.'

Risk is not knowing what you are doing.

Wall Street is the only place that people ride to in a Rolls-Royce to get advice from those who take the subway.

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

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.

Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.

The problem with bubbles is that they force one to decide whether to look like an idiot before the peak, or an idiot after the peak.

We don't get paid for activity, just for being right. As to how long we'll wait, we'll wait indefinitely.

The goal of a nonprofessional should not be to pick winners – neither he nor his 'helpers' can do that – but should rather be to own a cross section of businesses that in aggregate are bound to do well.

The best investment you can make is in your own abilities. Anything you can do to develop your own abilities or business is likely to be more productive.

I never attempt to make money on the stock market. I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years.