Just finished reading this book. I was tweeting a few quotes as I was reading the book. Here is the full list.
Before you read the quotes, please remember the context Charlie was mostly answering questions about being an Investor.
Let us first look at these quotes.
There is no way you can live an adequate life without making many mistakes.
The best thing a human being can do is to help another human being know more. Being an effective teacher is a high calling.
Those of us who have been very fortunate have a duty to give back. Whether one gives a lot as one goes along as I do, or a little and then a lot (when one dies) as Warren does, is a matter of personal preference.
Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up. Day by day, and at the end of the day-if you live long enough-like most people, you will get out of life what you deserve.
What are the secret of success? One word answer: rationality.
There’s only one way to the top: hard work. Do what you like and are good at.
Understanding both the power of compound interest and the difficulty of getting it is the heart and soul of understanding a lot of things.
Quickly eliminate the big universe of what not to do, followup with a fluent, multidisciplinary attach on what remains, then act decisively when, and only when, the right circumstances appear.
If you always tell people why, they’ll understand it better, they’ll consider it more important, and they’ll be more likely to comply.
…it never ceases to amaze me to see how much territory can be grasped if one merely masters and consistently uses all.
My habit of committing far more time to learning and thinking than to doing is no accident.
Some people are extraordinarily good at knowing the limits of their knowledge, because they have to be.
So the game is to keep learning, and I don’t think people are going to keep learning who don’t like the learning process. You need to like the learning process.
If you’re capable of understanding the world, you have a moral obligation to become rational.
For me there were many takeaways. There is a note of warning. Whoever edited this book did not do a good job. There are too many repetitions. Please remember it if you buy and read the book. Despite bad editing, the book is full of gems. So it is worth a read.
A few reflections.
- The importance of reading. I do read though not anywhere near being “a book with a couple of legs sticking out.”.
- When we were programming in early 70s, we spent far more time learning and thinking than doing. Now it is very different. There is a lot more doing. Charlie’s quote “This habit of committing far more time to learning and thinking than to doing” is right on.
- Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up. This can be a powerful micro-habit and a daily goal to shoot for.