GURU NANAK
Founder of the Sikh religion. His goal was to unify the Hindus and Muslims. So he studied both religions and created Sikhism, which combined the best of both. 'Sikh' means 'disciple' and Guru Nanak believed that one can evolve or achieve salvation only through direct contact with a true master or a 'sadguru'. His religion has spread not only in North India but also in America, Singapore and Africa
“As fragrance abides in the flower
As reflection is within the mirror,
So does your Lord abide within you,
Why search for him without?”
“I am not the born; how can there be either birth or death for me?”
“Thou has a thousand eyes and yet not one eye; Thou host a thousand forms and yet not one form.”
“There is but One God, His name is Truth, He is the Creator, He fears none, he is without hate, He never dies, He is beyond the cycle of births and death, He is self illuminated, He is realized by the kindness of the True Guru. He was True in the beginning, He was True when the ages commenced and has ever been True, He is also True now.”
“Let no man in the world live in delusion. Without a Guru none can cross over to the other shore.”
“From its brilliancy everything is illuminated.”
“She knows her Beloved, the Architect of karma, and she speaks words of ambrosial sweetness.”
“I am neither male nor female, nor am I sexless. I am the Peaceful One, whose form is self-effulgent, powerful radiance.”
“Even Kings and emperors with heaps of wealth and vast dominion cannot compare with an ant filled with the love of God.”
“Far from wife and son am 1, far from land and wealth and other notions of that kind. I am the Witness, the Eternal, the Inner Self.”
“One cannot comprehend Him through reason, even if one reasoned for ages.”
“O God, my mind is fascinated with Thy lotus feet as the bumble-bee with the flower; night and day I thirst for them.”
“Owing to ignorance of the rope the rope appears to be a snake; owing to ignorance of the Self the transient state arises of the individualized, limited, phenomenal aspect of the Self.”
“I am neither a child, a young man, nor an ancient; nor am I of any caste”
“God is one, but he has innumerable forms. He is the creator of all and He himself takes the human form.”
“Through True Love, she merges with Him. She who does not know her Husband Lord, the Architect of karma, is deluded by falsehood she herself is false.”
“One s slaves as one s shadow, one s daughter as the highest object of tenderness, hence if one is offended by ,any one of these, one must bear it without resentment.”
“The Lord has perfectly arranged this wedding, the Saints have come together as a wedding party.”
“The Lord God, the Giver of peace, has granted His Grace, I am rid of pain, sin and disease.”
“Death would not be called bad, O people, if one knew how to truly die.”
CRK
From India, Vijayawada
44Founder of the Sikh religion. His goal was to unify the Hindus and Muslims. So he studied both religions and created Sikhism, which combined the best of both. 'Sikh' means 'disciple' and Guru Nanak believed that one can evolve or achieve salvation only through direct contact with a true master or a 'sadguru'. His religion has spread not only in North India but also in America, Singapore and Africa
“As fragrance abides in the flower
As reflection is within the mirror,
So does your Lord abide within you,
Why search for him without?”
“I am not the born; how can there be either birth or death for me?”
“Thou has a thousand eyes and yet not one eye; Thou host a thousand forms and yet not one form.”
“There is but One God, His name is Truth, He is the Creator, He fears none, he is without hate, He never dies, He is beyond the cycle of births and death, He is self illuminated, He is realized by the kindness of the True Guru. He was True in the beginning, He was True when the ages commenced and has ever been True, He is also True now.”
“Let no man in the world live in delusion. Without a Guru none can cross over to the other shore.”
“From its brilliancy everything is illuminated.”
“She knows her Beloved, the Architect of karma, and she speaks words of ambrosial sweetness.”
“I am neither male nor female, nor am I sexless. I am the Peaceful One, whose form is self-effulgent, powerful radiance.”
“Even Kings and emperors with heaps of wealth and vast dominion cannot compare with an ant filled with the love of God.”
“Far from wife and son am 1, far from land and wealth and other notions of that kind. I am the Witness, the Eternal, the Inner Self.”
“One cannot comprehend Him through reason, even if one reasoned for ages.”
“O God, my mind is fascinated with Thy lotus feet as the bumble-bee with the flower; night and day I thirst for them.”
“Owing to ignorance of the rope the rope appears to be a snake; owing to ignorance of the Self the transient state arises of the individualized, limited, phenomenal aspect of the Self.”
“I am neither a child, a young man, nor an ancient; nor am I of any caste”
“God is one, but he has innumerable forms. He is the creator of all and He himself takes the human form.”
“Through True Love, she merges with Him. She who does not know her Husband Lord, the Architect of karma, is deluded by falsehood she herself is false.”
“One s slaves as one s shadow, one s daughter as the highest object of tenderness, hence if one is offended by ,any one of these, one must bear it without resentment.”
“The Lord has perfectly arranged this wedding, the Saints have come together as a wedding party.”
“The Lord God, the Giver of peace, has granted His Grace, I am rid of pain, sin and disease.”
“Death would not be called bad, O people, if one knew how to truly die.”
CRK
From India, Vijayawada
GAUTAMA BUDDHA
Buddha was a legendary prince or the son of a nobleman, who founded a major world religion around the 5th century B.C. The word buddha is Sanskrit for 'awakened one'. The Buddha was known as Siddharta Gautama, son of Suddhodana, the head of the Sakya tribe and a member of the clan of Gautama. Prince Siddharta was born in what is now Nepal, in Lumbini, in a petty state that was subordinate to the Magadha kingdom in India. At 29 Siddharta renounced his family and station and set out on a spiritual journey of abstinence and contemplation. When that failed, he sat down under a ficus tree (in modern Bodhgaya, in the Indian state of Bihar). There he meditated until he achieved enlightenment or Bodhi. He then taught followers what he had learned. This became the doctrine of Buddhism
One of his students asked Buddha, "Are you the messiah?"
"No", answered Buddha.
"Then are you a healer?"
"No", Buddha replied.
"Then are you a teacher?" the student persisted.
"No, I am not a teacher."
"Then what are you?" asked the student, exasperated.
"I am awake", Buddha replied
A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not considered a good man because he is a good talker
A family is a place where minds come in contact with one another. If these minds love one another the home will be as beautiful as a flower garden. But if these minds get out of harmony with one another it is like a storm that plays havoc with the garden.
A good friend who points out mistakes and imperfections and rebukes evil is to be respected as if he reveals a secret of hidden treasure.
A wise man, recognizing that the world is but an illusion, does not act as if it is real, so he escapes the suffering.
All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.
An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind.
Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.
Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.
Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind
Do not speak harshly to any one; those who are spoken to will answer thee in the same way. Angry speech is painful: blows for blows will touch thee.
Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes.
Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.
Friendship is the only cure for hatred, the only guarantee of peace.
Good men and bad men differ radically. Bad men never appreciate kindness shown them, but wise men appreciate and are grateful. Wise men try to express their appreciation and gratitude by some return of kindness, not only to their benefactor, but to everyone else.
Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.
He is able who thinks he is able.
He who loves 50 people has 50 woes; he who loves no one has no woes.
Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
His success may be great, but be it ever so great the wheel of fortune may turn again and bring him down into the dust
Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.
If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.
It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.
It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.
It is nature's law that rivers wind, trees grow wood, and, given the opportunity, women work iniquity.
Let a man avoid evil deeds as a man who loves life avoids poison.
Let yourself be open and life will be easier. A spoon of salt in a glass of water makes the water undrinkable. A spoon of salt in a lake is almost unnoticed.
Neither fire nor wind, birth nor death can erase our good deeds.
Never in this world can hatred be stilled by hatred; it will be stilled by non-hatred - this is the law Eternal.
On a long journey of human life, faith is the best of companions; it is the best refreshment on the journey; and it is the greatest property.
Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.
The greatest prayer is patience.
The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.
The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.
The thought manifests as the word; The word manifests as the deed; The deed develops into habit; And habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care, And let it spring from love Born out of concern for all beings.
The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. Only the moment you reject all help are you freed.
The world, indeed, is like a dream and the treasures of the world are an alluring mirage! Like the apparent distances in a picture, things have no reality in themselves, but they are like heat haze.
There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth: 1.) not going all the way; and 2.) not starting.
There has to be evil so that good can prove its purity above it
There is no fire like passion, there is no shark like hatred, there is no snare like folly, there is no torrent like greed.
