Author Archive for: Christoph Niemann

Hire people who are better than you are, then leave them to get on with it. David Ogilvy – legendary British advertising executive and entrepreneur (1911-1999), Quotations book 2018

The game of professional investment is intolerably boring and over-exacting to anyone who is entirely exempt from the gambling instinct; whilst he who has it must pay to this propensity the appropriate toll. attributed to John Maynard Keynes – British economist and ivestor (1883-1946)

Think about long-term business prospects rather than short-term stock market prospects. Warren Buffett – American value investor, Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (b. 1930), in his letter to Berkshire Shareholders (1991)

To get noticed, we can’t say what’s expected. advertising wisdom

If history books were the key to riches, the Forbes 400 would consist of librarians. Warren Buffett – American value investor, Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (b. 1930), Quotations book 2002

The most important investment judgements at most big institutions and for most large portfolios are made by committees, but few realize the negative dynamics of group interaction. I think that, in most instances, groups of intelligent people have so many inherent liabilities that a lone individual has a far better chance of making good decisions. […]

People always look for the needle in the haystack. Why not buy the haystack? Fayez Sarofim – Egyptian-born American investor (b. 1929), from the interview “A Lion in Winter” by Andrew Bary (“Barron’s”, December 28th, 2013)

When a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact. Warren Buffett – American value investor, Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (b. 1930)

We do not wish to join with managers who lack admirable qualities, no matter how attractive the prospects of their business. We’ve never succeeded in making a good deal with a bad person. Warren Buffett – American value investor, Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (b. 1930)

1. Think one Store at a time. 2. Communicate, communicate, communicate. 3. Keep your ear to the ground. 4. Push responsibility – and authority – down. 5. Force ideas to bubble up. 6. Stay lean, fight bureaucracy. Samuel M. “Sam” Walton – American entrepreneur, founder of Walmart (1918-1992), from “Sam Walton, Made in America: My story” […]

It is hard to make money where others are prepared to loose it. Warren Buffett – American value investor, Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (b. 1930)

Instead of ceaselessly lamenting the loss of the old industries, we must simply face up the adventure to develop new ones. John Naisbitt – American scientist in the area of futures studies, who popularized the term “globalization” (b. 1929)

You have to have the knowledge to enable you to make a very general estimate about the value of the underlying business. But you do not cut it close. That is what Ben Graham meant by having a margin of safety. You don’t try and buy businesses worth $83 million for 80$ million. You leave […]

The great art lies to discern in what the law is to bid restraint and punishment, and in what things persuasion only is to work. John Milton – English poet and political theorist (1608-1674), from “Areopagitica” (1644), Quotations book 2015

All intelligent investing is value investing – to acquire more than you are paying for. Investing is where you find a few great companies und then sit on your ass. Charlie Munger – Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (b. 1924), at the Berkshire Annual General Meeting 2000

Bad companies are destroyed by crisis, good companies survive them, great companies are improved by them. Andrew Stephen “Andy” Grove – born András István Gróf, Hungarian-born American businessman, co-founder of Intel (1936-2016), in December 1994, quoted in “Creating the Digital Future: The Secrets of Consistent Innovation at Intel” (1998), Quotations book 2022

The art of investing in public companies successfully is little different from the art of successfully acquiring subsidiaries. In each case you simply want to acquire, at a sensible price, a business with excellent economics and able, honest management. Thereafter, you need only monitor whether these qualities are being preserved. Warren Buffett – American value […]

Earnings can be pliable as putty when a charlatan heads the company reporting them. Warren Buffett – American value investor, Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (b. 1930), Quotations book 2005

My observation over the past two decades is that most investors who significantly outperform the market over the longer run, do so because of their implicit or explicit utilization of good theories along the way. In using these, they prove less wrong than the consensus and thus end up richer. Dr. Horace “Woody” Brock – […]

True independence – meaning the willingness to challenge a forceful CEO when something is wrong or foolish – is an enormously valuable trait in a director. It is also rare. The place to look for it is among high-grade people whose interests are in line with those of rank-and-file shareholders – and in line in […]

I think that by concentrating on smaller companies, you improve your chances of catching the next wave. Ralph Wanger – American fund manager (b. 1934)

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. John C. Maxwell – American leadership expert, author and speaker (b. 1947), from “The Right to Lead: Learning Leadership Through Character and Courage” (2010)

In all my years in investing, there’s one rule I’ve prized beyond every other: Always bet against central banks and with the real world. In the seventies, the central banks were defending the United States’ artificially low price of gold. Central banks and governments always try to maintain artificial levels, high or low, whether of […]

It’s almost impossible to overpay the truly extraordinary CEO… but the species is rare. Warren Buffett – American value investor, Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (b. 1930)

It’s the investor’s job to intelligently bear risk for profit. Doing it well is what separates the best from the rest. Howard S. Marks – American investor, Co-Chairman Oaktree Capital Management (b. 1946), from “The Most Important Thing Illuminated: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor” (2012), Quotations book 2018

The function of entrepreneurs is to reform or revolutionize the pattern of production by exploiting an invention or, more generally, an untried technological possibility for producing a new commodity or producing an old one in a new way, by opening up a new source of supply of materials or a new outlet for products, by […]

As in the case with marriage, business acquisitions often deliver surprise after the “I do’s”. Warren Buffett – American value investor, Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (b. 1930), in his letter to Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders (2016), Quotations book 2022

Committees can criticize, but they cannot create. Search all the parks in all your cities. You’ll find no statues of committees. David Ogilvy – legendary British advertising executive and entrepreneur (1911-1999)

The business schools reward difficult complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective. Warren Buffett – American value investor, Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (b. 1930)

Competent investors will never be satisfied beating the averages by a few small percentage points. Gerald M. Loeb – American investor (1899-1974), from “The Battle for Investment Survival” (1935), Quotations book 2019