The Snowball

Balzac said that behind every great fortune lies a crime.1 That’s not true at Berkshire

The snowball just happens if you’#8217;re in the right kind of snow, and that’#8217;s what happened with me. I don’#8217;t just mean compounding money either. It’#8217;s in terms of understanding the world and what kind of friends you accumulate. You get to select over time, and you’#8217;ve got to be the kind of person that the snow wants to attach itself to. You’#8217;ve got to be your own wet snow, in effect. You’#8217;d better be picking up snow as you go along, because you’#8217;re not going to be getting back up to the top of the hill again. That’#8217;s the way life works.”

He told them about the genie. Treat your body like the only car you’#8217;ll ever own: Baby that car, garage it every night, buff every dent, and change its oil every week.

The purpose of life is to be loved by as many people as possible among those you want to have love

“#8220;I can’#8217;t tell you how much I hate managed earnings in terms of what they do to people. The nature of managed earnings is that you start out small. It’#8217;s like stealing five bucks from the cash register and promising yourself you’#8217;ll pay it back. You never do. You end up the next time stealing ten bucks....It snowballs. I gave these speeches after we discovered it. I told them, ‘#8216;Now the monkey’#8217;s off our back. We don’#8217;t have to predict anything to the analysts. Let’#8217;s just give the damn handout showing the results every year, and whatever we earn, we earn.

“#8220;If you go from the first floor to the hundredth floor of a building and then go back to the ninety-eighth, you’#8217;ll feel worse than if you’#8217;ve just gone from the first to the second, you know. But you’#8217;ve got to fight that feeling, because you’#8217;re still on the ninety-eighth floor.

Munger’#8217;s favorite construct was to invoke Carl Jacobi: “#8220;Invert, always invert.”#8221; Turn a situation or problem upside down. Look at it backward. What’#8217;s in it for the other guy? What happens if all our plans go wrong? Where don’#8217;t we want to go, and how do you get there? Instead of looking for success, make a list of how to fail instead—#8212;through sloth, envy, resentment, self-pity, entitlement, all the mental habits of self-defeat. Avoid these qualities and you will succeed. Tell me where I’#8217;m going to die, that is, so I don’#8217;t go there.

strut....We do not attain the victory of life by selfishness. Victory is for those who give themselves to causes beyond themselves. It is very biblical and very true that everyone who exalts themselves will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted. That is a text for all of us. It was lived by Katharine Graham.

You’#8217;d get very rich,”#8221;he said, “#8220;if you thought of yourself as having a card with only twenty punches in a lifetime, and every financial decision used up one punch. You’#8217;d resist the temptation to dabble. You’#8217;d make more good decisions and you’#8217;d make more big

People ask me where they should go to work, and I always tell them to go to work for whom they admire the most,”#8221;he said. He urged them not to waste their time and their life. “#8220;It’#8217;s crazy to take little in-between jobs just because they look good on your ré#233;sumé#233;. That’#8217;s like saving sex for your old age. Do what you love and work for whom you admire the most, and you’#8217;ve given yourself the best chance in life you