Therefore, be ye lamps unto yourselves, be a refuge to yourselves. Hold fast to Truth as a lamp; hold fast to the truth as a refuge. Look not for a refuge in anyone beside yourselves. And those, who shall be a lamp unto themselves, shall betake themselves to no external refuge, but holding fast to the Truth as their lamp, and holding fast to the Truth as their refuge, they shall reach the topmost height.
This Ariyan Eightfold Path, that is to say: Right view, right aim, right speech, right action, right living, right effort, right mindfulness, right contemplation.
Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.
To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent.
To conquer oneself is a greater task than conquering others.
To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one's own in the midst of abundance.
Virtue is persecuted more by the wicked than it is loved by the good.
We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.
We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world
What we think, we become.
When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.
Wherever there is light, there is shadow; wherever there is length, there is shortness; wherever there is white, there is black. Just like these, as the self-nature of things can not exist alone, they are called non-substantial.
Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.
Ye must leave righteous ways behind, not to speak of unrighteous ways.
You cannot travel the path until you have become the path itself.
You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger.
You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.
Your body is precious. It is our vehicle for awakening. Treat it with care.
Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it
CRK
From India, Vijayawada
Buddha was a legendary prince or the son of a nobleman, who founded a major world religion around the 5th century B.C. The word buddha is Sanskrit for 'awakened one'. The Buddha was known as Siddharta Gautama, son of Suddhodana, the head of the Sakya tribe and a member of the clan of Gautama. Prince Siddharta was born in what is now Nepal, in Lumbini, in a petty state that was subordinate to the Magadha kingdom in India. At 29 Siddharta renounced his family and station and set out on a spiritual journey of abstinence and contemplation. When that failed, he sat down under a ficus tree (in modern Bodhgaya, in the Indian state of Bihar). There he meditated until he achieved enlightenment or Bodhi. He then taught followers what he had learned. This became the doctrine of Buddhism
One of his students asked Buddha, "Are you the messiah?"
"No", answered Buddha.
"Then are you a healer?"
"No", Buddha replied.
"Then are you a teacher?" the student persisted.
"No, I am not a teacher."
"Then what are you?" asked the student, exasperated.
"I am awake", Buddha replied
A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not considered a good man because he is a good talker
A family is a place where minds come in contact with one another. If these minds love one another the home will be as beautiful as a flower garden. But if these minds get out of harmony with one another it is like a storm that plays havoc with the garden.
A good friend who points out mistakes and imperfections and rebukes evil is to be respected as if he reveals a secret of hidden treasure.
A wise man, recognizing that the world is but an illusion, does not act as if it is real, so he escapes the suffering.
All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.
An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind.
Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.
Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.
Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind
Do not speak harshly to any one; those who are spoken to will answer thee in the same way. Angry speech is painful: blows for blows will touch thee.
Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes.
Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.
Friendship is the only cure for hatred, the only guarantee of peace.
Good men and bad men differ radically. Bad men never appreciate kindness shown them, but wise men appreciate and are grateful. Wise men try to express their appreciation and gratitude by some return of kindness, not only to their benefactor, but to everyone else.
Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.
He is able who thinks he is able.
He who loves 50 people has 50 woes; he who loves no one has no woes.
Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
His success may be great, but be it ever so great the wheel of fortune may turn again and bring him down into the dust
Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.
If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.
It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.
It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.
It is nature's law that rivers wind, trees grow wood, and, given the opportunity, women work iniquity.
Let a man avoid evil deeds as a man who loves life avoids poison.
Let yourself be open and life will be easier. A spoon of salt in a glass of water makes the water undrinkable. A spoon of salt in a lake is almost unnoticed.
Neither fire nor wind, birth nor death can erase our good deeds.
Never in this world can hatred be stilled by hatred; it will be stilled by non-hatred - this is the law Eternal.
On a long journey of human life, faith is the best of companions; it is the best refreshment on the journey; and it is the greatest property.
Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.
The greatest prayer is patience.
The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.
The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.
The thought manifests as the word; The word manifests as the deed; The deed develops into habit; And habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care, And let it spring from love Born out of concern for all beings.
The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. Only the moment you reject all help are you freed.
The world, indeed, is like a dream and the treasures of the world are an alluring mirage! Like the apparent distances in a picture, things have no reality in themselves, but they are like heat haze.
There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth: 1.) not going all the way; and 2.) not starting.
There has to be evil so that good can prove its purity above it
There is no fire like passion, there is no shark like hatred, there is no snare like folly, there is no torrent like greed.
Therefore, be ye lamps unto yourselves, be a refuge to yourselves. Hold fast to Truth as a lamp; hold fast to the truth as a refuge. Look not for a refuge in anyone beside yourselves. And those, who shall be a lamp unto themselves, shall betake themselves to no external refuge, but holding fast to the Truth as their lamp, and holding fast to the Truth as their refuge, they shall reach the topmost height.
This Ariyan Eightfold Path, that is to say: Right view, right aim, right speech, right action, right living, right effort, right mindfulness, right contemplation.
Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.
To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent.
To conquer oneself is a greater task than conquering others.
To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one's own in the midst of abundance.
Virtue is persecuted more by the wicked than it is loved by the good.
We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.
We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world
What we think, we become.
When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.
Wherever there is light, there is shadow; wherever there is length, there is shortness; wherever there is white, there is black. Just like these, as the self-nature of things can not exist alone, they are called non-substantial.
Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.
Ye must leave righteous ways behind, not to speak of unrighteous ways.
You cannot travel the path until you have become the path itself.
You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger.
You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.
Your body is precious. It is our vehicle for awakening. Treat it with care.
Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it
CRK
From India, Vijayawada
LAKSHMI MITTAL
Steel Tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, the 57 year old non resident Indian living in Kensington, London, is the fourth richest person in the world, with a personal fortune of US$45.0 billion according to Forbes magazine. The Financial Times named Lakshmi Mittal its 2006 Person of the Year. This London-based Indian billionaire industrialist, was named one of the "100 most influential people" by Time magazine in May 2007. He was also listed as the richest person in Britain in the Sunday Times Rich list 2005. Since 2005, Mittal has been the richest person residing in the United Kingdom, the richest person in Asia and the 4th richest person on the planet. He is the President of the Board of Directors and CEO of Arcelor Mittal, the world's largest producer of steel. Arcelor Mittal is the combination of the world’s number one and number two steel companies, Arcelor and Mittal Steel
Everyone experiences tough times, it is a measure of your determination and dedication how you deal with them and how you can come through them.
Hard work certainly goes a long way. These days a lot of people work hard, so you have to make sure you work even harder and really dedicate yourself to what you are doing and setting out to achieve.
Always think outside the box and embrace opportunities that appear, wherever they might be.
When people can see which direction the leaders are going in it becomes easier to motivate them.
CRK
From India, Vijayawada
Steel Tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, the 57 year old non resident Indian living in Kensington, London, is the fourth richest person in the world, with a personal fortune of US$45.0 billion according to Forbes magazine. The Financial Times named Lakshmi Mittal its 2006 Person of the Year. This London-based Indian billionaire industrialist, was named one of the "100 most influential people" by Time magazine in May 2007. He was also listed as the richest person in Britain in the Sunday Times Rich list 2005. Since 2005, Mittal has been the richest person residing in the United Kingdom, the richest person in Asia and the 4th richest person on the planet. He is the President of the Board of Directors and CEO of Arcelor Mittal, the world's largest producer of steel. Arcelor Mittal is the combination of the world’s number one and number two steel companies, Arcelor and Mittal Steel
Everyone experiences tough times, it is a measure of your determination and dedication how you deal with them and how you can come through them.
Hard work certainly goes a long way. These days a lot of people work hard, so you have to make sure you work even harder and really dedicate yourself to what you are doing and setting out to achieve.
Always think outside the box and embrace opportunities that appear, wherever they might be.
When people can see which direction the leaders are going in it becomes easier to motivate them.
CRK
From India, Vijayawada
CARLOS SLIM HELU
A Mexican entrepreneur and businessman involved in a varied group of companies that include telecommunications, retail, banking and insurance, technology, and auto parts manufacturing businesses. He is the wealthiest Mexican man, the richest Latin American, and one of the top ten richest men in the world. Carlos Slim Helu has been referred to as the "Warren Buffett of Latin America", but he thinks of himself as an operator of companies, rather than just an investor (like Buffett)
When you live for others' opinions, you are dead. I don't want to live thinking about how I'll be remembered.
