text:
O Brother, Where Art Thou?

O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a 2000 comedy film about three stumblebum convicts who escape to go on a quest for treasure and who meet various characters while learning where their real fortunes lie in the 1930s Deep South.
 * Directed by Joel Coen. Written by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen. Inspired by The Odyssey by Homer.

They have a plan, but not a clue.

Ulysses Everett McGill

 * Say, any of you boys smithies? Or, if not smithies per se, were you otherwise trained in the metallurgic arts before straitened circumstances forced you into a life of aimless wanderin'?
 * [Repeated line] Damn, we're in a tight spot!
 * Well, any human being will cast about in a moment of stress. No, the fact is, they're flooding this valley so they can hydroelectric up the whole durn state. Yessir, the South is gonna change. Everything's gonna be put on electricity and run on a paying basis. Out with old spiritual mumbo-jumbo, the superstition and the backward ways. We're gonna see a brave new world where they run everyone a wire and hook us all up to the grid. Yessir, a veritable age of reason - like they had in France. And not a moment too soon...

Homer Stokes

 * Is you is, or is you ain't, my constituency?

Dialogue

 * Everett: Jesus! Can't I count on you people?!
 * Delmar: Sorry, Everett.
 * Everett: Well, all right. If we take off through that bayou, then...
 * Pete: Wait a minute. Who elected you leader of this outfit?
 * Everett: Well, Pete, I figured it should be the one with the capacity for abstract thought. But if that ain't the consensus view, then hell, let's put it to a vote.
 * Pete: Suits me. I'm voting for yours truly.
 * Everett: Well, I'm voting for yours truly, too.
 * [Everett and Pete look at Delmar for the deciding vote]
 * Delmar: Okay... I'm with you fellas.

 * Everett: Mind if we join you, old timer?
 * Blind Seer: Join me, my son. Join.
 * Delmar: You work for the railroad, Grandpa?
 * Blind Seer: I work for no man.
 * Delmar: Got a name, do you?
 * Blind Seer: I have no name.
 * Everett: Well, that right there may be why you've had difficulty finding gainful employment. You see, in the mart of competitive commerce–
 * Blind Seer: You seek a great fortune, you three who are now enchained. You will find a fortune, though it will not be the fortune you seek. But first... First you must travel a long and difficult road, a road fraught with peril. Mm-hmm. You shall see thangs, wonderful to tell. You shall see a... a cow on the roof of a... cotton house. Ha. And, oh, so many startles. I cannot tell you how long this road shall be, but fear not the obstacles in your path, for fate has vouchsafed your reward. Though the road may wind, yea, your hearts grow weary, still shall ye follow that way, even unto your salvation.

 * Everett: No, the treasure's still there boys, believe me.
 * Delmar: [about the Blind Seer] But how'd he know about the treasure?
 * Everett: I don't know Delmar. The blind are reputed to possess sensitivities compensating for their lack of sight, even to the point of developing paranormal psychic powers. Now, clearly seeing into the future would fall neatly into that category; it's not so surprising then that an organism deprived of its earthly vision...
 * Pete: He said we wouldn't get it. He said we wouldn't get the treasure we seek on account of our obstacles.
 * Everett: What the hell does he know? He's an ignorant old man.

 * Lawman: All right, boys! [dog barks]
 * Everett: [wakes up] How's my hair?
 * Lawman: It's the authorities! We've got you surrounded!
 * Everett: Damn. We're in a tight spot.
 * Lawman: Just come on out and grabbin' air! And don't try nothing fancy! Your situation is pretty nigh hopeless!
 * Everett: Damn! We're in a tight spot!
 * Delmar: What in the Sam Hill?
 * Everett: Pete's cousin turned us in for the bounty!
 * Pete: What the hell are you saying?! Wash is kin!
 * Wash: Sorry, Pete! I know we're kin, but they got this depression on, and I got to do for me and mine!
 * Pete: I'm gonna kill you! Judas Iscariot Hogwallop! You miserable, horse-eating son of a... [machine gun fire]
 * Everett: Damn! We're in a tight spot!
 * Pete: Damn his eyes! Pa always said, "Never trust a Hogwallop!" COME AND GET US, COPPERS!!! [the police begin dousing the entrance to the barn with gasoline]
 * Lawman: You boys is leaving us no choice but to smoke you out!
 * Everett: Damn. We're in a tight spot.
 * Lawman: Light her up! [the police set the barn on fire]
 * Everett: Hold up, boys! Ain't you ever heard of negotiating?! Bet we could talk this thing out! I hate fire!
 * Pete: You lousy, low-down, yellow-bellied goat!
 * Everett: Whoa, whoa, Pete, now we've only got to speak with one voice here! Careful with that fire now, boys!

 * Everett: Well, it didn't look like a one-horse town, but try finding a decent hair jelly.
 * Delmar: Gopher, Everett?
 * Everett: And no transmission belt for two weeks, either.
 * Pete: They dam that river on the 21st. Today's the 17th.
 * Everett: Don't I know it.
 * Pete: We got but four days to get to that treasure. After that, it'll be at the bottom of a lake. We ain't gonna make it walkin'.
 * Everett: That's right.
 * Delmar: Gopher, Everett?
 * Everett: But the old tactician's got a plan. For the transportation that is. I don't know how I'm gonna keep my coiffure in order.
 * Pete: How's this a plan? How we gonna get a car?
 * Everett: [producing a pocket watch] Sell that. I figure it can only have painful association for Wash.
 * Pete: [reading] "To Washington Bartholomew Hogwallop, from his loving Cora. Amor Fidel... is."
 * Everett: It was in his bureau. I reckon it'll fetch us enough cash for a good used auto-voiture, and a little left over besides.
 * Delmar: Whoo! You got some light fingers, Everett. Gopher?
 * Pete: You miserable little snake! You stole from my kin!
 * Everett: Who was fixin' to betray us.
 * Pete: You didn't know that at the time!
 * Everett: So I borrowed it until I did know.
 * Pete: That don't make no sense!
 * Everett: Pete, it's a fool that looks for logic in the chambers of the human heart. [hears a congregation singing nearby] Now, what the hell's that singing?
 * Delmar: Appears to be some kind of a... congregation. Care for some gopher?
 * Everett: No, thank you, Delmar. A third of a gopher would only arouse my appetite without beddin' her back down.
 * Delmar: Oh, you can have the whole thing. Me and Pete already had one. We ran across a whole gopher village.

