“Opportunity comes to the prepared mind.”

The best thing a human being can do is to help another human being know more.

The more hard lessons you can learn vicariously rather than through your own hard experience, the better.

I’m not entitled to have an opinion unless I can state the arguments against my position better than the people who are in opposition. I think that I am qualified to speak only when I’ve reached that state.

Acknowledging what you don’t know is the dawning of wisdom.

A foreign correspondent, after talking to me for a while, once said: “You don’t seem smart enough to be so good at what you’re doing. Do you have an explanation?”

There is bound to be a regression toward the mean.

You must force yourself to consider opposing arguments. Especially when they challenge your best loved ideas.

I believe in the discipline of mastering the best that other people have ever figured out. I don’t believe in just sitting down and trying to dream it all up yourself. Nobody’s that smart.

If you don’t allow for self-serving bias in the conduct of others, you are, again, a fool.

If you can buy the best companies, over time the pricing takes care of itself.

Just avoid things like racing trains to the crossing, doing cocaine, etc. Develop good mental habits.

A lot of success in life and business comes from knowing what you want to avoid: early death, a bad marriage, etc.

There has never been a master plan. Anyone who wanted to do it, we fired because it takes on a life of its own and doesn’t cover new reality. We want people taking into account new information.

I think that, every time you saw the word EBITDA, you should substitute the word “bullshit” earnings.

We have found in a long life that one competitor is frequently enough to ruin a business.

I never allow myself to have an opinion on anything that I don’t know the other side’s argument better than they do.