In this new wave of technology, you can't do it all yourself, you have to form alliances.
I still have my laptop but I haven't used it. I'm a paper man, not electronic.
I think one of the big errors people are making right now is thinking that old-style businesses will be obsolete, when actually they will be an important part of this new civilization. Some retail groups are introducing e-commerce and think that the "bricks" are no longer useful. But they will continue to be important.
I've always said that the better off you are, the more responsibility you have for helping others. Just as I think it's important to run companies well, with a close eye to the bottom line, I think you have to use your entrepreneurial experience to make corporate philanthropy effective.
It's not a question of arriving and putting in a whole new administration, but instead, arriving and "compacting" things as much as possible, reducing management layers. We want as few management layers as possible, so that executives are very close to the operations. We also don't believe in having big corporate infrastructures.
The key is the Internet. The United States is by far the most advanced country in this new digital culture, so we have to be there. The Internet is the heart of this new civilization, and telecommunications are the nervous system, or circulatory system
CRK
From India, Vijayawada
A Mexican entrepreneur and businessman involved in a varied group of companies that include telecommunications, retail, banking and insurance, technology, and auto parts manufacturing businesses. He is the wealthiest Mexican man, the richest Latin American, and one of the top ten richest men in the world. Carlos Slim Helu has been referred to as the "Warren Buffett of Latin America", but he thinks of himself as an operator of companies, rather than just an investor (like Buffett)
When you live for others' opinions, you are dead. I don't want to live thinking about how I'll be remembered.
In this new wave of technology, you can't do it all yourself, you have to form alliances.
I still have my laptop but I haven't used it. I'm a paper man, not electronic.
I think one of the big errors people are making right now is thinking that old-style businesses will be obsolete, when actually they will be an important part of this new civilization. Some retail groups are introducing e-commerce and think that the "bricks" are no longer useful. But they will continue to be important.
I've always said that the better off you are, the more responsibility you have for helping others. Just as I think it's important to run companies well, with a close eye to the bottom line, I think you have to use your entrepreneurial experience to make corporate philanthropy effective.
It's not a question of arriving and putting in a whole new administration, but instead, arriving and "compacting" things as much as possible, reducing management layers. We want as few management layers as possible, so that executives are very close to the operations. We also don't believe in having big corporate infrastructures.
The key is the Internet. The United States is by far the most advanced country in this new digital culture, so we have to be there. The Internet is the heart of this new civilization, and telecommunications are the nervous system, or circulatory system
CRK
From India, Vijayawada
WARREN BUFFETT
An American investor, industrialist and philanthropist. He is one of the most successful investors in the world. Often called the "legendary investor Warren Buffett", he is the primary shareholder, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is consistently ranked among the world's wealthiest people, he was ranked as the world's second wealthiest person in 2009 and is currently the third wealthiest person in the world as of 2010.
Buffett is called the "Oracle of Omaha" or the "Sage of Omaha" and is noted for his adherence to the value investing philosophy and for his personal frugality despite his immense wealth. Buffett is also a notable philanthropist, having pledged to give away 99 percent of his fortune to philanthropic causes, primarily via the Gates Foundation. He also serves as a member of the board of trustees at Grinnell College
1. It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.
2. Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.
3. A very rich person should leave his kids enough to do anything but not enough to do nothing.
4. Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.
5. Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.
6. Managers thinking about accounting issues should never forget one of Abraham Lincoln’s favorite riddles: `How many legs does a dog have if you call his tail a leg?’ The answer: `Four, because calling a tail a leg does not make it a leg’.
7. Wall Street is the only place that people ride to work in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway.
8. You’re neither right nor wrong because other people agree with you. You’re right because your facts are right and your reasoning is right—and that’s the only thing that makes you right. And if your facts and reasoning are right, you don’t have to worry about anybody else.
9. I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful. Lecturing to a group of students at Columbia U. He was 21 years old.
10. One’s objective should be to get it right, get it quick, get it out, and get it over… your problem won’t improve with age.
11. There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult.
12. A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought.
13. If you don’t know jewelry, know the jeweller.
14. The most important quality for an investor is temperament, not intellect… You need a temperament that neither derives great pleasure from being with the crowd or against the crowd.
15. I really like my life. I’ve arranged my life so that I can do what I want.
16. It’s only when the tide goes out that you learn who’s been swimming naked.
17. Rule No.1: Never lose money. Rule No.2: Never forget rule No.1.
18. It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price
19. Most people get interested in stocks when everyone else is. The time to get interested is when no one else is. You can’t buy what is popular and do well.
20. The Stock Market is designed to transfer money from the Active to the Patient.
21. If you don’t feel comfortable owning something for 10 years, then don’t own it for 10 minutes.
22. I like to go for cinches. I like to shoot fish in a barrel. But I like to do it after the water has run out. October 2003 talking with Wharton MBA students.
23. You ought to be able to explain why you’re taking the job you’re taking, why you’re making the investment you’re making, or whatever it may be. And if it can’t stand applying pencil to paper, you’d better think it through some more. And if you can’t write an intelligent answer to those questions, don’t do it.
24. The stock market is a no-called-strike game. You don’t have to swing at everything–you can wait for your pitch. The problem when you’re a money manager is that your fans keep yelling, ‘Swing, you bum!’
25. One of the ironies of the stock market is the emphasis on activity. Brokers, using terms such as `marketability’ and `liquidity,” sing the praises of companies with high share turnover… but investors should understand that what is good for the croupier is not good for the customer. A hyperactive stock market is the pick pocket of enterprise.
26. Occasionally, a man must rise above principles.
27. Charlie and I decided long ago that in an investment lifetime it’s too hard to make hundreds of smart decisions. That judgement became ever more compelling as Berkshire’s capital mushroomed and the universe of investments that could significantly affect our results shrank dramatically. Therefore, we adopted a strategy that required our being smart – and not too smart at that – only a very few times. Indeed, we’ll now settle for one good idea a year. (Charlie says it’s my turn.)
28. Diversification is a protection against ignorance. It makes very little sense for those who know what they’re doing.
29. Success in investing doesn’t correlate with I.Q. once you’re above the level of 25. Once you have ordinary intelligence, what you need is the temperament to control the urges that get other people into trouble in investing.
30. The most common cause of low prices is pessimism – sometimes 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. 1990 Chairman’s Letter to Shareholders.
31. If you’re an investor, you’re looking on what the asset is going to do, if you’re a speculator, you’re commonly focusing on what the price of the object is going to do, and that’s not our game. 1997 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting.
32. Never count on making a good sale. Have the purchase price be so attractive that even a mediocre sale gives good results.
33. I always knew I was going to be rich. I don’t think I ever doubted it for a minute.
34. Of one thing be certain: if a CEO is enthused about a particularly foolish acquisition, both his internal staff and his outside advisors will come up with whatever projections are needed to justify his stance. Only in fairy tales are emperors told that they are naked.
35. For some reason, people take their cues from price action rather than from values. What doesn’t work is when you start doing things that you don’t understand or because they worked last week for somebody else. The dumbest reason in the world to buy a stock is because it’s going up.
36. A story that was passed down from Ben Graham illustrates the lemming like behavior of the crowd: “Let me tell you the story of the oil prospector who met St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. When told his occupation, St. Peter said, “Oh, I’m really sorry. You seem to meet all the tests to get into heaven. But we’ve got a terrible problem. See that pen over there? That’s where we keep the oil prospectors waiting to get into heaven. And it’s filled—we haven’t got room for even one more.” The oil prospector thought for a minute and said, “Would you mind if I just said four words to those folks?” “I can’t see any harm in that,” said St. Pete. So the old-timer cupped his hands and yelled out, “Oil discovered in hell!” Immediately, the oil prospectors wrenched the lock off the door of the pen and out they flew, flapping their wings as hard as they could for the lower regions. “You know, that’s a pretty good trick,” St. Pete said. “Move in. The place is yours. You’ve got plenty of room.” The old fellow scratched his head and said, “No. If you don’t mind, I think I’ll go along with the rest of ’em. There may be some truth to that rumor after all.”
37. Can you really explain to a fish what it’s like to walk on land? One day on land is worth a thousand years of talking about it, and one day running a business has exactly the same kind of value.