 * Everett: Well, I guess hard times flush the chumps. Everybody's lookin' for answers... Where the hell's he goin'?
 * [Delmar runs out to be baptized]
 * Pete: Well I'll be a son of a bitch. Delmar's been saved.
 * Delmar: Well that's it, boys. I've been redeemed! The preacher done washed away all my sins and transgressions. It's the straight and narrow from here on out. And heaven everlasting's my reward!
 * Everett: Delmar, what are you talking about? We've got bigger fish to fry.
 * Delmar: The preacher said all my sins is washed away, including that Piggly Wiggly I knocked over in Yazoo.
 * Everett: I thought you said you was innocent of those charges.
 * Delmar: Well I was lyin'. And the preacher said that that sin's been washed away, too. Neither God nor man's got nothin' on me now! C'mon in boys, the water is fine.

 * Pete: The preacher said he absolved us.
 * Everett: For him. Not for the law. I'm surprised at you Pete. I gave you credit for more brains than Delmar.
 * Delmar: But there was witnesses that seen us redeemed.
 * Everett: That's not the issue Delmar. Even if it did put you square with the Lord, the state of Mississippi's a little more hardnosed.
 * Delmar: You should'a joined us Everett. It couldn't have hurt none.
 * Pete: Hell, at least it would'a washed away the stink of that pomade.
 * Everett: Join you two ignorant fools in a ridiculous superstition... Thank ya anyway. And I like the smell of my hair treatment. The pleasin' odor's half the point. [laughs] Baptism. You two are just dumber than a bag of hammers. Well, I guess you're just my cross to bear.

 * Everett: How you doin', son? My name's Everett. These two soggy sons of bitches are Pete and Delmar. Keep your fingers away from Pete's mouth; he ain't had nothing to eat for 13 years, except prison food, gopher, and a little greasy horse.
 * Tommy Johnson: Thanks for the lift, sir. My name's Tommy. Tommy Johnson.
 * Delmar: How you doin', Tommy? Say, I haven't seen a house out here for miles. What are you doing out in the middle of nowhere?
 * Tommy Johnson: Well, I had to be up at that there crossroads last midnight, to sell my soul to the devil.
 * Everett: Well, ain't it a small world, spiritually speaking. Pete and Delmar just been baptized and saved. I guess I'm the only one that remains unaffiliated.
 * Delmar: This ain't no laughing matter, Everett.
 * Everett: What'd the devil give you for your soul, Tommy?
 * Tommy Johnson: Well, he taught me to play this here guitar real good.
 * Delmar: Oh, son. For that, you traded your everlasting soul?
 * Tommy Johnson: [shrugs] Well, I wasn't usin' it.
 * Pete: I've always wondered, what's the devil look like?
 * Everett: Well, of course there are all manner of lesser imps and demons, Pete, but the great Satan hisself is red and scaly with a bifurcated tail, and he carries a hay fork.
 * Tommy Johnson: Oh, no. No, sir. He's white, as white as you folks, with empty eyes and a big hollow voice. He loves to travel around with a mean old hound. That's right.
 * Pete: And he told you to go to Tishomingo?
 * Tommy Johnson: Well, no, sir, that was my idea. I heard there's a man down there. He pays folks money to sing into his can. They say he pays extra if you play real good.
 * Everett: Tishomingo, huh? How much he pay?

 * Everett: [after performing Man of Constant Sorrow] Woo! Hot Damn, son I believe you did sell your soul to the devil.
 * Lund: Woooooooo-wee. Boy, that was a miiiighty fine a-pickin' and a-singin'. I'll tell you what, you come on in here and sign these papers here and I'm a gonna you ten dollars a piece.
 * Everett: Uh, okay sir. But Murt and Aloysius will have to sign Xes as only four of us can write.

 * [Eager to find the treasure, the boys discuss what they will do with their shares over a campfire]
 * Delmar: Let's bed down here for the night.
 * Pete: Yeah. It stinks in that old barn.
 * Everett: Suits me. Pretty soon, it'll be nothing but feather beds and silk sheets.
 * Pete: $1 million.
 * Everett: 1.2 million.
 * Delmar: 500,000 each.
 * Everett: 400, Delmar. Pete, what are you gonna do with your share of the treasure?
 * Pete: Go out west somewhere, open a fine restaurant. I'm gonna be the maitre'd. Greet all the swells. Going to work every day in a bowtie and tuxedo. And all the staff say, "Yes, sir," and "No, sir," and "In a jiffy, Pete." And all my meals for free.
 * Everett: What about you, Delmar? What are you gonna do with your share of that dough?
 * Delmar: I'm gonna visit them foreclosin' son of a guns down at the Indianola Savings and Loan, slap that money on the barrelhead, and buy back the family farm. You ain't no kind of man if you ain't got land.
 * Pete: What about you, Everett? What'd you have in mind when you stole it in the first place?
 * Everett: [clears throat] I didn't have no plan.
 * Pete: Well, that hardly sounds like you.

 * Pete: Well, hell, it ain't square one! Ain't no one gonna pick up three filthy, unshaved hitch-hikers. And one of them, a know-it-all that can't keep his trap shut.
 * Everett: Pete, the personal rancor reflected in that remark I don't intend to dignify with comment. But I would like to address your attitude of hopeless negativism. Consider the lilies of the goddamn field... or hell, take a look at Delmar here as your paradigm of hope!
 * Delmar: Yeah! Look at me.
 * Everett: Now you may call it an unreasoning optimism. You may call it obtuse. But the plain and simple fact is that we've got close to three days before they... [sees a car approaching in the distance behind him] ...dam that river...

