“I would like to tell you that the mistakes I will describe originated with Charlie. But whenever I try to explain things that way, my nose begins to grow.”
-1994 letter
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“However, the mild degree of caution that we exercised was an improper response to the world unfolding about us. You do not adequately protect yourself by being half awake while others are sleeping.”
-1979 letter
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“We should have realized the futility of trying to be very clever ... in an area where the tide was running heavily against us.”
-1979 letter
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“Our preaching was better than our performance. (We neglected the Noah principle: predicting rain doesn’t count, building arks does.)”
-1981 letter
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“I ignored Comte’s advice - ‘the intellect should be the servant of the heart, but not its slave’ - and believed what I preferred to believe.”
-1985 letter
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“We should do well in several segments of our insurance business. Mike Goldberg has made many important improvements in the operation (prior mismanagement by your Chairman having provided him ample opportunity to do so).”
-1985 letter
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“It's a good idea to review past mistakes before committing new ones. So let's take a quick look at the last 25 years.”
-1989 letter
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“We feel much better about our USAir preferred (an investment holding) than we did a year ago, but your guess is as good as mine as to its ultimate value. (Indeed, considering my record with this investment, it's fair to say that your guess may be better than mine.)”
-1995 letter
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“I try to look out ten or twenty years when making an acquisition, but sometimes my eyesight has been poor.”
-2010 letter
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“The figures show the amount of error in our yearend 1985 liabilities that a year of settlements and further evaluation has revealed. As you can see, what I told you last year about our loss liabilities was far from true - and that makes three years in a row of error. If the physiological rules that applied to Pinocchio were to apply to me, my nose would now draw crowds.”
-1986 letter
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