No formula in finance tells you that the moat is 28 feet wide and 16 feet deep. That's what drives the academics crazy. They can compute standard deviations and betas, but they can't understand moats. Warren Buffett More Quotes by Warren Buffett More Quotes From Warren Buffett You have to turn over a lot of rocks to find those little anomalies. You have to find the companies that are off the map - way off the map. Warren Buffett mapsrocksanomalies I never invest in anything that I don't understand. Warren Buffett At age 19, I read a book [The Intelligent Investor] and what I'm doing today, at age 76, is running things through the same thought process I learned from the book I read at 19. Warren Buffett intelligentrunningbook In the 20th century, the United States endured two world wars and other traumatic and expensive military conflicts; the Depression; a dozen or so recessions and financial panics; oil shocks; a flu epidemic; and the resignation of a disgraced president. Yet the Dow rose from 66 to 11,497. Warren Buffett businessmilitarywar They say the chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken. The chains you put around yourself now have enormous consequences as you go through life. Warren Buffett lightbrokenbusiness The key to investing is not assessing how much an industry is going to affect society, or how much it will grow, but rather determining the competitive advantage of any given company and, above all, the durability of that advantage. Warren Buffett durabilityinvestingkeys To be successful, you should concentrate on the world of companies, not arcane accounting mathematics. Warren Buffett mathematicssuccessfulworld The ability to say no is a tremendous advantage for an investor. Warren Buffett investingadvantagemoney We only want to link up with people whom we like, admire, and trust. ... We do not wish to join with managers who lack admirable qualities, no matter how attractive the prospects of their business. We've never succeeded in making a good deal with a bad person. Warren Buffett qualitywishpeople There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning. Warren Buffett winningclasswar Never ask a barber if you need a haircut. Warren Buffett rodeocowboyneeds We continue to make more money when snoring than when active. Warren Buffett more-moneytiminginvesting I am a better investor because I am a businessman, and a better businessman because I am no investor. Warren Buffett buffetsinvestingbusiness People always ask me where they should go to work, and I always tell them to go to work for whom they admire the most. Warren Buffett admireshouldpeople Trust is like the air we breathe--when it's present, nobody really notices; when it's absent, everybody notices. Warren Buffett absentbreatheair I read annual reports of the company I'm looking at and I read the annual reports of the competitors - that is the main source of material. Warren Buffett annual-reportscompanysource It is not necessary to do extraordinary things to get extraordinary results. Warren Buffett buffetsinvestingmotivational Focus on your customers and lead your people as though their lives depend on your success. Warren Buffett investingfocuspeople I made my first investment at age eleven. I was wasting my life up until then. Warren Buffett investmentagefirsts I try to buy stock in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will. Warren Buffett investing-moneybusinessrunning