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Here are the 21 most brilliant quotes from Warren Buffett, the world's most famous and successful investor

Feb 12, 2019, 16:35 IST

Carlos Barria / Reuters

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Warren Buffett, the chairman of Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway, is one of the most famous investors around. He has an estimated net worth of nearly $85 billion, making him the third-richest person in the world.

Buffett is known for many things - his fast-food-heavy diet, his reading habit, his philanthropy, and his value-focused investing style.

People around the world are so fascinated with the legendary Buffett that they'll spend millions of dollars to eat lunch with him. While you may not have that much money laying around, you can still learn from his brilliant mind by reading his famous quotes.

We've rounded up 21 brilliant quotes from the so-called Oracle of Omaha, and they're presented below.

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'Only buy something that you’d be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years'

Source: Forbes

'Don't watch the market closely'

"Don't watch the market closely," Buffett said during a wild bout of market volatility back in 2016.

He continued: "If they're trying to buy and sell stocks, and worry when they go down a little bit … and think they should maybe sell them when they go up, they're not going to have very good results."

Source: CNBC

'I always knew I was going to be rich'

"I always knew I was going to be rich," he said. "I don’t think I ever doubted it for a minute."

Source: Economic Times

'Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago'

Source: Forbes

'I read and think'

"I insist on a lot of time being spent, almost every day, to just sit and think," he said.

He continued: "That is very uncommon in American business. I read and think. So I do more reading and thinking, and make less impulse decisions than most people in business.”

Source: Time Magazine

'Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing'

Source: Forbes

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

Source: CNBC

I'll give my children 'enough money so that they would feel they could do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing'

The perfect amount to leave to your kids, he told Fortune in 1986, is "enough money so that they would feel they could do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing."

Source: Fortune

'The light can at any time go from green to red without pausing at yellow'

"When major declines occur, they offer extraordinary opportunities to those who are not handicapped by debt," Buffett wrote in a letter to Berkshire Hathaway's shareholders in 2017, highlighting the argument against ever borrowing money to buy stocks.

He continued: "No one can tell you when these will happen. The light can at any time go from green to red without pausing at yellow."

Source: Letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders

'It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it'

Source: Forbes

'You cannot make a good deal with a bad person'

“You cannot make a good deal with a bad person,” Buffett reportedly told Suzy Welch, a bestselling management author and CNBC contributor.

She told CNBC it was Buffett who gave her the career advice that has helped her more than any other wisdom she’s received.

Source: CNBC

'Whether we’re talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down'

Source: Economic Times

Only invest in 'simple businesses' that you understand

In his 2014 letter to shareholders, Buffett laid out six criteria he applied to measure a company's fundamentals. One criterion is that he only invests in "simple businesses."

"If there’s lots of technology, we won’t understand it," he said

Source: Letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders

'Stocks [have] been so much more attractive than bonds'

"The one thing I'm sure of is that overtime, stocks from this level will beat bonds from this level," Buffett told CNBC's "Squawk Box" October 2017. "Stocks [have] been so much more attractive than bonds for a long time now."

Source: CNBC

'Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Don't forget rule No. 1'

Source: Forbes

'The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything'

Source: CNBC

'In the business world, the rear-view mirror is always clearer than the windshield'

Source: Economic Times

'It's better to hang out with people better than you'

Source: Forbes

'Cryptocurrencies will come to bad endings'

"Cryptocurrencies will come to bad endings," Buffett said in Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting in 2018. "There’s nothing being produced in the way of value from the asset."

He continued: "It’s something where people who are of less-than-stellar character see an opportunity to clip people who were trying to get rich because their neighbor’s getting rich buying this stuff neither one of them understands."

Source: Fortune

'Price is what you pay. Value is what you get'

Source: Forbes

'Only when the tide goes out do you discover who is swimming naked'

Source: CNBC

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