Charlie Munger Quotes

“It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.”

“The game of life is the game of everlasting learning. At least it is if you want to win.”

“You don't have to be brilliant, only a little bit wiser than the other guys, on average, for a long, long time.”

“The big money is not in the buying and selling, but in the waiting.”

“I never allow myself to have an opinion on anything that I don't know the other side's argument better than they do.”

“In my whole life, I have known no wise people who didn't read all the time — none, zero.”

“The best thing a human being can do is to help another human being know more.”

“Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up.”

“A majority of life's errors are caused by forgetting what one is really trying to do.”

“Assume life will be really tough, and then ask if you can handle it. If the answer is yes, you've won.”

“Envy is a really stupid sin because it's the only one you could never possibly have any fun at.”

“You're not going to get very far in life on the basis of what you already know. You're going to advance in life by what you're going to learn.”

“The first rule of a happy life is low expectations. If you have unrealistic expectations you're going to be miserable your whole life. You want to have reasonable expectations and take life's results, good and bad, as they happen with a certain amount of stoicism.”

“The blueprint he gave me was simple: Forget what you know about buying fair businesses at wonderful prices; instead, buy wonderful businesses at fair prices.”

“The safest way to try and get what you want is to try and deserve what you want. It's such a simple idea. It's the golden rule. You want to deliver to the world what you would buy if you were on the other end.”

“It's certainly a peculiar example of one life. It's interesting that a man who started out to be a lawyer ended up with an identity that's more like a guru's than a lawyer's.”

“You've got to have multiple models — because if you just have one or two that you're using, the nature of human psychology is such that you'll torture reality so that it fits your models. It's like the old saying, 'To the man with only a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.'”

“Berkshire has been built to Charlie's blueprint. My role has been that of general contractor, with the CEOs of Berkshire's subsidiaries doing the real work as sub-contractors.”