Even in pure mathematics they can't remove all paradox, and the rest of us should also recognize we are going to have to endure a lot of paradox, like it or not. Charlie Munger More Quotes by Charlie Munger More Quotes From Charlie Munger If we mix only a moderate minority share of turds with the raisins each year, probably no one will recognize what will ultimately become a very large collection of turds. Charlie Munger minorities share years There’s no way that you can live an adequate life without many mistakes. In fact, one trick in life is to get so you can handle mistakes. Failure to handle psychological denial is a common way for people to go broke. Charlie Munger denial mistake people The safest way to get what you want is to deserve what you want. Charlie Munger mermaid want way Mankind invented a system to cope with the fact that we are so intrinsically lousy at manipulating numbers. It's called the graph. Charlie Munger investing numbers facts One of the first big bubbles, of course, was the huge and horrible South Sea Bubble in England. And the aftermath was interesting. Many of you probably don't remember what happened after the South Sea Bubble, which caused an enormous financial contraction, and a lot of pain. They banned publicly traded stock in England for decades. Charlie Munger pain sea interesting I think track records are very important. If you start early trying to have a perfect one in some simple thing like honesty, you're well on your way to success in this world. Charlie Munger honesty simple thinking I knew a guy who had $5 million and owned his house free and clear. But he wanted to make a bit more money to support his spending, so at the peak of the internet bubble he was selling puts on internet stocks. He lost all of his money and his house and now works in a restaurant. It's not a smart thing for the country to legalize gambling [in the stock market] and make it very accessible. Charlie Munger gambling smart country The game of investing is one of making better predictions about the future than other people. How are you going to do that? One way is to limit your tries to areas of competence. If you try to predict the future of everything, you attempt too much. Charlie Munger games trying people Missing out on some opportunity never bothers us. What's wrong with someone getting a little richer than you? It's crazy to worry about this. Charlie Munger crazy worry opportunity I think there's something to be said for developing the disposition to own stocks without fretting. Charlie Munger disposition said thinking I think corporate managers should learn to be better investors because it would make them better managers. Charlie Munger corporate should thinking Fixable but unfixed bad performance is bad character and tends to create more of itself, causing more damage to the excuse giver with each tolerated instance. Charlie Munger damage excuse character I think I've been in the top 5% of my age cohort all my life in understanding the power of incentives, and all my life I've underestimated it. Charlie Munger understanding age thinking It would be nice if this [finding really cheap stocks] happened all the time. Unfortunately, it doesn't. Charlie Munger findings nice would-be The whole concept of dividing it up into 'value' and 'growth' strikes me as twaddle. It's convenient for a bunch of pension fund consultants to get fees prattling about and a way for one advisor to distinguish himself from another. But, to me, all intelligent investing is value investing. Charlie Munger investing growth intelligent It never ceases to amaze me to see how much territory can be grasped if one merely masters and consistently uses all the obvious and easily learned principles. Charlie Munger investing principles use There must be some wisdom in the folk saying: Its the strong swimmers who drown. Charlie Munger swimmer folks strong Black-Scholes works for short-term options, but if it's a long-term option and you think you know something [about the underlying asset], it's insane to use Black-Scholes. Charlie Munger black long thinking Obviously, consideration of costs is key, including opportunity costs. Of course capital isn't free. It's easy to figure out your cost of borrowing, but theorists went bonkers on the cost of equity capital. They say that if you're generating a 100% return on capital, then you shouldn't invest in something that generates an 80% return on capital. It's crazy. Charlie Munger crazy keys opportunity The way to win is to work, work, work, work and hope to have a few insights And you're probably not going to be smart enough to find thousands in a lifetime. And when you get a few, you really load up. It's just that simple. Charlie Munger smart simple winning
