“Understanding both the power of compound interest and the difficulty of getting it is the heart and soul of understanding a lot of things.” -Charlie Munger

“It is not given to human beings to have such talent that they can just know everything about everything all the time but it is given to human beings who work hard at it, who look and sift the world for a mispriced bet, that they can occasionally find one.  The wise ones bet heavily when the world offers them that opportunity.  They bet big when they have the odds.  And the rest of the time, they don’t.  It’s just that simple.” -Charlie Munger

“Over the long term, it’s hard for a stock to earn a much better return than the business which underlies it earns.  If the business earns 6% on capital over 40 years and you hold it for that 40 years, you’re not going to make much different than a 6% return – even if you originally buy it at a huge discount.  Conversely, if a business earns 18% on capital over 20 or 30 years, even if you pay an expensive looking price, you’ll end up with a fine result.  So the trick is getting into better businesses.” -Charlie Munger

“If you’re going to buy something which compounds for 30 years at 15% per annum and you pay one 35% tax at the very end, the way that works out is that after taxes, you keep 13.3% per annum.  In contrast, if you bought the same investment, but had to pay taxes every year of 35% out of the 15% that you earned, then your return would be 15% minus 35% of 15% – or only 9.75% per year compounded.  So the difference there is over 3.5%.  And what 3.5% does to the numbers over long holding periods like 30 years is truly eye-opening.” -Charlie Munger

“I read everything: annual reports, 10k’s, 10q’s, biographies, histories, five newspapers a day.  On airplanes, I read the instructions on the backs of seats.  Reading is key.  Reading has made me rich over time.” -Warren Buffett

“Using Forbes, WSJ, Fortune magazines periodicals to perform the function of the aircraft simulator if used to prompt practice in relating events to multidisciplinary causes, often intertwined (i.e. ‘use it or lose it’).  And sometimes the periodicals even introduce new models for causes instead of merely refreshing old knowledge.  I know no person in business, respected for verified good judgement, whose wisdom-maintenance system does not include use of such periodicals.  Why should academia be different?” -Charlie Munger

“People are often massively irrational in ways predicted by psychology that must be taken into account in microeconomics.” -Charlie Munger

“It’s not greed that drives the world, but envy.” -Warren Buffett

“Buffett’s genius was largely a genius of character – of patience, discipline, and rationality… his talent sprang from his unrivaled independence of mind and ability to focus on his work and shut out the world.” -Roger Lowenstein