 * George Nelson: Any of you boys know your way around a Walter P.P.K.?
 * Delmar: Well, you see, that's where we can't help you. I don't believe it's in Mississippi. [notices dollar bills flying out of George's bag] Friend, some of your folding money has come unstowed.
 * George Nelson: Just stuff it down that sack there, will you? You boys aren't bad men, I take it?
 * Delmar: Well, it's funny you should ask. I was bad until yesterday, but me and Pete here have been saved. I'm Delmar, and that there's Everett.
 * George Nelson: George Nelson. It's a pleasure. [opens the car door] Grab the tiller, will ya, buddy? [the police are catching up to the group] Hand me that chopper! [laughs]
 * Delmar: [hands George his gun] Say, what line of work you in, George?
 * George Nelson: [laughing maniacally and firing his gun] COME AND GET ME, COPPERS!!! You flat-footed, lame-brain, soft-ass sons of bitches! NO ONE CAN CATCH ME! I'M GEORGE NELSON!!! I'm bigger than any John, live or limp! I'm 10.5 feet tall, and ain't yet fully grown! [sees a herd of cows in a field] Cows! I hate cows worse than coppers! [turns his gun on the cows and starts shooting at them]
 * Delmar: Oh, George! Not the livestock!
 * George Nelson: Come on, you miserable, salaried sons of bitches! COME AND GET ME!
 * [Several cows wander out onto the road; one of the police cars runs over a cow as George continues to fire his gun]

 * George Nelson: Okay, folks, hold the applause and drop your drawers! I'm George Nelson, and I'm here to sack the city Itta Bena!
 * Delmar: He's a live wire, though, ain't he?
 * George Nelson: [approaches the tellers] All the money in a bag! What are you looking at, Grandpa?
 * Everett: Pardon me, George. You got a plan for getting out of here?
 * George Nelson: Sure, boys. [tosses the money bag to Everett] Here's my plan. [opens his jacket to reveal sticks of dynamite, then laughs] They ain't never seen ordinance like this! [to the crowd] Thank you, folks! And remember, Jesus saves, but George Nelson withdraws! [laughs] Go fix the auto voiture, Pete.
 * Woman: [whispers to the man next to her] Is that Babyface Nelson?
 * George Nelson: Who said that? What ignorant, lowdown, slanderizin' SON OF A BITCH SAID THAT??!! [approaches the woman] My name is GEORGE NELSON! GET ME?! [the woman nods in fear]
 * Delmar: She didn't mean nothing by it, George.
 * George Nelson: GEORGE NELSON! NOT "BABYFACE"!!! You remember! And you tell your friends! I'm George Nelson! Born to raise hell! [fires a shot in the air, then leaves with Everett, Pete, and Delmar]

 * General Store Clerk: I can get the part from Bristol. It'll take two weeks. Here's your pomade.
 * Everett: Two weeks? That don't do me no good.
 * Clerk: Nearest Ford auto man's Bristol.
 * Everett: Hold on, now. I don't want this pomade. I want Dapper Dan.
 * Clerk: I don't carry Dapper Dan, I carry Fop.
 * Everett: Well, I don't want Fop, goddammit. I'm a Dapper Dan man!
 * Clerk: Watch your language, young fella. This is a public market. Now, if you want Dapper Dan, I can order it for you, have it in a couple of weeks.
 * Everett: Well ain't this place a geographical oddity! Two weeks from everywhere! Forget it! [slams money on the counter] Just a dozen hair nets.

 * Big Dan Teague: [approaches Everett and Delmar's table] I don't believe I've seen you boys around here before. Allow me to introduce myself. Name of Daniel Teague. Known in these precincts as Big Dan Teague. Or, to those who are pressed for time, Big Dan, tout court!
 * Everett: How you doin', Big Dan? My name is Ulysses Everett McGill. This is my associate, Delmar O'Donnell. I detect like me, you're endowed with the gift of gab.
 * Big Dan Teague: I flatter myself that such is the case. In my line of work it's plumb necessary. The one thing you don't want... is air in the conversation.
 * Everett: Once again, we find ourselves in agreement. What kind of work do you do, Big Dan?
 * Big Dan Teague: Sales, Mr. McGill, sales! And what do I sell? The Truth! Every blessed word of it, from Genesee on down to Revelations. That's right, the word of God, which let me tell you there is damn good money in during these times of woe and want. People are lookin' for answers, and Big Dan sells the only book that's got 'em! And what do you do, you and your tongue-tied friend?
 * Delmar: We, uh...
 * Everett: Uh, we're adventurers, sir, currently pursuing a certain opportunity, but we're open to others as well.
 * Big Dan Teague: I like your style, young man. So I'm gonna propose you a proposition: You cover my bill so I don't have to run back upstairs, get your waitress to wrap your dinner picnic-style, and we shall retire to more private environs, where I will tell you how there are vast amounts of money to be made in the service of God Almighty.
 * Everett: Well, why not? If nothing else, I could use some civilized conversation.
 * Big Dan Teague: Don't forget your shoebox, friend.

 * [Big Dan, Everett, and Delmar are having a picnic lunch]
 * Big Dan Teague: Thank you, boys, for throwin' in that fricassee. I'm a man of large appetites. Even with lunch under my belt, I was feeling a mite peckish.
 * Everett: It's our pleasure, Big Dan.
 * Big Dan Teague: Thank you as well for the conversational hiatus. I generally refrain from speech during gustation. There are those who attempt both at the same time. I find it coarse and vulgar. Where were we?
 * Delmar: Makin' money in the Lord's service.
 * Big Dan Teague: You don't say much friend, but when you do, it's to the point and I salute you for it. Yes, Bible sales. Now, the trade is not a complicated one. There are but two things to learn. One: being where to find a wholesaler. The word of God in bulk, as it were. Two: how to recognize your customer. Who are you dealing with? It's an exercise in psychology, so to speak. And it is that which I propose to give you a lesson in right now. [snaps a branch off a nearby tree]
 * Everett: Well, I like to think I'm an astute observer of the human scene, too, Big Dan.
 * Big Dan Teague: No doubt, brother. I figured as much back at the restaurant. That's why I invited you all out here for this advanced tutorial. [hits Delmar with the branch]
 * Everett: What's goin' on, Big Dan?
 * Big Dan Teague: IT'S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY, BOYS! THAT'S IT! [Delmar grab's Big Dan's leg; Big Dan knocks Delmar out with the branch] Gol... durned... MONEY!
 * Everett: I don't get it, Big Dan. [Big Dan yells and knocks Everett unconscious with the branch]
 * Big Dan Teague: I'll just take your show cards... [pulls a wad of money out of Everett's pocket; Delmar jumps onto Big Dan, but Big Dan swings him around and throws him to the ground] ...and whatever ya got in the hole. [opens the shoebox and is dismayed to see the toad inside] What the...? There ain't nothin' but a damn toad.
 * Delmar: No, you don't understand. That's Pete. [Big Dan takes the toad out of the shoebox] Pete...
 * Big Dan Teague: You know these things give ya warts? [squashes the toad in his hand, then throws it against the tree] End of lesson. So long, boys. [chuckles mockingly] See ya in the funny papers. Y'all seen the end of Big Dan Teague. [gets in the car and drives away, leaving Everett and Delmar battered on the ground]

 * Everett: Why are you telling our gals that I was hit by a train?
 * Penny: Lots of respectable people have been hit by trains. Judge Hobbie over in Cookville was hit by a train. What was I gonna tell them, that you got sent to the penal farm and I divorced you from shame?
 * Everett: Uh, I take your point. But it does put me in a damn awkward position, vis-a-vis my progeny.