38. I never buy anything unless I can fill out on a piece of paper my reasons. I may be wrong, but I would know the answer to that. “I’m paying $32 billion today for the Coca Cola Company because…” If you can’t answer that question, you shouldn’t buy it. If you can answer that question, and you do it a few times, you’ll make a lot of money.
39. Investors should remember that excitement and expenses are their enemies. And if they insist on trying to time their participation in equities, they should try to be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.
40. The managers at fault periodically report on the lesson they have learned from the latest disappointment. They then usually seek out future lessons
41. The speed at which a business success is recognized, furthermore, is not that important as long as the company’s intrinsic value is increasing at a satisfactory rate. In fact, delayed recognition can be an advantage: It may give us the chance to buy more of a good thing at a bargain price.
42. Working with people who cause your stomach to churn seems much like marrying for money – probably a bad idea under any circumstances, but absolute madness if you are already rich.
43. We will only do with your money what we would do with our own.
44. The future is never clear, and you pay a very high price in the stock market for a cheery consensus. Uncertainty is the friend of the buyer of long-term values.
45. If a business does well, the stock eventually follows.
46. We don’t get paid for activity, just for being right. As to how long we’ll wait, we’ll wait indefinitely.
47. Like an oversexed guy in a whorehouse. Now is the time to invest and get rich. Answering to the question: “How do you feel?”, in an interview with Forbes in October 1974.
48. We’ve long felt that the only value of stock forecasters is to make fortune tellers look good. Even now, Charlie and I continue to believe that short-term market forecasts are poison and should be kept locked up in a safe place, away from children and also from grown-ups who behave in the market like children.
49. Those who attended (the annual meeting) last year saw your Chairman pitch to Ernie Banks. This encounter proved to be the titanic duel that the sports world had long awaited. After the first few pitches…I fired a brushback at Ernie just to let him know who was in command. Ernie charged the mound, and I charged the plate. But a clash was avoided because we became exhausted before reaching each other.
50. When they open that envelope, the first instruction is to take my pulse again. 2001 Annual Meeting after mentioning that the instructions of his succession are sealed in an envelope at headquarters.
51. The important thing is to keep playing, to play against weak opponents and to play for big stakes. November 2002 talking with students at Gaston Hall.
52. If I was running $1 million today, or $10 million for that matter, I’d be fully invested. Anyone who says that size does not hurt investment performance is selling. The highest rates of return I’ve ever achieved were in the 1950s. I killed the Dow. You ought to see the numbers. But I was investing peanuts then. It’s a huge structural advantage not to have a lot of money. I think I could make you 50% a year on $1 million. No, I know I could. I guarantee that.
53. Long ago, Sir Isaac Newton gave us three laws of motion, which were the work of genius. But Sir Isaac’s talents didn’t extend to investing: He lost a bundle in the South Sea Bubble, explaining later, ‘I can calculate the movement of the stars, but not the madness of men.’ If he had not been traumatized by this loss, Sir Isaac might well have gone on to discover the Fourth Law of Motion: For investors as a whole, returns decrease as motion increases.
54. The line separating investment and speculation, which is never bright and clear, becomes blurred still further when most market participants have recently enjoyed triumphs. Nothing sedates rationality like large doses of effortless money. After a heady experience of that kind, normally sensible people drift into behavior akin to that of Cinderella at the ball. They know that overstaying the festivities — that is, continuing to speculate in companies that have gigantic valuations relative to the cash they are likely to generate in the future — will eventually bring on pumpkins and mice. But they nevertheless hate to miss a single minute of what is one helluva party. Therefore, the giddy participants all plan to leave just seconds before midnight. There’s a problem, though: They are dancing in a room in which the clocks have no hands.
55. The approach and strategies are very similar in that you gather all the information you can and then keep adding to that base of information as things develop. You do whatever the probabilities indicated based on the knowledge that you have at that time, but you are always willing to modify your behaviour or your approach as you get new information. In bridge, you behave in a way that gets the best from your partner. And in business, you behave in the way that gets the best from your managers and your employees.
56. I wouldn’t mind going to jail if I had three cellmates who played bridge.
57. It’s class warfare, my class is winning, but they shouldn’t be. May 25 2005, in arguing the need to raise taxes on the rich
58. When a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is usually the reputation of the business that remains intact.
59. I’d be a bum on the street with a tin cup if the markets were always efficient.
60. If you understood a business perfectly and the future of the business, you would need very little in the way of a margin of safety. So, the more vulnerable the business is, assuming you still want to invest in it, the larger margin of safety you’d need. If you’re driving a truck across a bridge that says it holds 10,000 pounds and you’ve got a 9,800 pound vehicle, if the bridge is 6 inches above the crevice it covers, you may feel okay, but if it’s over the Grand Canyon, you may feel you want a little larger margin of safety…
61. The strategy we’ve adopted precludes our following standard diversification dogma. Many pundits would therefore say the strategy must be riskier than that employed by more conventional investors. We disagree. We believe that a policy of portfolio concentration may well decrease risk if it raises, as it should, both the intensity with which an investor thinks about a business and the comfort-level he must feel with its economic characteristics before buying into it.
62. I call investing the greatest business in the world because you never have to swing. You stand at the plate, the pitcher throws you General Motors at 47! U.S. Steel at 39! and nobody calls a strike on you. There’s no penalty except opportunity lost. All day you wait for the pitch you like; then when the fielders are asleep, you step up and hit it.
63. In a bull market, one must avoid the error of the preening duck that quacks boastfully after a torrential rainstorm, thinking that its paddling skills have caused it to rise in the world. A right-thinking duck would instead compare its position after the downpour to that of the other ducks on the pond. Letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, 1997.
64. Berkshire’s arbitrage activities differ from those of many arbitrageurs. First, we participate in only a few, and usually very large, transactions each year. Most practitioners buy into a great many deals perhaps 50 or more per year. With that many irons in the fire, they must spend most of their time monitoring both the progress of deals and the market movements of the related stocks. This is not how Charlie nor I wish to spend our lives. (What’s the sense in getting rich just to stare at a ticker tape all day?)
65. We have tried occasionally to buy toads at bargain prices with results that have been chronicled in past reports. Clearly our kisses fell flat. We have done well with a couple of princes – but they were princes when purchased. At least our kisses didn’t turn them into toads. And, finally, we have occasionally been quite successful in purchasing fractional interests in easily-identifiable princes at toad-like prices. 1981 Chairman’s Letters to Shareholders.
66. I just don’t see anything available that gives any reasonable hope of delivering such a good year and I have no desire to grope around, hoping to ‘get lucky’ with other people’s money. I am not attuned to this market environment, and I don’t want to spoil a decent record by trying to play a game I don’t understand just so I can go out a hero.
67. I am out of step with present conditions. When the game is no longer played your way, it is only human to say the new approach is all wrong, bound to lead to trouble, and so on. On one point, however, I am clear. I will not abandon a previous approach whose logic I understand ( although I find it difficult to apply ) even though it may mean foregoing large, and apparently easy, profits to embrace an approach which I don’t fully understand, have not practiced successfully, and which possibly could lead to substantial permanent loss of capital. In a letter to his partners in the stock market frenzy of 1969.
68. First, many in Wall Street – a community in which quality control is not prized – will sell investors anything they will buy.
69. Our future rates of gain will fall far short of those achieved in the past. Berkshire’s capital base is now simply too large to allow us to earn truly outsized returns. If you believe otherwise, you should consider a career in sales but avoid one in mathematics (bearing in mind that there are really only three kinds of people in the world: those who can count and those who can’t). 1998 Chairman’s Letter to Shareholders.
70. The key to investing is not assessing how much an industry is going to affect society, or how much it will grow, but rather determining the competitive advantage of any given company and, above all, the durability of that advantage.
71. The fact that people will be full of greed, fear or folly is predictable. The sequence is not predictable.
72. In my early days as a manager I, too, dated a few toads. They were cheap dates – I’ve never been much of a sport – but my results matched those of acquirers who courted higher-price toads. I kissed and they croaked. On acquiring bad companies for cheap prices.
73. Despite three years of falling prices, which have significantly improved the attractiveness of common stocks, we still find very few that even mildly interest us. That dismal fact is testimony to the insanity of valuations reached during The Great Bubble. Unfortunately, the hangover may prove to be proportional to the binge. March 2003.
