I got to know more about Charlie Munger in the last 10 years. His name came up with Berkshire. I knew he had been in the industry, but I wasn’t really into investing. I appreciated his no bullshit approach to investing, personal growth, decision-making, and even life.
The other interesting bit is about how sharp he was even at the age of 99. It tells about how well he lived to a certain extent. It’s not really about being rich but maybe even taking care of himself. It makes what he says worthier in my opinion.
Here are some of his quotes I like the most.
Being rational is a moral imperative. You should never be stupider than you need to be.
The young man knows the rules, the old man knows the exceptions.
You don’t have to be brilliant, only a little bit wiser than the other guys, on average, for a long, long, time.
The big money is not in the buying and selling, but in the waiting.
You have to learn to be a follower before you become a leader.
Opportunity comes to the prepared mind.
Another thing, of course, is life will have terrible blows, horrible blows, unfair blows. Doesn’t matter. And some people recover and others don’t. And there I think the attitude of Epictetus is the best. He thought that every mischance in life was an opportunity to behave well. Every mischance in life was an opportunity to learn something and your duty was not to be submerged in self-pity, but to utilize the terrible blow in a constructive fashion. That is a very good idea.
I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines. They go to bed every night a little wiser than when they got up and boy does that help — particularly when you have a long run ahead of you.