I try to buy stock in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will.
Interpretation
Invest in businesses that can succeed regardless of the management, as eventually poor management will occur.
Warren Buffett's quote emphasizes the importance of investing in fundamentally strong businesses that are resilient to poor leadership. He implies that the stability and robustness of a company should be such that its success is not solely dependent on the intelligence or capabilities of its leaders, which highlights the need for sound business models that can endure various challenges.
In practice
During a financial seminar, I quoted Warren Buffett to encourage attendees to focus on strong business models.
I have no views as to where it will be, but the one thing I can tell you is it won't do anything between now and then except look at you. Whereas, you know, Coca-Cola (KO) will be making money, and I think Wells Fargo (WFC) will be making a lot of money and there will be a lot - and it's a lot - it's a lot better to have a goose that keeps laying eggs than a goose that just sits there and eats insurance and storage and a few things like that.
If the world couldn't see your results, would you rather be thought of as the world's greatest investor but in reality have the world's worst record? Or be thought of as the world's worst investor when you were actually the best?
Cash never makes us happy, but it's better to have the money burning a hole in Berkshire's pocket than resting comfortably in someone else's.
I think you should read everything you can. In my case, by the age of 10, I'd read every book in the Omaha public library about investing, some twice. _x000D_ You need to fill your mind with various competing thoughts and decide which make sense.
The most common cause of low prices is pessimism - some times pervasive, some times specific to a company or industry. We want to do business in such an environment, not because we like pessimism but because we like the prices it produces. It's optimism that is the enemy of the rational buyer.
Oneβs objective should be to get it right, get it quick, get it out and get it over. Your problem wonβt improve with age.
You spend more of the game preparing to win in the final seconds. And that is what separates winners from losers.
Everybody in the minor leagues - if you're a player, an announcer, whatever - wants to be in the big leagues.
When I go out and race, I'm not trying to beat opponents, I'm trying to beat what I have done ... to beat myself, basically. People find that hard to believe because we've had such a bias to always strive to win things. If you win something and you haven't put everything into it, you haven't actually achieved anything at all. When you've had to work hard for something and you've got the best you can out of yourself on that given day, that's where you get satisfaction from.
Success is relative. It is what we make of the mess we have made of things.
I'm at the top of my game so, when I win or lose, I don't freak out...I don't think we can call it a rivalry yet. There's just to many great players around.
All work undertaken should be useful - not just for a day, or a year, but useful in the sense that it affords permanent improvement in living conditions or that it creates future new wealth for the Nation.
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