74. When a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is usually the reputation of the business that remains intact.
75. I try to buy stock in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will.
76. Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.
77. It’s got to be the best intellectual exercise out there. You’re seeing through new situations every ten minutes…In the stock market you don’t base your decisions on what the market is doing, but on what you think is rational….Bridge is about weighing gain/loss ratios. You’re doing calculations all the time
CRK
From India, Vijayawada
An American investor, industrialist and philanthropist. He is one of the most successful investors in the world. Often called the "legendary investor Warren Buffett", he is the primary shareholder, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is consistently ranked among the world's wealthiest people, he was ranked as the world's second wealthiest person in 2009 and is currently the third wealthiest person in the world as of 2010.
Buffett is called the "Oracle of Omaha" or the "Sage of Omaha" and is noted for his adherence to the value investing philosophy and for his personal frugality despite his immense wealth. Buffett is also a notable philanthropist, having pledged to give away 99 percent of his fortune to philanthropic causes, primarily via the Gates Foundation. He also serves as a member of the board of trustees at Grinnell College
1. It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.
2. Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.
3. A very rich person should leave his kids enough to do anything but not enough to do nothing.
4. Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.
5. Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.
6. Managers thinking about accounting issues should never forget one of Abraham Lincoln’s favorite riddles: `How many legs does a dog have if you call his tail a leg?’ The answer: `Four, because calling a tail a leg does not make it a leg’.
7. Wall Street is the only place that people ride to work in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway.
8. You’re neither right nor wrong because other people agree with you. You’re right because your facts are right and your reasoning is right—and that’s the only thing that makes you right. And if your facts and reasoning are right, you don’t have to worry about anybody else.
9. I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful. Lecturing to a group of students at Columbia U. He was 21 years old.
10. One’s objective should be to get it right, get it quick, get it out, and get it over… your problem won’t improve with age.
11. There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult.
12. A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought.
13. If you don’t know jewelry, know the jeweller.
14. The most important quality for an investor is temperament, not intellect… You need a temperament that neither derives great pleasure from being with the crowd or against the crowd.
15. I really like my life. I’ve arranged my life so that I can do what I want.
16. It’s only when the tide goes out that you learn who’s been swimming naked.
17. Rule No.1: Never lose money. Rule No.2: Never forget rule No.1.
18. It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price
19. Most people get interested in stocks when everyone else is. The time to get interested is when no one else is. You can’t buy what is popular and do well.
20. The Stock Market is designed to transfer money from the Active to the Patient.
21. If you don’t feel comfortable owning something for 10 years, then don’t own it for 10 minutes.
22. I like to go for cinches. I like to shoot fish in a barrel. But I like to do it after the water has run out. October 2003 talking with Wharton MBA students.
23. You ought to be able to explain why you’re taking the job you’re taking, why you’re making the investment you’re making, or whatever it may be. And if it can’t stand applying pencil to paper, you’d better think it through some more. And if you can’t write an intelligent answer to those questions, don’t do it.
24. The stock market is a no-called-strike game. You don’t have to swing at everything–you can wait for your pitch. The problem when you’re a money manager is that your fans keep yelling, ‘Swing, you bum!’
25. One of the ironies of the stock market is the emphasis on activity. Brokers, using terms such as `marketability’ and `liquidity,” sing the praises of companies with high share turnover… but investors should understand that what is good for the croupier is not good for the customer. A hyperactive stock market is the pick pocket of enterprise.
26. Occasionally, a man must rise above principles.
27. Charlie and I decided long ago that in an investment lifetime it’s too hard to make hundreds of smart decisions. That judgement became ever more compelling as Berkshire’s capital mushroomed and the universe of investments that could significantly affect our results shrank dramatically. Therefore, we adopted a strategy that required our being smart – and not too smart at that – only a very few times. Indeed, we’ll now settle for one good idea a year. (Charlie says it’s my turn.)
28. Diversification is a protection against ignorance. It makes very little sense for those who know what they’re doing.
29. Success in investing doesn’t correlate with I.Q. once you’re above the level of 25. Once you have ordinary intelligence, what you need is the temperament to control the urges that get other people into trouble in investing.
30. The most common cause of low prices is pessimism – sometimes 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. 1990 Chairman’s Letter to Shareholders.
31. If you’re an investor, you’re looking on what the asset is going to do, if you’re a speculator, you’re commonly focusing on what the price of the object is going to do, and that’s not our game. 1997 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting.
32. Never count on making a good sale. Have the purchase price be so attractive that even a mediocre sale gives good results.
33. I always knew I was going to be rich. I don’t think I ever doubted it for a minute.
34. Of one thing be certain: if a CEO is enthused about a particularly foolish acquisition, both his internal staff and his outside advisors will come up with whatever projections are needed to justify his stance. Only in fairy tales are emperors told that they are naked.
35. For some reason, people take their cues from price action rather than from values. What doesn’t work is when you start doing things that you don’t understand or because they worked last week for somebody else. The dumbest reason in the world to buy a stock is because it’s going up.
36. A story that was passed down from Ben Graham illustrates the lemming like behavior of the crowd: “Let me tell you the story of the oil prospector who met St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. When told his occupation, St. Peter said, “Oh, I’m really sorry. You seem to meet all the tests to get into heaven. But we’ve got a terrible problem. See that pen over there? That’s where we keep the oil prospectors waiting to get into heaven. And it’s filled—we haven’t got room for even one more.” The oil prospector thought for a minute and said, “Would you mind if I just said four words to those folks?” “I can’t see any harm in that,” said St. Pete. So the old-timer cupped his hands and yelled out, “Oil discovered in hell!” Immediately, the oil prospectors wrenched the lock off the door of the pen and out they flew, flapping their wings as hard as they could for the lower regions. “You know, that’s a pretty good trick,” St. Pete said. “Move in. The place is yours. You’ve got plenty of room.” The old fellow scratched his head and said, “No. If you don’t mind, I think I’ll go along with the rest of ’em. There may be some truth to that rumor after all.”
37. Can you really explain to a fish what it’s like to walk on land? One day on land is worth a thousand years of talking about it, and one day running a business has exactly the same kind of value.
38. I never buy anything unless I can fill out on a piece of paper my reasons. I may be wrong, but I would know the answer to that. “I’m paying $32 billion today for the Coca Cola Company because…” If you can’t answer that question, you shouldn’t buy it. If you can answer that question, and you do it a few times, you’ll make a lot of money.
39. Investors should remember that excitement and expenses are their enemies. And if they insist on trying to time their participation in equities, they should try to be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.
40. The managers at fault periodically report on the lesson they have learned from the latest disappointment. They then usually seek out future lessons
41. The speed at which a business success is recognized, furthermore, is not that important as long as the company’s intrinsic value is increasing at a satisfactory rate. In fact, delayed recognition can be an advantage: It may give us the chance to buy more of a good thing at a bargain price.
42. Working with people who cause your stomach to churn seems much like marrying for money – probably a bad idea under any circumstances, but absolute madness if you are already rich.
43. We will only do with your money what we would do with our own.
44. The future is never clear, and you pay a very high price in the stock market for a cheery consensus. Uncertainty is the friend of the buyer of long-term values.
45. If a business does well, the stock eventually follows.
46. We don’t get paid for activity, just for being right. As to how long we’ll wait, we’ll wait indefinitely.
47. Like an oversexed guy in a whorehouse. Now is the time to invest and get rich. Answering to the question: “How do you feel?”, in an interview with Forbes in October 1974.
48. We’ve long felt that the only value of stock forecasters is to make fortune tellers look good. Even now, Charlie and I continue to believe that short-term market forecasts are poison and should be kept locked up in a safe place, away from children and also from grown-ups who behave in the market like children.
49. Those who attended (the annual meeting) last year saw your Chairman pitch to Ernie Banks. This encounter proved to be the titanic duel that the sports world had long awaited. After the first few pitches…I fired a brushback at Ernie just to let him know who was in command. Ernie charged the mound, and I charged the plate. But a clash was avoided because we became exhausted before reaching each other.
50. When they open that envelope, the first instruction is to take my pulse again. 2001 Annual Meeting after mentioning that the instructions of his succession are sealed in an envelope at headquarters.
