I did not succeed in life by intelligence. I succeeded because I have a long attention span. Charlie Munger More Quotes by Charlie Munger More Quotes From Charlie Munger Knowing what you don't know is more useful than being brilliant. Charlie Munger brilliant knowing knows In business we often find that the winning system goes almost ridiculously far in maximizing and or minimizing one or a few variables - like the discount warehouses of Costco. Charlie Munger variables investing winning I'm very pleased when the smartest people come [to the U.S.] and almost never pleased when the very bottom of the mental barrel comes in. Charlie Munger barrels bottom people If you took our top fifteen decisions out, we'd have a pretty average record. It wasn't hyperactivity, but a hell of a lot of patience. You stuck to your principles and when opportunities came along, you pounced on them with vigor. Charlie Munger money opportunity average I remember the $0.05 hamburger and a $0.40-per-hour minimum wage, so I've seen a tremendous amount of inflation in my lifetime. Did it ruin the investment climate? I think not. Charlie Munger minimum-wage climate thinking Finding a single investment that will return 20% per year for 40 years tends to happen only in dreamland. In the real world, you uncover an opportunity, and then you compare other opportunities with that. And you only invest in the most attractive opportunities. That's your opportunity cost. That's what you learn in freshman economics. The game hasn't changed at all. That's why Modern Portfolio Theory is so asinine. Charlie Munger real opportunity years If you don't keep learning, other people will pass you by. Temperament alone won't do it - you need a lot of curiosity for a long, long time. Charlie Munger curiosity long people It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent. Charlie Munger intelligent stupid long Most people are too fretful, they worry to much. Success means being very patient, but aggressive when it's time. Charlie Munger worry mean people Someone will always be getting richer faster than you. This is not a tragedy. Charlie Munger wealth faster tragedy It's a good habit to trumpet your failures and be quiet about your successes. Charlie Munger trumpets habit quiet If you don't allow for self-serving bias in the conduct of others, you are, again, a fool. Charlie Munger bias fool self If you want to understand science, you have to understand math. In business, if you're enumerate, you're going to be a klutz. The good thing about business is that you don't have to know any higher math. Charlie Munger good-things want math Never, ever, think about something else when you should be thinking about the power of incentives. Charlie Munger incentives should thinking We don't like trading agony for money Charlie Munger trading agony The only way to win is to work, work, work, work, and hope to have a few insights Charlie Munger insight winning way We regard using [a stock's] volatility as a measure of risk is nuts. Risk to us is 1) the risk of permanent loss of capital, or 2) the risk of inadequate return. Some great businesses have very volatile returns - for example, See's [a candy company owned by Berkshire] usually loses money in two quarters of each year - and some terrible businesses can have steady results. Charlie Munger nuts loss years In my whole life, I have known no wise people who didn't read all the time - none ... ZERO. Charlie Munger zero wise people The iron rule of nature is: you get what you reward for. Charlie Munger iron sugar want 'Crowd folly', the tendency of humans, under some circumstances, to resemble lemmings, explains much foolish thinking of brilliant men and much foolish behavior - like investment management practices of many foundations represented here today. It is sad that today each institutional investor apparently fears most of all that its investment practices will be different from practices of the rest of the crowd. Charlie Munger practice men thinking
