Wit and Wisdom from Warren Buffett

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Few people are as quotable as Warren Buffett.

I attended the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting this weekend. It ended Saturday afternoon in dramatic fashion with the 94-year old money manager announcing he was stepping down after 60 years. The crowd gave him a standing ovation. 

Before the bombshell announcement, Buffett spent four-and-a-half hours dropping wit and wisdom in a way only he can do.

I find that sometimes quotes convey the feeling from the room much better than a narrative article so I compiled a list of my favorites from the meeting. 

It’s worth reminding readers that all of these comments came on the fly in response to specific questions from shareholders about business and life.

“People have emotions but you have to check them at the door when you invest.”

“The world is not going to adapt to you, you need to adapt to the world.”

“Everyone has setbacks, it's part of life. You certainly have a setback when you die.”

“You get a few  breaks in life in the people who you will meet. You need a handful of them. And when you have them, you treasure them.”

“Patience is not a constant asset or liability. You don't want to be patient when the time comes to act.”

“If every time you swung you hit a homerun the game wouldn't be very interesting.”

"Make the most of the people you meet who are going to make you a better person and forget about the rest frankly.”

“Every now and again you get an extraordinary opportunity. Most of the time you don't have much of an edge.”

“If you are in something in which you are going to lose you should quit.”

“We are not in the business of solving unsolvable problems.”

“Don't take a position on anything unless you can argue the opposite just as well.”

“Values change and they don't always change upward.”

“If you need lots of money you should probably behave in a way that encourages them to give you money.”

“I was born in 1930 and things got much more attractive over the next two years and I didn't do anything about it. That was the opportunity of a lifetime and I blew it by worrying about the kid in the next crib.”

“If Berkshire went down 50 percent I would regard that as a fantastic opportunity.”

“I don't get fearful the way other people are afraid in a financial way.”

“It's not that I don't have emotions, but I don't have emotions about the price of stocks.”

“It's always better to make a lot of money without putting up capital.”

“You can't blame humans for behaving like humans but you should understand their motivations.”

“Look around to see what interests you. I wouldn't try to be someone else.”

“You can't say the system is a failure but you can say it's very difficult to make major changes.”

“It's easier for an organization to see its quality go downward than upward.”

“I've already told you more than I know so let's move on.”

BRIEF OBSERVATIONS

LINING UP: The Berkshire annual meeting starts at 8 am. People start lining up to get seats at 2 a.m.

THE LINE: Randall, Nicole and I in the line at 7 a.m. We waited an hour to get in the arena and made it just before Buffett started speaking.

THE AFTERMATH: We snared the last few seats and had to sat behind the stage. Still worth being in the arena.

BUFFETT’S BUILDING: Buffett’s office is on the top two floors of an unassuming office building in downtown Omaha.

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AFTER PARTY: The afterparty is at Mr. Toads, a bar in the The Old Market part of Omaha, a renovated area of old warehouses.

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