51. The important thing is to keep playing, to play against weak opponents and to play for big stakes. November 2002 talking with students at Gaston Hall.
52. If I was running $1 million today, or $10 million for that matter, I’d be fully invested. Anyone who says that size does not hurt investment performance is selling. The highest rates of return I’ve ever achieved were in the 1950s. I killed the Dow. You ought to see the numbers. But I was investing peanuts then. It’s a huge structural advantage not to have a lot of money. I think I could make you 50% a year on $1 million. No, I know I could. I guarantee that.
53. Long ago, Sir Isaac Newton gave us three laws of motion, which were the work of genius. But Sir Isaac’s talents didn’t extend to investing: He lost a bundle in the South Sea Bubble, explaining later, ‘I can calculate the movement of the stars, but not the madness of men.’ If he had not been traumatized by this loss, Sir Isaac might well have gone on to discover the Fourth Law of Motion: For investors as a whole, returns decrease as motion increases.
54. The line separating investment and speculation, which is never bright and clear, becomes blurred still further when most market participants have recently enjoyed triumphs. Nothing sedates rationality like large doses of effortless money. After a heady experience of that kind, normally sensible people drift into behavior akin to that of Cinderella at the ball. They know that overstaying the festivities — that is, continuing to speculate in companies that have gigantic valuations relative to the cash they are likely to generate in the future — will eventually bring on pumpkins and mice. But they nevertheless hate to miss a single minute of what is one helluva party. Therefore, the giddy participants all plan to leave just seconds before midnight. There’s a problem, though: They are dancing in a room in which the clocks have no hands.
55. The approach and strategies are very similar in that you gather all the information you can and then keep adding to that base of information as things develop. You do whatever the probabilities indicated based on the knowledge that you have at that time, but you are always willing to modify your behaviour or your approach as you get new information. In bridge, you behave in a way that gets the best from your partner. And in business, you behave in the way that gets the best from your managers and your employees.
56. I wouldn’t mind going to jail if I had three cellmates who played bridge.
57. It’s class warfare, my class is winning, but they shouldn’t be. May 25 2005, in arguing the need to raise taxes on the rich
58. When a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is usually the reputation of the business that remains intact.
59. I’d be a bum on the street with a tin cup if the markets were always efficient.
60. If you understood a business perfectly and the future of the business, you would need very little in the way of a margin of safety. So, the more vulnerable the business is, assuming you still want to invest in it, the larger margin of safety you’d need. If you’re driving a truck across a bridge that says it holds 10,000 pounds and you’ve got a 9,800 pound vehicle, if the bridge is 6 inches above the crevice it covers, you may feel okay, but if it’s over the Grand Canyon, you may feel you want a little larger margin of safety…
61. The strategy we’ve adopted precludes our following standard diversification dogma. Many pundits would therefore say the strategy must be riskier than that employed by more conventional investors. We disagree. We believe that a policy of portfolio concentration may well decrease risk if it raises, as it should, both the intensity with which an investor thinks about a business and the comfort-level he must feel with its economic characteristics before buying into it.
62. I call investing the greatest business in the world because you never have to swing. You stand at the plate, the pitcher throws you General Motors at 47! U.S. Steel at 39! and nobody calls a strike on you. There’s no penalty except opportunity lost. All day you wait for the pitch you like; then when the fielders are asleep, you step up and hit it.
63. In a bull market, one must avoid the error of the preening duck that quacks boastfully after a torrential rainstorm, thinking that its paddling skills have caused it to rise in the world. A right-thinking duck would instead compare its position after the downpour to that of the other ducks on the pond. Letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, 1997.
64. Berkshire’s arbitrage activities differ from those of many arbitrageurs. First, we participate in only a few, and usually very large, transactions each year. Most practitioners buy into a great many deals perhaps 50 or more per year. With that many irons in the fire, they must spend most of their time monitoring both the progress of deals and the market movements of the related stocks. This is not how Charlie nor I wish to spend our lives. (What’s the sense in getting rich just to stare at a ticker tape all day?)
65. We have tried occasionally to buy toads at bargain prices with results that have been chronicled in past reports. Clearly our kisses fell flat. We have done well with a couple of princes – but they were princes when purchased. At least our kisses didn’t turn them into toads. And, finally, we have occasionally been quite successful in purchasing fractional interests in easily-identifiable princes at toad-like prices. 1981 Chairman’s Letters to Shareholders.
66. I just don’t see anything available that gives any reasonable hope of delivering such a good year and I have no desire to grope around, hoping to ‘get lucky’ with other people’s money. I am not attuned to this market environment, and I don’t want to spoil a decent record by trying to play a game I don’t understand just so I can go out a hero.
67. I am out of step with present conditions. When the game is no longer played your way, it is only human to say the new approach is all wrong, bound to lead to trouble, and so on. On one point, however, I am clear. I will not abandon a previous approach whose logic I understand ( although I find it difficult to apply ) even though it may mean foregoing large, and apparently easy, profits to embrace an approach which I don’t fully understand, have not practiced successfully, and which possibly could lead to substantial permanent loss of capital. In a letter to his partners in the stock market frenzy of 1969.
68. First, many in Wall Street – a community in which quality control is not prized – will sell investors anything they will buy.
69. Our future rates of gain will fall far short of those achieved in the past. Berkshire’s capital base is now simply too large to allow us to earn truly outsized returns. If you believe otherwise, you should consider a career in sales but avoid one in mathematics (bearing in mind that there are really only three kinds of people in the world: those who can count and those who can’t). 1998 Chairman’s Letter to Shareholders.
70. The key to investing is not assessing how much an industry is going to affect society, or how much it will grow, but rather determining the competitive advantage of any given company and, above all, the durability of that advantage.
71. The fact that people will be full of greed, fear or folly is predictable. The sequence is not predictable.
72. In my early days as a manager I, too, dated a few toads. They were cheap dates – I’ve never been much of a sport – but my results matched those of acquirers who courted higher-price toads. I kissed and they croaked. On acquiring bad companies for cheap prices.
73. Despite three years of falling prices, which have significantly improved the attractiveness of common stocks, we still find very few that even mildly interest us. That dismal fact is testimony to the insanity of valuations reached during The Great Bubble. Unfortunately, the hangover may prove to be proportional to the binge. March 2003.
74. When a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is usually the reputation of the business that remains intact.
75. I try to buy stock in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will.
76. Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.
77. It’s got to be the best intellectual exercise out there. You’re seeing through new situations every ten minutes…In the stock market you don’t base your decisions on what the market is doing, but on what you think is rational….Bridge is about weighing gain/loss ratios. You’re doing calculations all the time
CRK
From India, Vijayawada
MUKESH AMBANI
Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Limited, India’s Largest Private Sector Company. INDIAN BUSINESS TYCOON... He is the elder son of the legendry businessman late Dhirubhai Ambani. Mukesh Ambani has the following business interests: Petrochemicals, Petroleum Refining and Marketing, Oil and Gas exploration and production, Textiles, Retail and SEZs. Forbes (2009) list of the world’s billionaires named him the richest man in India and the 7th richest man in the world, having a net worth of $ 19.5 Billion
"I think that our fundamental belief is that for us growth is a way of life and we have to grow at all times."
"The organizational architecture is really that a centipede walks on hundred legs and one or two don’t count. So if I lose one or two legs, the process will go on, the organization will go on, the growth will go on."
"As long as we place millions of Indians at the canter of our thought process, as long as we think of their welfare, their future, their opportunities for self realization we are on the right track. For India can grow, prosper, flourish only if they grow, prosper, flourish. We cannot grow by any esoteric strategies. Our purchasing power, our economic strength, our marketplace all depends on the prosperity of our people."
"We call it infectious impatience. That's his hallmark and we are trying to inculcate it in the entire organization. Infectious impatience. So that things not only get done but get done in double quick time"
CRK
From India, Vijayawada
Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Limited, India’s Largest Private Sector Company. INDIAN BUSINESS TYCOON... He is the elder son of the legendry businessman late Dhirubhai Ambani. Mukesh Ambani has the following business interests: Petrochemicals, Petroleum Refining and Marketing, Oil and Gas exploration and production, Textiles, Retail and SEZs. Forbes (2009) list of the world’s billionaires named him the richest man in India and the 7th richest man in the world, having a net worth of $ 19.5 Billion
"I think that our fundamental belief is that for us growth is a way of life and we have to grow at all times."
