William Green Quotes

“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.”

“Another common mistake that tilts the odds against many unsuspecting investors is to pay lavish fees to mediocre fund managers, stockbrokers, and financial advisers whose performance doesn’t justify the expense.”

“Arnold Van Den Berg's psychiatrist told him that he had triumphed back then by adopting mental strategies that professional athletes used routinely.

Setting clearly defined goals, visualizing themselves performing flawlessly, and repeating affirmations that crowded out all doubts and fears until they were replaced with unshakable self-belief.”

“Avoid anything too hard.”

“Buffett charged no annual management fee but collected a performance fee of 25 percent of any profits over an annual 'hurdle' of 6 percent.

If he made a return of 6 percent or less, he didn’t get paid a dime.”

“Buy stocks at a big discount to their underlying value.”

“Choosing individual stocks without any idea of what you’re looking for is like running through a dynamite factory with a burning match. You may live, but you’re still an idiot.”

“Even in his eighties, Buffett said: I try to be more knowledgeable each year as an investor.”

“Exploit the market’s bipolar mood swings.”

“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.”

“I’m convinced that everything that’s important in investing is counterintuitive, and everything that’s obvious is wrong.”

“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.”

“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.”

“In a world where nothing is stable or dependable and almost anything can happen, the first rule of the road is to be honest with ourselves about our limitations and vulnerabilities”

“In financial markets, as in martial arts, victory doesn’t depend on dazzling displays of esoteric techniques.

It depends on a firm grasp of the principles of the game and a deep mastery of basic skills.”

“Inspired in part by Steinhardt, Nygren conducts a “devil’s advocate review” before buying any stock.

One analyst on his team presents the bullish case. Another is tasked with 'putting together the strongest bearish case'.

By better understanding what we’re betting against, we’re more likely to make the right decision.”

“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.”

“Is originality overrated? Instead of struggling to innovate, should most of us focus our energy on replicating what smarter and wiser people have already figured out?”

“It’s frightening to think that you might not know something, but more frightening to think that, by and large, the world is run by people who have faith that they know exactly what’s going on.”

“It’s simple. If your life is more important than your principles, you sacrifice your principles. If your principles are more important than your life, you sacrifice your life.”

“Like Buffett and Munger, Pabrai spends most of the day reading.”

“Make a small number of mispriced bets with minimal downside and significant upside.”

“Munger has also learned to control certain toxic emotions that would corrode his enjoyment of life.

“Crazy anger. Crazy resentment. Avoid all that stuff. I don’t let it run. I don’t let it start.”

The same goes for envy, which he considers the dumbest of the seven deadly sins because it’s not even fun.

He also disdains the tendency to view oneself as a victim, and he has no patience for whining.

When I ask if he has a mental process that helps him to defuse self-defeating emotions, he replies:

“I know that anger is stupid. I know that resentment is stupid. I know self-pity is stupid.

So I don’t do them. I’m trying not to be stupid every day, all day.”

“Munger particularly admires their unflinching determination to seek out 'disconfirming evidence' that might disprove even their most cherished beliefs.

This mental habit, which takes many different forms, is our fifth defense against idiocy.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Once you have a sense that life is meaningless, what should you do?

Not f*ck up life for other people. Leave the planet a better place than you found it. Do a good job with your kids.

The rest of it is a game. It doesn’t matter.”

“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.”

“Stay within your circle of competence.”

“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.”