<hr width=50%/>
 * Everett: Deceitful, two-faced she-woman. Never trust a female, Delmar, remember that one simple precept and your time with me will not have been ill spent.
 * Delmar: OK, Everett.
 * Everett: Hit by a train! Truth means nothing to a woman, Delmar. Triumph 'a the subjective. You ever been with a woman?
 * Delmar: Well, I... I... I gotta get the family farm back before I can start thinking about that.
 * Everett: That's right, if then. Believe me Delmar, woman is the most fiendish instrument of torture ever devised to bedevil the days of man.
 * Delmar: Everett, I never figured you for a paterfamilias.
 * Everett: Oh yes, I have spread my seed.

<hr width="50%"/>
 * Pappy: It sounded t'me like he harbored some kinda hateful grudge against the Soggy Bottom Boys, on account of their rough and rowdy past.
 * [boos]
 * Pappy: Sounds like Homer Stokes is the kind of fella who wants to cast the first stone. Well, I'm with you folks. I'm a forgive 'n' forget Christian, and I say, if their rambunctiousness, and misdemeanorin' is behind them... [turns away from the mike, towards Everett] It is, ain't it, boys?
 * Everett: Uh, yes sir, it is.
 * Pappy: Well, then I say, by the power vested in me, these boys is hereby pardoned! And furthermore, in the second Pappy O'Daniel administration, why, these boys is gonna be my brain trust!
 * Delmar: What's that mean, Everett?
 * Everett: Well, Delmar, you, me, Pete, and Tommy are gonna be the power behind the throne, so to speak.
 * Delmar: Oh, okay.
 * Pappy: So without further ado, and by way of endorsin' my candidacy, the Soggy Bottom Boys is gonna lead us all in a chorus of "You Are My Sunshine."
 * [Applause. Pappy turns away from the mike, towards Everett]
 * Pappy: Ain't you, boys?
 * Everett: Governor, it's one of our favorites.
 * Pappy: Son... you're gonna go far.

<hr width="50%"/>
 * Everett: Well, at least you boys get to see the ancestral manse; the home where I spent so many happy days in the bosom of my family--a refugim, if you will--with a mighty oak tree out front and a happy little tire swing on it.
 * [The boys arrive at Everett's old cabin, but they see no tire swing on the tree]
 * Delmar: Where's the happy little tire swing? [the boys are soon confronted by Sheriff Cooley and his men]
 * Sheriff Cooley: [steps out of the cabin with his dog] End of the road, boys.
 * Everett: Wait a minute, now...
 * Sheriff Cooley: It's had its twists and turns. Now, it deposits you here.
 * Everett: No, wait a minute!
 * Sheriff Cooley: You have eluded fate, and you have eluded me for the last time. [to his men] Tie their hands, boys.
 * Everett: You can't do this now!
 * [Cooley's men begin tying Everett, Pete, and Delmar's hands behind their backs and holding Tommy at gunpoint]
 * Sheriff Cooley: Didn't know you'd be bringin' a friend. He'll just have to wait his turn, share one of your graves.
 * Everett: You can't do this! We just got pardoned by the governor hisself!
 * Delmar: It went out on the radio!
 * Sheriff Cooley: Is that right? Well, we ain't got a radio.
 * Pete: God have mercy.

<hr width="50%"/>
 * [Everett, Delmar, and Pete surface from the flood, holding on to a floating coffin]
 * Delmar: Miracle. It's a miracle!
 * Everett: Delmar, don't be ignorant. I told you they was flooding this valley.
 * Delmar: No, that ain't it!
 * Pete: We prayed to God, and He pitied us!
 * Everett: Well, it never fails. Once again, you two hayseeds are showin' how much you want for intellect. There's a perfectly scientific explanation for what just happened.
 * Pete: That ain't the tune you was singin' back there at the gallows.
 * Everett: Well, any human being will cast about in a moment of stress. No, the fact is, they're flooding this valley so they can hydroelectric the whole damn state. Yes, sir, the South is gonna change. Everything's gonna be put on electricity and run on a paying basis. Out with the old spiritual mumbo-jumbo, the superstitions, and the backward ways. We're gonna see a brave new world where they run everybody a wire and hook us all up to a grid. Yes, sir, a veritable age of reason, like the one they had in France. And not a moment too soon. [notices a cow on the roof of a flooded house, like the Blind Seer predicted in the beginning]...not a moment too soon. [looks to the side] Hey, there's Tommy. Tommy, what you ridin' there?
 * Tommy: [turns over the item he's floating on and sees it] Roll-top desk!

<hr width="50%"/>
 * [Everett and Penny are walking through town with their daughters in tow]
 * Everett: "All's well that ends well," some poet said.
 * Penny: That's right, honey.
 * Everett: Don't mind telling you I'm awful pleased... My adventuring days have come to an end.
 * Penny: That's good, honey.
 * Everett: You were right about that ring, too. Any other wedding band wouldn't do. This here was fore-ordained. Fate was a-smilin' on me, and...
 * Penny: That's not my ring.
 * Everett: What?
 * Penny: That's not my ring.
 * Everett: Not your ring?
 * Penny: That's one of Aunt Herlene's.
 * Everett: But you said it was in the roll-top desk.
 * Penny: I said I thought it was in the roll-top desk.
 * Everett: No, you said...
 * Penny: Or under the mattress. Or maybe in my chifforobe. I don't know.
 * Everett: Well, I'm sorry, honey.
 * Penny: But we need that ring.
 * Everett: Well, that ring is at the bottom of a pretty durn big lake.
 * Penny: Uh-uh.
 * Everett: A 9,000-hectare lake.
 * Penny: I don't care if it was 90,000. That lake was not my doing.
 * Everett: Of course not, honey...
 * Penny: I counted to three, honey.
 * Everett: No, wait, honey. Finding one little ring in the middle of all that water is one hell of a heroic task!

Taglines

 * They have a plan, but not a clue.
 * Sometimes, you have to lose your way to get back home.

