Charlie Munger Quotes

All Charlie Munger Quotes

1. "Nothing has served me better in my long life than continuous curiosity."

   Source: Charlie Munger on Success (2018)

   Continuous curiosity has been the single most valuable trait across a long and successful life.

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2. "A great business at a fair price is superior to a fair business at a great price. The first $100 million was hard, after that it was inevitable."

   Source: Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

   Quality deserves a fair price.

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3. "The whole trick of investing is to find a good business with a good management team at a fair price. Then leave it alone for a long time."

   Source: Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

   Compare every investment to your best available alternative.

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4. "Knowing what you don't know is more useful than being brilliant. If you know the edge of your competence, you're way ahead of the pack."

   Source: Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

   Recognizing your limitations is a strength.

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5. "The idea of excessive diversification is madness. Wide diversification, which necessarily includes investment in mediocre businesses, only guarantees ordinary results."

   Source: Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

   Following crowds leads to mediocre returns.

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6. "Envy is a really stupid sin because it's the only one you could never possibly have any fun at. There's a lot of pain and no fun. Why would you want to get on that trolley?"

   Source: Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

   Envy destroys rational investment decision-making.

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7. "The big money is not in the buying and selling, but in the waiting. And the waiting is the hardest part."

   Source: Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

   Patience is the most profitable temperament.

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8. "All I want to know is where I'm going to die, so I'll never go there. It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid."

   Source: Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

   Avoiding disaster is more important than chasing success.

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9. "The wise ones bet heavily when the world offers them that opportunity. They bet big when they have the odds. And the rest of the time, they don't. It's just that simple."

   Source: Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

   Make large concentrated bets when odds are overwhelmingly favorable.

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10. "Our favorite holding period is forever. We are satisfied owning wonderful businesses at reasonable prices. To us, selling is an admission of an earlier mistake."

    Source: Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

    Selling should only happen when the original thesis is broken.

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11. "If you're not willing to react with equanimity to a market price decline of 50% two or three times a century, you're not fit to be a common shareholder."

    Source: Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

    Accept extreme volatility as the price of superior long-term returns.

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12. "I like people admitting they were complete stupid horses' asses. I know I'll perform better if I rub my nose in my mistakes. This is a wonderful trick to learn."

    Source: Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

    Honest review of failures improves future decisions.

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13. "Sit on your ass investing. You're paying less to brokers, you're listening to less nonsense. And if it works, the tax system gives you an extra one, two, or three percent per annum."

    Source: Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

    Inactivity is often the wisest investment strategy.

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14. "You must know the big ideas in the big disciplines and use them routinely — all of them, not just a few. Most people are trained in one model and try to solve all problems in one way."

    Source: Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

    Draw from multiple disciplines for better investment decisions.

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15. "Invert, always invert. Turn a situation or problem upside down. Look at it backward. What happens if all our plans succeed? What happens if they don't?"

    Source: Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

    Approach problems by considering the opposite perspective.

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16. "Show me the incentive and I'll show you the outcome. Never, ever, think about something else when you should be thinking about the power of incentives."

    Source: Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

    Incentive structures drive all business outcomes.

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17. "I don't invest in what I don't understand. And I don't invest in things where I can't see durable competitive advantages. If you don't have a durable competitive advantage, don't compete."

    Source: Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

    Only invest where competitive advantages are clear and lasting.

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18. "A man who wants to catch fish needs to go where there are fish. A man who wants good investments needs to go where there are great businesses at fair prices."

    Source: Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

    Focus your search where opportunities are most likely found.

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19. "If it's too hard, pass on to something else. I don't have to make money in every game. I just have to find a few good opportunities and be right about them."

    Source: Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

    Skip complexity and focus on obvious opportunities.

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20. "In the short run, the market is like a voting machine, tallying up which firms are popular and unpopular. But in the long run, the market is like a weighing machine, assessing the substance of a company."

    Source: Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

    Short-term prices reflect sentiment; long-term prices reflect value.

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21. "It is in the nature of stock markets to go way down from time to time. There's no system to avoid bad markets. You can't do it unless you try to time the market, which is a deadly idea."

    Source: Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

    Market downturns are natural and unavoidable.

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22. "The market is always making mountains out of molehills and molehills out of mountains. It overreacts to everything. And the intelligent investor profits from this overreaction."

    Source: Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

    Market extremes create the best opportunities.

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23. "It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it."

    Source: Charlie Munger Interview (2015)

    A reputation built over decades can be destroyed in minutes — protect it relentlessly.