"The organizational architecture is really that a centipede walks on hundred legs and one or two don’t count. So if I lose one or two legs, the process will go on, the organization will go on, the growth will go on."
"As long as we place millions of Indians at the canter of our thought process, as long as we think of their welfare, their future, their opportunities for self realization we are on the right track. For India can grow, prosper, flourish only if they grow, prosper, flourish. We cannot grow by any esoteric strategies. Our purchasing power, our economic strength, our marketplace all depends on the prosperity of our people."
"We call it infectious impatience. That's his hallmark and we are trying to inculcate it in the entire organization. Infectious impatience. So that things not only get done but get done in double quick time"
CRK
From India, Vijayawada
LARRY ELLISON
Lawrence Joseph "Larry" Ellison (born August 17, 1944) is an American business magnate, co-founder and chief executive officer of Oracle Corporation, a major enterprise software company. As of March 10, 2010, Ellison was listed on the Forbes list of billionaires as the sixth richest person in the world. He is the third richest American, with an estimated net worth of US $28 billion.
It's Microsoft versus mankind, with Microsoft having only a slight lead.
I have had all of the disadvantages required for success.
Bill Gates wants people to think he's Edison, when he's really Rockefeller. Referring to Gates as the smartest man in America isn't right... wealth isn't the same thing as intelligence.
Bill Gates is the pope of the personal computer industry. He decides who's going to build.
(The rivalry between Bill Gates and Larry Ellison is well-known, and at times, aggressive)
If an innovative piece of software comes along, Microsoft copies it and makes it part of Windows, ... This is not innovation. This is the end of innovation.
Every application we make works with the Mac today.
It's a simple strategy. You take what you can't sell, you glue it into the operating system, and you raise the price of the operating system.
We think of Microsoft as our major competitor in the database business, not IBM.
Bill Gates is the pope of the personal computer industry. He decides who's going to build.
Our goal is very simply to become the desktop for e-businesses
CRK
From India, Vijayawada
Lawrence Joseph "Larry" Ellison (born August 17, 1944) is an American business magnate, co-founder and chief executive officer of Oracle Corporation, a major enterprise software company. As of March 10, 2010, Ellison was listed on the Forbes list of billionaires as the sixth richest person in the world. He is the third richest American, with an estimated net worth of US $28 billion.
It's Microsoft versus mankind, with Microsoft having only a slight lead.
I have had all of the disadvantages required for success.
Bill Gates wants people to think he's Edison, when he's really Rockefeller. Referring to Gates as the smartest man in America isn't right... wealth isn't the same thing as intelligence.
Bill Gates is the pope of the personal computer industry. He decides who's going to build.
(The rivalry between Bill Gates and Larry Ellison is well-known, and at times, aggressive)
If an innovative piece of software comes along, Microsoft copies it and makes it part of Windows, ... This is not innovation. This is the end of innovation.
Every application we make works with the Mac today.
It's a simple strategy. You take what you can't sell, you glue it into the operating system, and you raise the price of the operating system.
We think of Microsoft as our major competitor in the database business, not IBM.
Bill Gates is the pope of the personal computer industry. He decides who's going to build.
Our goal is very simply to become the desktop for e-businesses
CRK
From India, Vijayawada
Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, founder of the Ford Motor Company and developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry. As owner of the Ford Motor Company, he became one of the richest and best-known people in the world. He is credited with "Fordism", that is, mass production of inexpensive goods coupled with high wages for workers. Ford had a global vision, with consumerism as the key to peace. His intense commitment to systematically lowering costs resulted in many technical and business innovations, including a franchise system that put a dealership in every city in North America, and in major cities on six continents. Ford left most of his vast wealth to the Ford Foundation but arranged for his family to control the company permanently.
A bore is a person who opens his mouth and puts his feats in it.
A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.
A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.
A market is never saturated with a good product, but it is very quickly saturated with a bad one.
An idealist is a person who helps other people to be prosperous.
Any colour - so long as it's black.
Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.
As we advance in life we learn the limits of our abilities.
Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success.
Business is never so healthy as when, like a chicken, it must do a certain amount of scratching around for what it gets.
Capital punishment is as fundamentally wrong as a cure for crime as charity is wrong as a cure for poverty.
Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.
Competition is the keen cutting edge of business, always shaving away at costs.
Don't find fault, find a remedy.
Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes shine to the stars. Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eyes, the swing in your gait. The grip of your hand, the irresistible surge of will and energy to execute your ideas.
Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement.
Exercise is bunk. If you are healthy, you don't need it: if you are sick you should not take it.
Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.
History is more or less bunk.
I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can't be done.
From India, Madras
A bore is a person who opens his mouth and puts his feats in it.
A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.
A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.
A market is never saturated with a good product, but it is very quickly saturated with a bad one.
An idealist is a person who helps other people to be prosperous.
Any colour - so long as it's black.
Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.
As we advance in life we learn the limits of our abilities.
Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success.
Business is never so healthy as when, like a chicken, it must do a certain amount of scratching around for what it gets.
Capital punishment is as fundamentally wrong as a cure for crime as charity is wrong as a cure for poverty.
Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.
Competition is the keen cutting edge of business, always shaving away at costs.
Don't find fault, find a remedy.
Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes shine to the stars. Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eyes, the swing in your gait. The grip of your hand, the irresistible surge of will and energy to execute your ideas.
Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement.
Exercise is bunk. If you are healthy, you don't need it: if you are sick you should not take it.
Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.
History is more or less bunk.
I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can't be done.
From India, Madras
Dear Sir
Re: INTERESTING QUOTES OF FAMOUS PERSONALITIES: CRK's desk
The following are my contribution to your compilation
QUOTABLE QUOTES
A minute's success pays the failure of years.
- Robert Browning
Believing everybody is dangerous;
Believing nobody is very dangerous.
- Abraham Lincoln
Behavior is a mirror in which every one displays his own image.
- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the gratefully and appreciating heart.
- Henry Clay
Curiosity is one of the permanent and
certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect
- Samuel Johnson
Do every act of your life as if it were your last.
- Marcus Aurelius
Different men seek after happiness in
different ways and by
different means, and so make for themselves
different modes of life and forms of government.
- Aristotle
Don’t Compare yourself with anyone in this world if you do so, you are insulting yourself.
- Alen Strike
Discovery consists of seeing what everyone has seen
and thinking what nobody has thought
- Anon
Experience is a hard teacher
because she gives the test first,
the lesson afterwards.
Every difficulty is an opportunity in disguise
Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.
- John F. Kennedy
Great spirits have often encountered
violent opposition from mediocre minds.
- Albert Einstein
Happiness is not a reward — it is a consequence.
Suffering is not a punishment — it is a result.
- Robert Green Ingersoll
It is the heart always that sees, before the head can see.
- Thomas Carlyle
In three words, I can sum up everything
I've learned about life: It goes on.
- Robert Frost
If a man begins with certainties, he shall end in doubts;
but if he will be content to begin with doubts he will end
with certainties
- Francis Bacon
If you want to make God smile, tell him your plans.
- Spanish proverb
Just as eating against one's will is injurious to health,
so study without a liking for it spoils the memory,
and it retains nothing it takes in.
- Leonardo Da Vinci
Keep your fears to yourself,
but share your courage with others.
- Robert Louis Stevenson
Leadership is the wise use of power.
Power is the capacity to translate intention
into reality and sustain it.
- Warren G. Bennis
Life is Ice, Enjoy it, Before it melts
Men are not against you; they are merely for themselves.
- Gene Fowler
Man is the only animal whose desires increase as they are Fed; the only animal that is never satisfied.
Nothing is too high for a man to reach,
but he must climb with care and confidence.
- Hans Christian Andersen
Opportunity follows struggle.
It follows effort.
It follows hard work.
It doesn't come before.
- Shelby Steele
One should never impose one’s views on a problem;
one should rather study it, and in time a solution will
reveal itself.
- Albert Einstein
Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.
- Aristotle
Progress is impossible without change, and
those who cannot change their minds
cannot change anything.
- George Bernard Shaw
Question everything.
Learn something. Answer nothing.
- Engineer's Motto
Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.
- Confucius
Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.
- Marcus Aurelius
Small things, done in great love, bring joy and peace.
