Verified Quotes
Every quote on this page is verified against the named source work.
Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett's blunt partner who catalogued the standard causes of human misjudgment and built a fortune, gets quoted everywhere and sourced almost nowhere. The 17 quotes below are different: each one is checked word for word against the cited work, starting with Poor Charlie's Almanack, not copied from aggregator sites that pass misattributions along. The source is named under every line, so you can trace each quote back to the page it came from.
Read Charlie Munger's full profile and how they reason →17 verified quotes
On sticking to one strategy rather than chasing complexity:
Take a simple idea and take it seriously.Charlie Munger, Poor Charlie's Almanack
On being patient with a long-term bet:
The big money is not in the buying and selling, but in the waiting.Charlie Munger, Poor Charlie's Almanack
On avoiding self-sabotage versus chasing brilliance:
It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.Charlie Munger, Poor Charlie's Almanack
On measuring daily self-improvement:
Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up.Charlie Munger, Poor Charlie's Almanack
On solving a problem backward:
Invert, always invert.Charlie Munger, Poor Charlie's Almanack
On earning success versus chasing it:
The safest way to try to get what you want is to try to deserve what you want.Charlie Munger, Poor Charlie's Almanack
On admitting the limits of your expertise:
Knowing what you don't know is more useful than being brilliant.Charlie Munger, Poor Charlie's Almanack
On staying humble as you gain expertise:
Acknowledging what you don't know is the dawning of wisdom.Charlie Munger, Poor Charlie's Almanack
On competing against smarter people:
You don't have to be brilliant, only a little wiser than the other guys, on average, for a long, long time.Charlie Munger, Poor Charlie's Almanack
On whether small dishonesties matter:
I think track records are very important. If you start early trying to have a perfect one in some simple thing like honesty, you're well on your way to success in this world.Charlie Munger, Poor Charlie's Almanack
Deciding whether to mentor someone instead of guarding what you know:
The best thing a human being can do is to help another human being know more.Charlie Munger, Poor Charlie's Almanack
Deciding whether to broaden your thinking before a big decision:
You must know the big ideas in the big disciplines and use them routinely all of your life.Charlie Munger, Poor Charlie's Almanack
Weighing whether to make learning a bigger part of your routine:
In my whole life, I have known no wise people who didn't read all the time, none, zero.Charlie Munger, Poor Charlie's Almanack
Deciding whether raw talent or steady learning will get you further:
I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines.Charlie Munger, Poor Charlie's Almanack
Figuring out why a person or deal keeps behaving a certain way:
Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome.Charlie Munger, Poor Charlie's Almanack
Noticing whether envy is driving a decision you are about to make:
It is not greed that drives the world, but envy.Charlie Munger, Poor Charlie's Almanack
Deciding whether to follow the crowd into a popular opportunity:
Mimicking the herd invites regression to the mean.Charlie Munger, Poor Charlie's Almanack