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24. "Self-pity is always counterproductive."

    Source: Charlie Munger on Life Philosophy (2010)

    Self-pity is entirely counterproductive — it consumes energy better spent on solutions.

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25. "The best way to get what you want is to deserve what you want."

    Source: Munger Speech (2007)

    The most reliable path to getting what you want is to become the kind of person who deserves it.

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26. "In my whole life, I have known no wise people who didn't read all the time."

    Source: Poor Charlie's Almanack (2005)

    The correlation between reading habits and wisdom is the strongest pattern in successful people.

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27. "It's remarkable how much long-term advantage we've gotten by trying to understand the essence of a business."

    Source: Charlie Munger on Business Analysis (2010)

    Deep understanding of a business's essence reveals opportunities invisible to surface-level analysts.

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28. "Growth is not always a good thing if it requires too much capital."

    Source: Charlie Munger Interview (2015)

    Growth is only valuable when it generates returns above the cost of capital.

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29. "When a manager with a great reputation meets a business with a bad reputation, it's usually the business that wins."

    Source: Berkshire Hathaway Letter to Shareholders (1989)

    Bad business economics defeat brilliant management — always bet on the business, not the manager.

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30. "I don't want to do business with people I don't trust."

    Source: Charlie Munger on Business Partners (2008)

    Trust is the most efficient business strategy — it eliminates costly verification and oversight.

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

    Source: Munger Speech (2010)

    Consistently avoiding foolish decisions outperforms trying to make brilliant ones.

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32. "I don't invest in what I don't understand."

    Source: Charlie Munger Interview (2000)

    Complexity in a business model is a warning sign — the best businesses are simple to understand.

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33. "Over the long term, it's hard for a stock to earn a much better return than the business which underlies it earns."

    Source: Berkshire Hathaway Letter to Shareholders (1992)

    A stock cannot permanently outperform the business that underlies it.

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34. "The single most important decision in evaluating a business is pricing power."

    Source: Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting (2011)

    Pricing power is the most reliable indicator of a durable competitive advantage.

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35. "I want to know how the sausage is made."

    Source: Munger on Due Diligence (2005)

    Understand how a business actually operates — details reveal what summaries hide.

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36. "The way to win is to work and hope for a long life."

    Source: Charlie Munger on Long-Term Investing (2018)

    Think in decades, not quarters — long-term vision is the ultimate competitive advantage.

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37. "Rationality is a moral duty."

    Source: Munger on Rationality (2015)

    Rationality is not just an advantage — it is a moral obligation for serious investors.

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38. "We have a passion for keeping things simple."

    Source: Charlie Munger Interview (2010)

    Simple, obvious investment decisions yield better results than complex, clever ones.

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39. "Sit on your ass investing. You're paying less to brokers, you're listening to less nonsense..."

    Source: Munger Speech (2000)

    Doing nothing is the most profitable — and most difficult — strategy in investing.

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40. "Our favorite holding period is forever."

    Source: Berkshire Hathaway Letter to Shareholders (1988)

    The ideal holding period for a great business is forever — trading destroys wealth.

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41. "A great business at a fair price is superior to a fair business at a great price."

    Source: Charlie Munger Interview (1998)

    Pay a fair price for an exceptional business rather than a bargain price for an ordinary one.

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42. "How do you compete against a true fanatic? You don't want to compete against such a person if you can avoid it."

    Source: Charlie Munger on Competitive Advantage (2005)

    True competitive moats are built by passionate, obsessive operators who are impossible to out-compete.

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43. "It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid."

    Source: Munger Speech (2010)

    Consistently avoiding mistakes generates better returns than chasing brilliance.

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44. "The idea of excessive diversification is madness."

    Source: Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting (2004)

    Excessive diversification is a sign of ignorance, not prudence.

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45. "The wise ones bet heavily when the world offers them that opportunity. They bet big when they have the odds."

    Source: Poor Charlie's Almanack (2005)

    The wise investor bets big when the odds are overwhelmingly in their favor.

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46. "All skills attenuate with disuse."

    Source: Munger on Learning (2015)

    Skills deteriorate without regular practice — including the skill of rational thinking.

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47. "Heavy stress often leads to both mental and physical breakdown."

    Source: Charlie Munger on Mental Health (2012)

    Severe stress degrades both mental performance and physical health.

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48. "The brain overweighs what's easily available."