- Mother Teresa
Thoughts lead on to purposes;
purposes go forth in action;
actions form habits;
habits decide character;
and character fixes our destiny.
- Tryon Edwards
To find fault is easy; to do better may be difficult.
- Plutarch
Ugliness is in a way superior to beauty because it lasts.
- Serge Gainsbourg
Understanding is a kind of ecstasy.
- Carl Sagan
Victory belongs to the most persevering.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Well – timed Silence hatch more
eloquence than speech
Work with things as they are,
not with the way you wish they were
or think they ought to be.
Your friend is the man who knows all about you,
and still likes you.
- Elbert Hubbard
You have power over your mind - not outside events.
Realize this, and you will find strength.
- Marcus Aurelius
Your life is what your thoughts make it.
- Marcus Aurelius
Zeal is fit for wise men, but flourishes chiefly among fools.
Zealous men are ever displaying to you
the strength of their belief,
while judicious men are showing
you the grounds of it”
- William Shenstone
= = = = = = = = = =
Compiled by
Parameshbhuvana
From India, Coimbatore
Re: INTERESTING QUOTES OF FAMOUS PERSONALITIES: CRK's desk
The following are my contribution to your compilation
QUOTABLE QUOTES
A minute's success pays the failure of years.
- Robert Browning
Believing everybody is dangerous;
Believing nobody is very dangerous.
- Abraham Lincoln
Behavior is a mirror in which every one displays his own image.
- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the gratefully and appreciating heart.
- Henry Clay
Curiosity is one of the permanent and
certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect
- Samuel Johnson
Do every act of your life as if it were your last.
- Marcus Aurelius
Different men seek after happiness in
different ways and by
different means, and so make for themselves
different modes of life and forms of government.
- Aristotle
Don’t Compare yourself with anyone in this world if you do so, you are insulting yourself.
- Alen Strike
Discovery consists of seeing what everyone has seen
and thinking what nobody has thought
- Anon
Experience is a hard teacher
because she gives the test first,
the lesson afterwards.
Every difficulty is an opportunity in disguise
Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.
- John F. Kennedy
Great spirits have often encountered
violent opposition from mediocre minds.
- Albert Einstein
Happiness is not a reward — it is a consequence.
Suffering is not a punishment — it is a result.
- Robert Green Ingersoll
It is the heart always that sees, before the head can see.
- Thomas Carlyle
In three words, I can sum up everything
I've learned about life: It goes on.
- Robert Frost
If a man begins with certainties, he shall end in doubts;
but if he will be content to begin with doubts he will end
with certainties
- Francis Bacon
If you want to make God smile, tell him your plans.
- Spanish proverb
Just as eating against one's will is injurious to health,
so study without a liking for it spoils the memory,
and it retains nothing it takes in.
- Leonardo Da Vinci
Keep your fears to yourself,
but share your courage with others.
- Robert Louis Stevenson
Leadership is the wise use of power.
Power is the capacity to translate intention
into reality and sustain it.
- Warren G. Bennis
Life is Ice, Enjoy it, Before it melts
Men are not against you; they are merely for themselves.
- Gene Fowler
Man is the only animal whose desires increase as they are Fed; the only animal that is never satisfied.
Nothing is too high for a man to reach,
but he must climb with care and confidence.
- Hans Christian Andersen
Opportunity follows struggle.
It follows effort.
It follows hard work.
It doesn't come before.
- Shelby Steele
One should never impose one’s views on a problem;
one should rather study it, and in time a solution will
reveal itself.
- Albert Einstein
Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.
- Aristotle
Progress is impossible without change, and
those who cannot change their minds
cannot change anything.
- George Bernard Shaw
Question everything.
Learn something. Answer nothing.
- Engineer's Motto
Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.
- Confucius
Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.
- Marcus Aurelius
Small things, done in great love, bring joy and peace.
- Mother Teresa
Thoughts lead on to purposes;
purposes go forth in action;
actions form habits;
habits decide character;
and character fixes our destiny.
- Tryon Edwards
To find fault is easy; to do better may be difficult.
- Plutarch
Ugliness is in a way superior to beauty because it lasts.
- Serge Gainsbourg
Understanding is a kind of ecstasy.
- Carl Sagan
Victory belongs to the most persevering.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Well – timed Silence hatch more
eloquence than speech
Work with things as they are,
not with the way you wish they were
or think they ought to be.
Your friend is the man who knows all about you,
and still likes you.
- Elbert Hubbard
You have power over your mind - not outside events.
Realize this, and you will find strength.
- Marcus Aurelius
Your life is what your thoughts make it.
- Marcus Aurelius
Zeal is fit for wise men, but flourishes chiefly among fools.
Zealous men are ever displaying to you
the strength of their belief,
while judicious men are showing
you the grounds of it”
- William Shenstone
= = = = = = = = = =
Compiled by
Parameshbhuvana
From India, Coimbatore
BERNARD ARNAULT
A French businessman. He is the founder, chairman, and CEO of LVMH, a large luxury goods conglomerate consisting of over fifty luxury brands, including Moet champagne, Christian Dior, Dom Perignon, Louis Vuitton and Fendi. According to Forbes Magazine, Arnault is the world's 7th richest person, with a 2010 net worth of $US27.5 billion
What we do in our group is the opposite of the bad effects of globalization. We produce in Italy and in France and we sell to China, when usually it's the opposite.
I like that combination between creativity and the creative process and the organization needed to make a business like this successful worldwide.
I think in business, you have to learn to be patient. Maybe I'm not very patient myself. And I think what I've learned the most is be able to wait for something and get it when it's the right time.
China has really succeeded because of its stability. So my feeling is, how are they going to maintain this fantastic stability in a very fast changing economic situation. I think this is a challenge we face, how the global region will evolve in stability with such a fast growth. If they succeed to do that, no doubt, in the next generation it will be the major area of the world, economically.
Working in the context of ultra-famous brands like Dior and Vuitton, creative spirits are always going to feel reined in. It's important that they are free to develop ideas. And rather than detracting from the principal job, it reinforces it. I think of that money as venture capital. It's not a big investment.
China is clearly going to be the number one economic power and it is already full of potential.. with lots of population and the buying power increasing by the day. .
Luxury goods are the only area in which it is possible to make luxury margins
If you deeply appreciate and love what creative people do and how they think, which is usually in unpredictable and irrational ways, then you can start to understand them. And finally, you can see inside their minds and DNA
Our strategy is to have some stars—and there are not many stars in the luxury business. What is a star? It's a name that is the very best. It's a name that is very profitable. But the number of true stars is less than I can count on both of my hands..
CRK
From India, Vijayawada
A French businessman. He is the founder, chairman, and CEO of LVMH, a large luxury goods conglomerate consisting of over fifty luxury brands, including Moet champagne, Christian Dior, Dom Perignon, Louis Vuitton and Fendi. According to Forbes Magazine, Arnault is the world's 7th richest person, with a 2010 net worth of $US27.5 billion
What we do in our group is the opposite of the bad effects of globalization. We produce in Italy and in France and we sell to China, when usually it's the opposite.
I like that combination between creativity and the creative process and the organization needed to make a business like this successful worldwide.
I think in business, you have to learn to be patient. Maybe I'm not very patient myself. And I think what I've learned the most is be able to wait for something and get it when it's the right time.
China has really succeeded because of its stability. So my feeling is, how are they going to maintain this fantastic stability in a very fast changing economic situation. I think this is a challenge we face, how the global region will evolve in stability with such a fast growth. If they succeed to do that, no doubt, in the next generation it will be the major area of the world, economically.
Working in the context of ultra-famous brands like Dior and Vuitton, creative spirits are always going to feel reined in. It's important that they are free to develop ideas. And rather than detracting from the principal job, it reinforces it. I think of that money as venture capital. It's not a big investment.
China is clearly going to be the number one economic power and it is already full of potential.. with lots of population and the buying power increasing by the day. .
Luxury goods are the only area in which it is possible to make luxury margins
If you deeply appreciate and love what creative people do and how they think, which is usually in unpredictable and irrational ways, then you can start to understand them. And finally, you can see inside their minds and DNA
Our strategy is to have some stars—and there are not many stars in the luxury business. What is a star? It's a name that is the very best. It's a name that is very profitable. But the number of true stars is less than I can count on both of my hands..
CRK
From India, Vijayawada
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