Mark Gavagan > Quotes

“Over the years, a number of very smart people have learned the hard way that a long string of impressive numbers multiplied by a single zero always equals zero.”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“Lester Maddox, when Governor of Georgia, was criticized regarding the state’s abysmal prison system. ‘The solution’, he said, ‘is simple. All we need is a better class of prisoners.”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“Could we really improve our shareholder group by trading some of our present clear-thinking members for impressionable new ones who, preferring paper to value, feel wealthier with nine $10 bills than with one $100 bill?” -1983 letter”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“Our goal is more modest: we simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“something happened to you, think how helpful it would be for your loved ones left behind to have a copy of the key”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“You do not adequately protect yourself by being half awake while others are sleeping.”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“Should you find yourself in a chronically-leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“It should be no surprise to anyone that those airline employees who contractually receive above-market salaries will resist any reduction in these as long as their checks continue to clear”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“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.”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“But facts do not cease to exist, either because they are unpleasant or because they are ignored.” -1981 letter”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“Big opportunities come infrequently. When it’s raining gold, reach for a bucket, not a thimble.”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“The reaction of weak managements to weak operations is often weak accounting. (‘It’s difficult for an empty sack to stand upright.’)”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“We purchased several companies whose earnings will almost certainly decline this year from peaks they reached in 1999 or 2000. The declines make no difference to us, given that we expect all of our businesses to now and then have ups and downs. (Only in the sales presentations of investment banks do earnings move forever upward.)” -2000 letter”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“Ben Graham taught me 45 years ago that in investing it is not necessary to do extraordinary things to get extraordinary results. In later life, I have been surprised to find that this statement holds true in business management as well. What a manager must do is handle the basics well and not get diverted.”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“After all, what are we paying the accountants for if it is not to deliver us the "truth" about our business. But the accountants' job is to record, not to evaluate. The evaluation job falls to investors and managers.”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“An iron law of business is that growth eventually dampens exceptional economics.”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“collection of 240 or so of his wittiest and most insightful thoughts (“gems”), culled from 34 years of his letters to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders.   These gems lighten spirits with their humor, enlighten minds with their wisdom, and provide an interesting view into one of America’s most successful and”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“The correlation between humor and intelligence is well documented”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“We are here to make money with you, not off you.” -1996 letter”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“You can live a full and rewarding life without ever thinking about Goodwill and its amortization. But students of investment and management should understand the nuances of the subject.” -1983 letter”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“So far, most politicians in both parties have followed Charlie Brown’s advice: ‘No problem is so big that it can’t be run away from.”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“On synergy: “… a term widely used in business to explain an acquisition that otherwise makes no sense.”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“We are here to make money with you, not off you.”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“A promise is no better than the person or institution making it.”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“Money will always flow toward opportunity, and there is an abundance of that in America. Commentators today often talk of ‘great uncertainty.’ But think back, for example, to December 6,”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“In 1994, Coca-Cola sold about 280 billion 8-ounce servings and earned a little less than a penny on each. But pennies add up.”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“What”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“Managers that always promise to ‘make the numbers’ will at some point be tempted to make up the numbers.”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“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).”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders

“Investors should be skeptical of history-based models. Constructed by a nerdy-sounding priesthood using esoteric terms such as beta, gamma, sigma and the like, these models tend to look impressive. Too often, though, investors forget to examine the assumptions behind the symbols. Our advice: Beware of geeks bearing formulas.”
― Mark Gavagan, Gems from Warren Buffett: Wit and Wisdom from 34 Years of Letters to Shareholders