25 Warren Buffett Quotes Filled with Practical, Timeless Wisdom

Warren Buffett is considered by most to be the greatest investor of the last century.

However, while he’s best known for being one of the richest human beings on planet Earth, amassing his monetary wealth through his investing prowess, Buffett's wisdom goes far beyond just investing.

He’s taught me quite a bit about over the years and provided ample inspiration as what I’d consider to be both a prime example of saint-like character and relentless work ethic. Warren Buffett is surprisingly kind, humble, and consistently offers his wisdom without asking anything in return. Here’s some of that timeless wisdom.

Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No.1.

A very rich person should leave his kids enough to do anything, but not enough to do nothing.

If you’re in the luckiest 1% of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99%.

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.

Of the billionaires I have known, money just brings out the basic traits in them. If they were jerks before they had money, they are simply jerks with a billion dollars.

The business schools reward difficult complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective.

Without passion, you don't have energy. Without energy, you have nothing.

You do things when the opportunities come along. I’ve had periods in my life when I’ve had a bundle of ideas come along, and I’ve had long dry spells. If I get an idea next week, I’ll do something. If not, I won’t do a damn thing.

Can you really explain to a fish what it’s like to walk on land? One day on land is worth a thousand years of talking about it, and one day running a business has exactly the same kind of value.

You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don’t do too many things wrong.

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.

It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction.

I don't look to jump over seven-foot bars; I look around for one-foot bars that I can step over.

Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked.

In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.

Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing.

There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult.

Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.

If you are in a poker game and after 20 minutes you don't know who the patsy is, then you’re the patsy.

Wall Street is the only place that people ride to in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway.

The rich invest in time, the poor invest in money.

If past history was all that is needed to play the game of money, the richest people would be librarians.

Focus on your customers and lead your people as though their lives depend on your success.

Never invest in a business you can’t understand.

Only when you combine sound intellect with emotional discipline do you get rational behavior.