Cast

 * George Clooney – Ulysses ("Ulysses") Everett McGill
 * John Turturro – Pete
 * Tim Blake Nelson – Delmar O' Donnell
 * John Goodman – Big Dan ("Cyclops") Teague
 * Holly Hunter – Penny (Penelope) McGill nee Wharvey
 * Chris Thomas King – Tommy Johnson
 * Charles Durning – Governor Menelaus "Pappy" O'Daniel
 * Wayne Duvall – Homer Stokes
 * Ray McKinnon – Vernon T. Waldrip Suitor of Penelope

title: O Brother, Where Art Thou?


text:
K-PAX (film)

K-PAX is a 2001 science-fiction comedy-drama film about a mental patient who claims he is an alien.
 * Directed by Iain Softley. Written by Gene Brewer and Charles Leavitt.

Change the way you look at the world. (taglines)

Prot

 * I have arrived. My travels are over for the time being.
 * I didn't arrive by train.
 * I'm an alien. Don't worry, I'm not going to leap out of your chest.
 * A reference to the creatures in the film series which began with Alien.
 * What Einstein actually said was that nothing can accelerate to the speed of light because its mass would become infinite. Einstein said nothing about entities already traveling at the speed of light or faster.
 * You know, for an educated person Mark, you repeat things quite a bit. Are you aware of that?
 * Why is a soap bubble round? Because it is the most energy efficient configuration. Similarly, on your planet I look like you; on K-PAX I look like a K-Paxian.
 * Your produce alone has been worth the trip.
 * Every being in the universe knows right from wrong, Mark.
 * Let me tell you something, Mark. You humans, most of you, subscribe to this policy of an eye for an eye, a life for a life, which is known throughout the universe for its stupidity. Even your Buddha and your Christ had quite a different vision; but nobody's paid much attention to them, not even the Buddhists or the Christians.
 * Doctor. Patient. Interesting human distinction.
 * For your information: All beings have the capacity to cure themselves, Mark. This is something we've known on K-PAX for millions of years.
 * Doctor — Doctor — Doctor — Doctor. Tell me how many doctors are there on this planet?
 * You'd be surprised how much energy is in a beam of light.
 * I take it my calculations help explain the perturbations you've been seeing in the rotation pattern of your binary star, but have been unable to explain until… this moment.
 * She says she doesn't like it when you hide her favorite tennis shoe, and she doesn't hear too well on her left side, so don't sneak up on her anymore.
 * On what "Shasta" the dog told him
 * I would say you're in need of a Thorazine drip, Doctor.
 * Something happened. That's why he called me. He calls me when something bad happens.
 * Time is running out for everyone.
 * I travel light. That's a joke, Mark. You humans — there's just no sense of humor.
 * There's enough life on earth to fill fifty planets… plants, animals, people, fungi, viruses… all jostling to find their place. Bouncing off each other, feeding off each other… connected.
 * Nobody wants. Nobody needs. On K-PAX when I'm gone, nobody misses me. There would be no reason to. And yet I sense that when I leave here… I will be missed.
 * I will admit the possibility that I am Robert Porter, if you will admit the possibility that I am from K-PAX. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a beam of light to catch.
 * Now that you've found Robert. Please take good care of him.
 * Reality is what you make of it.
 * I want to tell you something Mark, something you do not yet know, but we K-Paxians have been around long enough to have discovered. The universe will expand, and it will collapse back on itself, then will expand again. It will repeat this process forever. What you don't know is that when the universe expands again, everything will be as it is now. Whatever mistakes you make this time around, you will live through on your next pass. Every mistake you make, you will live through again, and again, forever. So my advice to you is to get it right this time around. Because this time is all you have.
 * You humans. Sometimes it's hard to imagine how you've made it this far.

Mark Powell

 * Who is it this time? Jesus Christ or Joan of Arc?
 * Let's hope extra-terrestrials qualify for Medicaid.
 * He's the most convincing delusional I've ever come across.
 * Tell me… uh, do you know of any missing astro-physicists?
 * There it is. Robert Porter. Drowned. His name is Robert Porter.
 * Whenever you're ready, I'll be waiting.

Others

 * After one month, his amnesia and his delusion has persisted. He claims to be not human. A visitor from another planet.
 * Dr. Chakraborty
 * Wow. He looks like Data.
 * Josh
 * I put up with the stink in this place for ten years. I want to get out, if you know what I mean. I used to be the doorman at The Plaza — fif-fifteen years — that's when I started to notice it… The smell. They all stank. I, I tried to tell them, but, uh… they put me here. And um, this, this place smells worse than all — except for you. You, you don't smell. So I figured you could help me.
 * Sal
 * prot told me to find the Bluebird of Happiness… Its a task. The first of three.
 * Howie
 * Patients do not escape from this institution. They don't escape. I'm going to have a great time explaining this to the state board. I've got psychotics on the fourth floor packing up their sneakers because they all think they're going off to K-PAX. Find him.
 * Dr. Claudia Villars
 * I know... You're the bluebird.
 * Bess
 * Is the spaceman here yet?
 * Gabby Powell
 * You know what a family is? You worry. They don't tell you that you know.
 * Rachel Powell
 * Quiet type. As I recall he was a real smart fellow… a brain. Strong as a horse though — and worked as a knocker.
 * The sheriff of Robert Porter's town, referring to his occupation as a killer of cattle in a beef processing plant; the authors of this work are perhaps also making some allusions to knockers, mythical creatures in Welsh folklore.

Dialogue

 * Mark Powell: If it's such a terrible experience, how do you reproduce?
 * Prot: As carefully as possible.

 * Mark Powell: What happened in there? I mean...he could be a savant. There are savants who've painted flawless copies of Rembrandts who couldn't remember their own names! You don't believe him, Steve?
 * Steve: I don't know what I believe, Mark...but I know what I saw.

 * Mark Powell: Where the hell have you been?
 * Prot: Newfoundland, Greenland, Iceland… Labrador…

 * Howie: You never gave me my last task. What's my last task?
 * Prot: To stay here — and be prepared — for anything.

 * Mark Powell: You have no laws?
 * Prot: No laws. No lawyers.
 * Mark Powell: How do you know right from wrong?
 * Prot: Every being in the universe knows right from wrong, Mark.

Taglines

 * Change the way you look at the world.

Cast

 * Kevin Spacey - Prot
 * Jeff Bridges - Mark Powell

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: K-PAX (film)


text:
Mansur Al-Hallaj

Mansur al-Hallaj (c. 858 – 26 March 922) was a Persian monist philosopher, mystic, writer and teacher of Sufism. His full name was Abu al-Mughith al-Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj.

