The Tao of Warren Buffett: Warren Buffett's Words of Wisdom: Quotations and Interpretations to Help Guide You to Billionaire Wealth and Enlightened Business Management

by Mary Buffett

“It is impossible to unsign a contract, so do all your thinking before you sign.”

As Blaise Pascal, an influential French mathematician and philosopher, once said, “All man’s miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone.”

“You want to learn from experience, but you want to learn from other people’s experience when you can.”

“If you hit a hole in one on every hole, you wouldn’t play golf for very long.” A job with challenges keeps things interesting, creates high self-esteem, promotes creativity, and attracts the highest-quality people.

“Never ask a barber if you need a haircut.” Ask an adviser if there is a problem and he will find a problem—even if there isn’t one.

Ted Williams wrote, entitled The Science of Hitting. Ted argues that to become a great hitter you have to keep yourself from swinging at bad pitches—what you are looking for is the perfect pitch. Warren took it as an analogy to investing: To be a great investor he only had to wait for the right opportunity.

“Imagine that you had a car and that was the only car you’d have for your entire lifetime. Of course, you’d care for it well, changing the oil more frequently than necessary, driving carefully, etc. Now, consider that you only have one mind and one body. Prepare them for life, care for them. You can enhance your mind over time. A person’s main asset is themselves, so preserve and enhance yourself.”

“If you understand an idea, you can express it so others can understand it.”