Quotes

I would rather sustain the penalties resulting from over-conservatism than face the consequences of error, perhaps with permanent capital loss, resulting from the adoption of a "New Era" philosophy where trees really do grow to the sky.

Just because something is cheap does not mean it is not going to go down.

There is nothing at all conservative, in my opinion, about speculating as to just how high a multiplier a greedy and capricious public will put on earnings.

Never count on making a good sale. Have the purchase price be so attractive that even a mediocre sale gives good results. The better sales will be the frosting on the cake.

I like dealing with someone who is not trying to figure how to get the fixtures in the executive washroom gold-plated.

Investment decisions should be made on the basis of the most probable compounding of after-tax net worth with minimum risk.

It is obvious that a variation of merely a few percentage points has an enormous effect on the success of a compounding (investment) program. It is also obvious that this effect mushrooms as the period lengthens.

Our business is making excellent purchases -- not making extraordinary sales.

A public opinion poll is no substitute for thought.

More investment sins are probably committed by otherwise quite intelligent people because of "tax considerations" than from any other cause.

The addition of the one-hundredth stock simply can't reduce the potential variance in portfolio performance sufficiently to compensate for the negative effect its inclusion has on the overall portfolio expectation.

I believe the investor operates at a distinct advantage when he is aware of what path his thought process is following.