Quotes

 * Ana al-Haqq
 * I am the Truth.
 * As quoted in From Primitives to Zen : A Thematic Sourcebook of the History of Religions (1967) by Mircea Eliade, p. 523; this is the primary assertion for which he was condemned as a heretic. "al-Haqq" ("The Truth") is one of the most holy names and attributes of Allah (God), and by this statement his persecutors asserted that Al Hallaj was claiming to be God.

 * I saw my Lord with the eye of my heart. He said, "Who are you?" I said, "I am You." You are He Who fills all place But place does not know where You are. In my subsistence is my annihilation; In my annihilation, I remain You.
 * Mysticism and Philosophical Analysis (1978) by Steven T. Katz, p. 92; four centuries later the Christian mystic Meister Eckhart would make a very similar assertion: "The eye with which I see God is the same with which God sees me. My eye and God's eye is one eye, and one sight, and one knowledge, and one love."
 * Variant translations:
 * I saw my Lord with the eye of the heart. I asked: Who art Thou? He answered: Thou.
 * As quoted in Sufism : The Mystical Doctrines and Methods of Islam (1976) by William Stoddart, p. 83
 * I saw my Lord with the eye of the heart And said: "Who are you?" He answered: "You!
 * As quoted in In the Company of Friends : Dreamwork Within a Sufi Group (1994) by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, p. 86
 * I saw my Lord with the eye of the heart, and I said "Who are you?" and he said "Your Self."
 * As quoted in The Modern Alchemist : A Guide to Personal Transformation (1994) by Iona Miller, p. 119
 * I saw my Lord with the Eye of my heart, And I said: Truly there is no doubt that it is You. It is You that I see in everything; And I do not see You through anything (but You).
 * As quoted in "Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj" at Sidi Muhammad Press

 * Concealment does not veil Him His pre-existence preceded time, His being preceded not-being, His eternity preceded limit.
 * On Allah (God), as quoted in Doctrine of Sufis (1977) by Abû Bakr al- Kalâbâdî, as translated by A. J. Arberry, Ch. 5 p. 15

 * Other than He cannot be qualified by two (opposite) qualities at one time; yet With Him they do not create opposition.  He is hidden in His manifestation, manifest in His concealing.
 * On Allah (God), as quoted in Doctrine of Sufis (1977) by Abû Bakr al- Kalâbâdî, as translated by A. J. Arberry, Ch. 5 p. 16

 * He acts without contact, instructs without meeting, guides without pointing. Desires do not conflict with Him, thoughts do not mingle with Him: His essence is without qualification (takyeef), His action without effort (takleef).
 * On Allah (God), as quoted in Doctrine of Sufis (1977) by Abû Bakr al- Kalâbâdî, as translated by A. J. Arberry, Ch. 5 p. 16

 * The beloved does not drink a single drop of water without seeing His Face in the cup. Allah is He Who flows between the pericardium and the heart, just as the tears flow from the eyelids.
 * As quoted in Mystical Dimensions of Islam (1978) by Annemarie Schimmel

 * God, Most High, is the very one who Himself affirms His unity by the tongue of whatever of His creatures He wishes. If He Himself affirms His unity by my tongue, it is He and His affair. Otherwise, brother, I have nothing to do with affirming God's Unity.
 * As quoted in Words of Ecstasy in Sufism (1985) by Carl W. Ernst, p. 45
 * Variant translation: Allah, Most High, is the very One Who Himself affirms His Unity by the tongue of whomsoever of His creatures He wishes. If He affirms His Unity in my tongue it is He Who does so, and it is His affair. Otherwise, my brother, I myself have nothing to do with affirming Allah's Unity.
 * As quoted in "Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj" at Sidi Muhammad Press

 * Love is in the pleasure of possession, but in the Love of Allah there is no pleasure of possession, because the stations of the Reality are wonderment, the cancelling of the debt which is owed, and the blinding of vision. The Love of the human being for God is a reverence which penetrates the very depths of his being, and which is not permitted to be given except to Allah alone. The Love of Allah for the human being is that He Himself gives proof of Himself, not revealing Himself to anything that is not He.
 * As quoted in "Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj" at Sidi Muhammad Press

 * In the Name of Allah the Merciful, the Compassionate, Who manifests Himself through everything, the revelation of a clear knowing to whomsoever He wishes, peace be upon you, my son. This praise belongs to Allah Who manifests Himself on the head of a pin to whom He wishes, so that one testifies that He is not, and another testifies that there is none other than He. But the witnessing in the denying of Him is not rejected, and the witnessing in the affirming of Him is not praised.
 * As quoted in "Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj" at Sidi Muhammad Press

Quotes about al-Hallaj

 * From Hallaj, I learned to hunt lions, but I became something hungrier than a lion.
 * Rumi, as translated in We Are Three : New Rumi Poems (1987) translated by Coleman Barks, p. 1

 * He says, "There’s nothing left of me. I’m like a ruby held up to the sunrise. Is it still a stone, or a world made of redness? It has no resistance to sunlight." This is how Hallaj said, I am God, and told the truth!  The ruby and the sunrise are one. Be courageous and discipline yourself.  Completely become hearing and ear, and wear this sun-ruby as an earring.
 * Rumi, as translated in Head and Heart : A Personal Exploration of Science and the Sacred (2002) by Victor Mansfield

 * This is what is signified by the words Anā l-Ḥaqq, "I am God." People imagine that it is a presumptuous claim, whereas it is really a presumptuous claim to say Ana 'l-'abd, "I am the slave of God"; and Anā l-Ḥaqq, "I am God" is an expression of great humility. The man who says Ana 'l-'abd, "I am the servant of God" affirms two existences, his own and God's, but he that says Anā l-Ḥaqq, "I am God" has made himself non-existent and has given himself up and says "I am God", that is, "I am naught, He is all; there is no being but God's." This is the extreme of humility and self-abasement.
 * Rumi, commenting on the famous expression for which al-Hallaj was executed as a blasphemer, as translated in The Mathnawí of Jalálu'ddín Rúmí, Vol. 4, part 7, edited by Reynold Alleyne Nicholson (1940) p. 248
 * Variant translation: People imagine that it is a presumptive claim, whereas it is really a presumtive claim to say "I am the slave of God"; and "I am God" is an expression of great humility. The man who says "I am the slave of God" affirms two existences, his own and God's, but he that says "I am God" has made himself non-existent and has given himself up and says "I am God", that is, "I am naught, He is all; there is no being but God's." This is the extreme of humility and self-abasement.

title: Mansur Al-Hallaj


text:
User:Parelle~enwikiquote

Hello! The name's Parelle. I'm a college sophmore majoring in History, which essentially means that I will be living out of bookstores and coffee shops for the rest of my life - should I be so lucky. I'm fond of reading, and dreaming, although I've a deep interest in organizing and cateloging...hence my interest here. I have also loved quotations, and was more than pleased to find this place! I plan to first work on The Lord of the Rings (Trilogy) which is sadly quite barren. Whether this expands...remains to be seen.

title: User:Parelle~enwikiquote


text:
Warren Buffett

Warren Edward Buffett (born 30 August 1930) is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is one of the most successful investors in the world and has a net worth of over $113 billion as of June 2022, making him the world's fifth-wealthiest person.

