Thread by @james_clear

Each year, 40,000+ people visit Omaha to listen to Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger talk about their philosophy on business, investing, and life at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting.

I just attended for the first time. Here are my favorite notes and quotes from the event.

On making mistakes:

“We do a lot of dumb things in this world.”
—Warren Buffett

On preventing mistakes:

“An ounce of prevention isn’t worth a pound of cure, it’s worth a tonne of cure.”
—Charlie Munger

On their policy of buying companies and remaining hands off:

“The CEO of one of our companies... I’ve talked to him maybe three times in the last ten years. And he’s done quite well. He may have done even better if I hadn’t talked to him those three times.”
—Warren Buffett

On rising healthcare costs:

“In 1960, we were spending around $170/year per capita on healthcare. Today, we spend over $10,000/year per capita.”
—Warren Buffett

On finding good investments:

“It’s not easy.”
—Charlie Munger

On mixing politics with business:

“I don’t believe on imposing my own political beliefs on the business.”
—Warren Buffett

On looking for a better strategy:

“As long as the existing system continues to work as well as it has, why would we change?”
—Charlie Munger

On the challenge of changing your mind:

Charlie: “If the conditions change, we are capable of changing our minds.”

Warren: “And we have done that many times.”

Charlie: “Yes... although, I must say, it’s quite hard.”

His response for multiple questions...

“The answer is: I don’t know.”
—Warren Buffett

On being lucky:

“We’re all a bunch of undeserving people. I hope we continue to be so.”
—Charlie Munger

On simplicity and minimalism:

“We don’t do unnecessary things at Berkshire. And there are many things at big companies that are unnecessary.”
—Warren Buffett

On empowering people to make choices:

“I think decisions get made better if you eliminate the bureaucracy. I think bureaucracy is sort of like a cancer.”
—Charlie Munger

On failure:

“If we fail, I hope somebody else succeeds.”
—Warren Buffett

On getting rich from investing:

“Just be patient.”
—Charlie Munger

On how much money Berkshire Hathaway makes:

“About $400 million comes into Berkshire Hathaway every week, which is quite comfortable.”
—Warren Buffett

On building a successful business:

“Surprise and delight your customers. There is nothing like that in business. If you delight your customers, you’re a long way home.”
—Warren Buffett

“I don’t envy these people that are in these imaginary uproars all the time. Imagine doing that after you’re already rich. It’s insane.”
—Charlie Munger

“If you’re going to live a long time, you have to keep learning. What you formerly knew is not enough. If you don’t adapt, you’re like a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest.”
—Charlie Munger