William Green > Quotes

“Instead of trotting out the usual bland platitudes about the secrets of success and happiness, he provided an inspired illustration of how to apply the principle of inversion. He gave the students a series of “prescriptions for guaranteed misery in life,” recommending that they should be unreliable, avoid compromise, harbor resentments, seek revenge, indulge in envy, “ingest chemicals,” become addicted to alcohol, neglect to “learn vicariously from the good and bad experience of others,” cling defiantly to their existing beliefs, and “stay down” when struck by the “first, second, or third severe reverse in the battle of life.”
― William Green, Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life

“I don’t have any wonderful insights that other people don’t have. I just have slightly more consistently than others avoided idiocy. Other people are trying to be smart. All I’m trying to be is non-idiotic. I find that all you have to do to get ahead in life is to be non-idiotic and live a long time. It’s harder to be non-idiotic than most people think.”
― William Green, Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life

“Similarly, if you’re looking to make a thoughtful investment in a well-managed fund, you might start by asking, “How can I invest blindly in a lousy fund that’s a disaster waiting to happen?” That question would lead you to list all of the pitfalls that investors routinely overlook—for example, outrageous fees, dangerous exposure to the most popular and priciest sectors of the market, and a recent streak of head-spinning returns that will almost surely prove unsustainable”
― William Green, Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life

“If you just go around and identify all of the disasters and say, ‘What caused that?’ and try to avoid it, it turns out to be a very simple way to find opportunities and avoid troubles.”
― William Green, Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life

“Kahn’s answer: “Investing is about preserving more than anything. That must be your first thought, not looking for large gains. If you achieve only reasonable returns and suffer minimal losses, you will become a wealthy man and will surpass any gambler friends you may have. This is also a good way to cure your sleeping problems.”
― William Green, Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life

“I compensate for the lack of intellect with more discipline and steadiness and persistence.”
― William Green, Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life

“wrote: Rule 1: Clone like crazy. Rule 2: Hang out with people who are better than you. Rule 3: Treat life as a game, not as a survival contest or a battle to the death. Rule 4: Be in alignment with who you are; don’t do what you don’t want to do or what’s not right for you. Rule 5: Live by an inner scorecard; don’t worry about what others think of you; don’t be defined by external validation.”
― William Green, Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life

“A television reporter once asked Bob Marley, “Are you a rich man?” The musician replied warily, “What you mean rich?” The reporter clarified his question: “You have a lot of possessions? A lot of money in the bank?” Marley responded with a question of his own: “Possessions make you rich? I don’t have that type of richness. My richness is life, forever.”
― William Green, Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life

“One of the nice things about video games as a metaphor is that you die all the time,” he explained. “You play, you play, you play, you die. You play, you play, you die.” It’s a harmless way of learning “to accept constant loss and defeat over and over again. And it doesn’t bother you. You just keep doing it. And that’s what investing is.”
― William Green, Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life

“They sought to answer such questions as What is the intended destination for this business in ten or twenty years? What must management be doing today to raise the probability of arriving at that destination? And what could prevent this company from reaching such a favorable destination?”
― William Green, Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life

“Is the CEO allocating capital in a rational way that will enhance the company’s long-term value? Is the company underpaying its employees, mistreating its suppliers, violating its customers’ trust, or engaging in any other shortsighted behavior that could jeopardize its eventual greatness?”
― William Green, Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life

“My favorite story about Danoff’s intensity comes from Bill Miller, who recalls being introduced to him at an investment conference in Phoenix about thirty years ago: “I stuck out my hand and I said, ‘Nice to meet you, Will.’ And he didn’t hold his hand out. He just looked at me and said, ‘I’m gonna beat you, man. I’m gonna beat you.”
― William Green, Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life

“the human brain is ill-equipped to make rational decisions. Our judgment is frequently torpedoed by emotions such as fear, greed, jealousy, and impatience; by prejudices that distort our perception of reality;”
― William Green, Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life

“Despite his inexperience, he understood enough about economic history, financial markets, and human nature to recognize that overwhelming pessimism would eventually give way to unbridled optimism. Even in the darkest of times, he never forgot that the sun also rises.”
― William Green, Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World's Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life

“But my favorite story of Munger’s flamboyant failures in diplomacy comes from Buffett, who shared it with Pabrai and Guy Spier over lunch in 2008. Munger, who has a glass eye, visited the Department of Motor Vehicles, where a hapless bureaucrat made the unfortunate error of asking him, “Do you still have just one good eye?” Munger replied, “No. I’ve grown a new one.”
― William Green, Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life

“Stocks are ownership shares of businesses,” which “you’re valuing and trying to buy at a discount.” The key, then, is to identify situations in which there’s a particularly large spread between the price and the value of the business. That spread gives you a margin of safety, which Greenblatt (like Graham and Buffett) regards as the single most important concept in investing.”
― William Green, Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life

“This habit of actively collecting examples of other people’s foolish behavior is an invaluable antidote to idiocy. In fact, it’s the second great anti-stupidity technique we should learn from Munger.”
― William Green, Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life

“Instead, he focuses narrowly on owning a few well-run businesses that earn attractive returns on capital and have the ability to keep reinvesting their free cash flow at high rates of return. And then he has the restraint to “leave things well alone.” He has held Markel for twenty-seven years and made more than one hundred times his money. He has owned Berkshire Hathaway for forty-two years. His largest holding, American Tower Corporation, has risen from seventy-nine cents per share to about $260 since 2002. By constructing an unhurried life in a tranquil place, Akre can “shelter” himself from the influence of other investors’ “brilliant ideas” and “stay focused completely on the things that work for us.” In essence, he’s discovered one well-stocked pond, and he’s content to fish there for the rest of his days. Or, as Akre puts it, “We can’t dance with all the ladies.” All”
― William Green, Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life

“If you want to become “a stock market master,” he explained, “stick to buying good companies (ones that have a high return on capital) and to buying those companies only at bargain prices (at prices that give you a high earnings yield).”
― William Green, Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life

“They succumb to the egotistical delusion that they can predict the future, instead of recognizing the limits of their knowledge. And they leap blindly into manias, their judgment fogged by “return envy” and the fear of missing out.”
― William Green, Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life

“Fragility comes in many forms”
― William Green, Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life