Quotes

 * I call investing the greatest business in the world ... because you never have to swing. You stand at the plate, the pitcher throws you General Motors at 47! U.S. Steel at 39! and nobody calls a strike on you. There's no penalty except opportunity lost. All day you wait for the pitch you like; then when the fielders are asleep, you step up and hit it.
 * Interview in Forbes magazine (1 November 1974)
 * Variant: The stock market is a no-called-strike game. You don't have to swing at everything — you can wait for your pitch. The problem when you're a money manager is that your fans keep yelling, "Swing, you bum!"
 * 1999 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting, as quoted in The Tao of Warren Buffett by Mary Buffett and David Clark p. 145

 * You're dealing with a lot of silly people in the marketplace; it's like a great big casino and everyone else is boozing. If you can stick with Pepsi, you should be O.K.
 * On being dispassionate and patient in investments, in an interview in Forbes magazine (1 November 1974); he is contrasting soft-drinks to intoxicating beverages in this example; Buffett eventually became a major investor in Coca-Cola.

 * Draw a circle around the businesses you understand and then eliminate those that fail to qualify on the basis of value, good management and limited exposure to hard times. ... Buy into a company because you want to own it, not because you want the stock to go up. ... People have been successful investors because they've stuck with successful companies. Sooner or later the market mirrors the business.
 * Interview in Forbes magazine (1 November 1974)

 * Love is the greatest advantage a parent can give.
 * As quoted in "Should You Leave It All to the Children?" by Richard I. Kirkland Jr, in Fortune (29 September 1986)

 * I'll tell you why I like the cigarette business. ... It costs a penny to make. Sell it for a dollar. It's addictive. And there's fantastic brand loyalty.
 * As quoted in Barbarians at the Gate : The Fall of RJR Nabisco (1989), by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar

 * Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.
 * Statement of January 1991, as quoted in Of Permanent Value: The Story of Warren Buffett (2007) by Andrew Kilpatrick

 * Never count on making a good sale. Have the purchase price be so attractive that even a mediocre sale gives good results.
 * As quoted in Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist (1995), by Roger Lowenstein, p. 77

 * I like thinking big. I always have. To me it's very simple: if you're going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big.
 * As quoted in Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist (1995), by Roger Lowenstein, p. 77

 * It's a game of a million inferences. There are a lot of things to draw inferences from — cards played and not played. These inferences tell you something about the probabilities. It's got to be the best intellectual exercise out there. You're seeing through new situations every ten minutes. Bridge is about weighing gain/loss ratios. You're doing calculations all the time.
 * On the game of bridge, as quoted in Forbes (2 June 1997); also quoted in The Warren Buffett Portfolio: Mastering the Power of the Focus Investment Strategy (2000), p. 112

 * I don't have a problem with guilt about money. The way I see it is that my money represents an enormous number of claim checks on society. It is like I have these little pieces of paper that I can turn into consumption. If I wanted to, I could hire 10,000 people to do nothing but paint my picture every day for the rest of my life. And the GNP would go up. But the utility of the product would be zilch, and I would be keeping those 10,000 people from doing AIDS research, or teaching, or nursing. I don't do that though. I don't use very many of those claim checks. There's nothing material I want very much. And I'm going to give virtually all of those claim checks to charity when my wife and I die.
 * As quoted in Warren Buffett Speaks: Wit and Wisdom from the World's Greatest Investor (1997) by Janet C. Lowe, pp. 165-166

 * If you understood a business perfectly and the future of the business, you would need very little in the way of a margin of safety. So, the more vulnerable the business is, assuming you still want to invest in it, the larger margin of safety you'd need. If you're driving a truck across a bridge that says it holds 10,000 pounds and you've got a 9,800 pound vehicle, if the bridge is 6 inches above the crevice it covers, you may feel okay, but if it's over the Grand Canyon, you may feel you want a little larger margin of safety...
 * 1997 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting, as quoted in Of Permanent Value : The Story of Warren Buffett, by Andrew Kilpatrick, Vol. 2 (2007), p. 1615

 * Wall Street is the only place that people ride to work in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway.
 * As quoted in The Money Adventure (1998) by Egbert Sukop, p. 128

 * Investors making purchases in an overheated market need to recognize that it may often take an extended period for the value of even an outstanding company to catch up with the price they paid.
 * 1998 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting, as quoted in The Essays of Warren Buffett : Lessons for Corporate America (1998), p. 92

 * We don't get paid for activity, just for being right. As to how long we'll wait, we'll wait indefinitely.
 * 1998 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting, quoted in Wait: The Art and Science of Delay (2012) by Frank Partnoy, p. 177

 * Success in investing doesn't correlate with I.Q. once you're above the level of 125. Once you have ordinary intelligence, what you need is the temperament to control the urges that get other people into trouble in investing.
 * As quoted in Homespun Wisdom from the "Oracle of Omaha" by Amy Stone in BusinessWeek (5 June 1999)

 * If I was running $1 million today, or $10 million for that matter, I'd be fully invested. Anyone who says that size does not hurt investment performance is selling. The highest rates of return I've ever achieved were in the 1950s. I killed the Dow. You ought to see the numbers. But I was investing peanuts then. It's a huge structural advantage not to have a lot of money. I think I could make you 50% a year on $1 million. No, I know I could. I guarantee that.
 * As quoted in "Wisdom from the 'Oracle of Omaha'" by Amy Stone in BusinessWeek (5 June 1999)

