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The iron rule of nature is: you get what you reward for. If you want ants to come, you put sugar on the floor.

Charlie Munger

There are worse situations than drowning in cash and sitting, sitting, sitting. I remember when I wasn’t awash in cash — and I don’t want to go back.
CHARLIE MUNGER

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

Avoid Bad Business Death Early Marriage Success
Any year that you don’t destroy one of your best-loved ideas is probably a wasted year.
CHARLIE MUNGER

Best Destroy Ideas Love Wasted Time Yourself
It’s been my experience in life if you just keep thinking and reading, you don’t have to work.
CHARLIE MUNGER

Experience Life Reading Thinking Yourself
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

Business Goodness Mathematics Science Understand Yourself
Opportunity comes to the prepared mind.
CHARLIE MUNGER

Mindset Opportunity Preparation
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.
CHARLIE MUNGER

Admire Business Career Enjoyment People Respect Rule Work Yourself
The safest way to get what you want is to deserve what you want.
CHARLIE MUNGER

Deserve Safety Way Worth Yourself
Our experience tends to confirm a long-held notion that being prepared, on a few occasions in a lifetime, to act promptly in scale, in doing some simple and logical thing, will often dramatically improve the financial results of that lifetime.
CHARLIE MUNGER

Confirmation Experience Financial Preparation Result
In my whole life, I have known no wise people who didn’t read all the time – none … ZERO.
CHARLIE MUNGER

Known Life Myself People Reading Time Wisdom
Go to bed smarter than when you woke up.
CHARLIE MUNGER

Bed Knowledge Learning Smart Wake Up Yourself
If you get into the mental habit of relating what you’re reading to the basic structure of the underlying ideas being demonstrated, you gradually accumulate some wisdom.
CHARLIE MUNGER

Basic Habit Mental Reading Structure Wisdom
You don’t have to have perfect wisdom to get very rich – just a bit better than average over a long period of time.
CHARLIE MUNGER

Average Better Perfection Rich Wisdom Yourself
It’s not greed that drives the world, but envy.
CHARLIE MUNGER

Drive Greedy Jealous World
I’m right, and you’re smart, and sooner or later you’ll see I’m right.
CHARLIE MUNGER

Myself Right Smart Yourself
If we’ve been a little more successful than other people, is because we always realised that the school of life was always open, and if you were not learning more you are falling behind.
CHARLIE MUNGER

Fall Learning Life Open People School Success Yourself
I like people admitting they were complete stupid horses’ asses. I know I’ll perform better if I rub my nose in my mistakes. This is a wonderful trick to learn.
CHARLIE MUNGER

Learning Mistake People Stupidity Trick Wonderful
The best thing a human being can do is to help another human being know more.
CHARLIE MUNGER

Best Compassionate Empathy Help Human Kindness Learning
Whenever you think something or some person is ruining your life, it’s you. A victimization mentality is so debilitating.
CHARLIE MUNGER

Life Mental Person Ruin Thinking Yourself
People always underestimate the ability of earth to increase its carrying capacity.
CHARLIE MUNGER

Ability Capacity Carry Earth People
The average result has to be the average result. By definition, everybody can’t beat the market. As I always say, the iron rule of life is that only 20% of the people can be in the top fifth. That’s just the way it is.
CHARLIE MUNGER

Average Definition Life Marketing Myself People Result Rule
Step by step you get ahead, but rarely in fast spurts.
CHARLIE MUNGER

Fast Rare Yourself
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

Broke Live Mistake Myself People Psychology Trick
The game of life is the game of everlasting learning. At least it is if you want to win.
CHARLIE MUNGER

Game Last Learning Life Win Yourself
Intelligent people make decisions based on opportunity costs.
CHARLIE MUNGER

Cost Decision Intelligence Opportunity People
Great investing requires a lot of delayed gratification.
CHARLIE MUNGER

Delay Gratitude Greatness Investment
Knowing what you don’t know is more useful than being brilliant.
CHARLIE MUNGER

Brilliant Unknown Wisdom Yourself

The iron rule of nature is: you get what you reward for. If you want ants to come, you put sugar on the floor.

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The iron rule of nature is: you get what you reward for. If you want ants to come, you put sugar on the floor.

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