“A lot of our respected financial institutions are just casinos in drag.”

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.

Three rules for a career: 1) Don’t sell anything you wouldn’t buy yourself; 2) Don’t work for anyone you don’t respect and admire; and 3) Work only with people you enjoy.

It’s stupid the way people extrapolate the past — and not slightly stupid, but massively stupid.

Financial storm definitely passed.

Money, financial matters were to help people, to help them survive, not to have a bigger house or a bigger car and that sort of thing, because I hear that from so many kids, they often don’t know why their father won’t spend more time with them.

I can tell you about health care and also about the financial reform bill. The Barack Obama, the President personally and his administration officials at his direction were very much involved.

Theirs is an endless road, a hopeless maze, who seek for goods before they seek for God.

The money cost of the reservoir plan literally fades into insignificance when it is compared with the financial burden which the great depression imposed on the nation.

The best way to measure your investing success is not by whether you’re beating the market but by whether you’ve put in place a financial plan and a behavioral discipline that are likely to get you where you want to go.

Physical pain is a fact that comes with living, just as illness or financial woes or broken relationships are facts. But misery is a state of mind, a reaction to the facts, that can be controlled or altered by an act of will.

The financial crisis appears to be mostly behind us, and the economy seems to have stabilized and is expanding again.