Charlie Munger’s reputation extends beyond the realm of finance.
His multidisciplinary approach to problem-solving, from fields such as psychology, economics, and history, has positioned him as one of the most respected figures in the world of business and investment.
These quotes by Munger are sure to change your life.
On Growth and Success
“You don’t have to be brilliant, only a little bit wiser than the other guys, on average, for a long time.”
“Knowing what you don’t know is more useful than being brilliant.”
“It takes the character to sit with all that cash and to do nothing. I didn’t get to where I am by going after mediocre opportunities.”
“You need patience, discipline, and an agility to take losses and adversity without going crazy.”
“We both (Warren Buf.”fett) insist on a lot of time being available almost every day to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in American business. We read and think.”
“Like Warren, I had a considerable passion to get rich, not because I wanted Ferraris — I wanted the independence. I desperately wanted it.”
“People calculate too much and think too little.”
“Success means being very patient, but aggressive when it’s time.”
“This habit of committing far more time to learning and thinking than to doing is no accident.”
“Mimicking the herd invites regression to the man.”
“It’s so simple. You spend less than you earn. Invest shrewdly, and avoid toxic people and toxic activities, and try and keep learning all your life, etcetera etcetera. And do a lot of deferred gratification because you prefer life that way. And if you do all those things you are almost certain to succeed. And if you don’t, you’re gonna need a lot of luck.”
“If something is too hard, we move on to something else. What could be simpler than that?
On Business and Investment
“A great business at a fair price is superior to a fair business at a great price”
“You’re looking for a mispriced gamble. That’s what investing is. And you have to know enough to know whether the gamble is mispriced. That’s value investing.”
“Live within your income and save so that you can invest. Learn what you need to learn.”
“The big money is not in the buying and selling but in the waiting”
“We have three baskets for investing: yes, no, and too tough to understand.”
“Everywhere there is a large commission, there is a high probability of a rip-off.”
“All intelligent investing is value investing, acquiring more than you are paying for. You must value the business in order to value the stock.”
“A lot of people with high IQs are terrible investors because they’ve got terrible temperaments.”
“Invest in a business any fool can run, because someday a fool will. If it won’t stand a little mismanagement, it’s not much of a business.”
“If I can be optimistic when I’m nearly dead, surely the rest of you can handle a little inflation”
“If you want to be a good investor, you have to have a long-term perspective. You have to be willing to be very patient and wait for the right pitch. And when you get the right pitch, you have to be ready to swing hard. You can’t just take a little teeny tiny swing. You have to swing with all your might.”
On Life
“I always say I want to know where I would die so I can never go there.”
“Don’t drift into self-pity because it doesn’t solve any problems. Generally speaking, envy, resentment, revenge and self-pity are disastrous modes of thought.”
“A majority of life’s errors are caused by forgetting what one is really trying to do.”
“I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines. They go to bed every night a little wiser than when they got up and boy does that help—particularly when you have a long run ahead of you.”
“Simplicity has a way of improving performance by enabling us to better understand what we are doing.”
“Do the best you can do. Never tell a lie. If you say you’re going to do it, get it done. Nobody cares about an excuse.”
“There is no way you can live an adequate life without making many mistakes.”
“If your new behavior gives you a little temporary unpopularity with your peer group, then to hell with them.”
“You must force yourself to consider opposing arguments. Especially when they challenge your best-loved ideas.”