    Source: Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

    The brain overweights vivid, recent, or easily recalled information when making decisions.

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49. "The general antidote for self-serving bias is to consider ourselves less special than we think we are."

    Source: Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

    We all think we are above average — a delusion that leads to overconfidence and poor risk management.

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50. "The contrast effect is constantly fooling people."

    Source: Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

    Relative comparisons distort our judgment — making bad deals seem acceptable next to worse ones.

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

    Source: Munger on Human Nature (2010)

    Envy is the most irrational emotion — it hurts you while providing zero pleasure.

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52. "The brain of man conserves programming space by being reluctant to change."

    Source: Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

    Once committed to a position, the brain resists changing it — even when evidence demands it.

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53. "People overweigh what has happened to them recently."

    Source: Munger Speech (2008)

    Recent events disproportionately influence our expectations about the future.

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54. "Losses hurt about twice as much as gains feel good."

    Source: Munger on Behavioral Finance (2005)

    The pain of losing money is felt twice as intensely as the pleasure of gaining the same amount.

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55. "People tend to overvalue what they own."

    Source: Munger on Psychology (2000)

    People irrationally overvalue things simply because they own them.

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56. "When people are uncertain, they tend to look at what others are doing for guidance."

    Source: The Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

    When uncertain, people copy what others are doing — even if the crowd is wrong.

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57. "Humans are easily influenced by authority figures."

    Source: Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

    People blindly follow authority figures even when the authority is wrong or irrelevant.

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58. "To a man with only a hammer, every problem looks like a nail."

    Source: Poor Charlie's Almanack (2005)

    When your only tool is a hammer, you distort every problem to look like a nail.

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59. "The human mind is a lot like the human egg. When one sperm gets in, it shuts down so the next one can't get in."

    Source: Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

    Once we form a belief, our brain selectively seeks evidence that confirms it while ignoring contradictions.

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60. "Never, ever, think about something else when you should be thinking about the power of incentives."

    Source: Psychology of Human Misjudgment (1995)

    Incentives drive behavior more powerfully than any other force — always analyze who gets paid what.

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61. "The Fermat/Pascal system is dramatically consonant with the way the world works."

    Source: Munger's Speech (1994)

    Probability thinking — weighing likelihood against payoff — is the foundation of rational decision-making.

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62. "Regression to the mean is the most powerful law in statistics."

    Source: Munger on Statistics (2005)

    Extreme performance — good or bad — naturally reverts toward the average over time.

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63. "You need to know where the breakpoints are."

    Source: Munger on Risk (2008)

    Identify critical thresholds where small changes produce disproportionately large effects.

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64. "I believe in redundancy."

    Source: Charlie Munger Interview (2015)

    Build backup systems into your investments and life decisions to survive unexpected failures.

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65. "You get huge advantages from scale."

    Source: Munger on the Advantages of Scale (1998)

    Scale advantages create winner-take-most dynamics in business.

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66. "You have to learn the models in such a way that they become part of your repertoire."

    Source: The Collected Speeches of Charlie Munger (2000)

    Mental models must become second nature — internalized deeply enough to apply automatically.

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67. "Understanding both the power of compound interest and the difficulty of getting it is the heart and soul of understanding a lot of things."

    Source: Poor Charlie's Almanack (2005)

    Understanding compound interest — and the difficulty of achieving it — is key to financial wisdom.

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68. "The concept of opportunity cost is the most basic idea in economics."

    Source: Charlie Munger's Speech at the University of Southern California (1994)

    Every choice has a hidden cost — the best alternative you gave up to make it.

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69. "Know your circle of competence and stay within it. The size of that circle is not very important; knowing its boundaries, however, is vital."

    Source: 1996 Berkshire Hathaway Letter to Shareholders (1996)

    Knowing the boundaries of your expertise is more valuable than the expertise itself.

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70. "I think it's important to reason from first principles rather than by analogy."

    Source: Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting (2010)

    Reason from fundamental truths rather than by analogy to similar situations.

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71. "Invert, always invert. Turn a situation or problem upside down."

    Source: Adapted from Carl Jacobi by Charlie Munger, used in multiple speeches from 1986 onward (2005)

    Solve problems by thinking backwards — identify what would cause failure and avoid it.

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72. "You must know the big ideas in the big disciplines and use them routinely."

    Source: 1994 University of Southern California Marshall School of Business Speech (1994)

    Build a toolkit of fundamental ideas from multiple disciplines to make better decisions.

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