 * We're more comfortable in that kind of business. It means we miss a lot of very big winners. But we wouldn't know how to pick them out anyway. It also means we have very few big losers - and that's quite helpful over time. We're perfectly willing to trade away a big payoff for a certain payoff.
 * 1999 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting, as quoted in "Why Won't Buffett Invest in Tech Stocks?" at Motley Fool (6 March 2000)

 * I wouldn't mind going to jail if I had three cellmates who played bridge. ... The approach and strategies [of bridge and stock investing] are very similar. In the stock market you do not base your decisions on what the market is doing, but on what you think is rational. With bridge, you need to adhere to a disciplined bidding system. While there is no one best system, there is one that works best for you. Once you choose a system, you need to stick with it.
 * Quoted in The Warren Buffett Portfolio: Mastering the Power of the Focus Investment Strategy (2000), p. 112, and Think, Act, and Invest Like Warren Buffett: The Winning Strategy to Help You Achieve Your Financial and Life Goals (2012), p. 22

 * A very low cost index fund where you don't put in all your money at one time ... If you accumulate a low cost index fund over 10 years ... with fairly regular sums, I think you will probably do better than 90% of the people around you that take up investing at a similar time.
 * (quote at 2:24:01 of 2:33:25. This is often quoted online as: "If you invested in a very low cost index fund — where you don't put the money in at one time, but average in over 10 years — you'll do better than 90% of people who start investing at the same time.")

 * It's class warfare. My class is winning, but they shouldn't be.
 * Interview with Lou Dobbs on CNN (25 May 2005)
 * Buffett has made similar statements in other interviews:
 * There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning.
 * As quoted in "In Class Warfare, Guess Which Class Is Winning" by Ben Stein, in The New York Times (26 November 2006)

 * It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.
 * As quoted in Corporate Survival: The Critical Importance of Sustainability Risk Management (2005) by Dan Robert Anderson, p. 138

 * You couldn't advance in a finance department in this country unless you taught that the world was flat.
 * As quoted in "The Heresy That Made Them Rich" by Joseph Nocera, in The New York Times (29 October 2005)

 * The free market's the best mechanism ever devised to put resources to their most efficient and productive use. ... The government isn't particularly good at that. But the market isn't so good at making sure that the wealth that's produced is being distributed fairly or wisely. Some of that wealth has to be plowed back into education, so that the next generation has a fair chance, and to maintain our infrastructure, and provide some sort of safety net for those who lose out in a market economy. And it just makes sense that those of us who've benefited most from the market should pay a bigger share. ... When you get rid of the estate tax, you're basically handing over command of the country's resources to people who didn't earn it. It's like choosing the 2020 Olympic team by picking the children of all the winners at the 2000 Games.
 * To Barack Obama, as quoted in The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (2006), Ch. 5

But '''I was lucky enough to be born in a time and place where society values my talent, and gave me a good education to develop that talent, and set up the laws and the financial system to let me do what I love doing — and make a lot of money doing it. The least I can do is help pay for all that.'''
 * I happen to have a talent for allocating capital. But my ability to use that talent is completely dependent on the society I was born into. If I'd been born into a tribe of hunters, this talent of mine would be pretty worthless. I can't run very fast. I'm not particularly strong. I'd probably end up as some wild animal's dinner.
 * To Barack Obama, as quoted in The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (2006), Ch. 5

 * The 400 of us pay a lower part of our income in taxes than our receptionists do, or our cleaning ladies, for that matter. If you're in the luckiest 1 percent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 percent.
 * Speaking at a political fundraiser for Hillary Rodham Clinton in New York, as quoted in Henry Goldman, "Buffett, at Clinton Fund-Raiser, Says Congress Favors the Rich" in Bloomberg (27 June 2007)

 * You know, if I'm playing bridge and a naked woman walks by, I don't ever see her — don't test me on that! ... You know, I wouldn't mind going to jail if I had the right three cell mates, so we could play bridge all the time. ... It takes some investment to play it ... I mean, you cannot sit down and learn how to play it like most games. ... There's a lotta lessons in it ... you have to look at all the facts. You have to draw inferences from what you've seen, what you've heard. You have to discard improper theories about what the hand had as more evidence comes in sometimes. You have to be open to a possible change of course if you get new information. You have to work with a partner, particularly on defense.
 * As quoted in "Bringing Back Bridge" at CBS News (16 February 2008)

 * People will always try to stop you doing the right thing if it is unconventional.
 * As quoted in "My $650,100 Lunch with Warren Buffett" by Guy Spier, in TIME (30 June 2008)

 * You want to be greedy when others are fearful. You want to be fearful when others are greedy. It's that simple. ... They're pretty fearful. In fact, in my adult lifetime, I don't think I've ever seen people as fearful economically as they are right now.
 * Interview with Charlie Rose, on PBS (1 October 2008), also reported in "Warren Buffett: I Haven't Seen As Much Economic Fear In My Adult Lifetime - Charlie Rose Interview" at CNBC (1 October 2008)

 * I try to buy stock in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will.
 * In a panel discussion after the premier of the 2008 documentary I.O.U.S.A.. Panel at the Premier, 0:05:42ff., DVD extras, I.O.U.S.A. (2008)

 * Rule No.1: Never lose money. Rule No.2: Never forget rule No.1.
 * As quoted in "Rules That Warren Buffett Lives By" by Stephanie Loiacono at Yahoo Finance (23 February 2010)

Millions of people who regularly contribute to churches, schools, and other organizations thereby relinquish the use of funds that would otherwise benefit their own families. The dollars these people drop into a collection plate or give to United Way mean forgone movies, dinners out, or other personal pleasures. In contrast, my family and I will give up nothing we need or want by fulfilling this 99% pledge. Moreover, this pledge does not leave me contributing the most precious asset, which is time. Many people, including — I'm proud to say — my three children, give extensively of their own time and talents to help others. Gifts of this kind often prove far more valuable than money.
 * More than 99% of my wealth will go to philanthropy during my lifetime or at death. Measured by dollars, this commitment is large. In a comparative sense, though, many individuals give more to others every day.
 * "My Philanthropic Pledge" at The Giving Pledge (2010)

 * Some material things make my life more enjoyable; many, however, would not. I like having an expensive private plane, but owning a half-dozen homes would be a burden. Too often, a vast collection of possessions ends up possessing its owner. The asset I most value, aside from health, is interesting, diverse, and long-standing friends. My wealth has come from a combination of living in America, some lucky genes, and compound interest. Both my children and I won what I call the ovarian lottery. (For starters, the odds against my 1930 birth taking place in the U.S. were at least 30 to 1. My being male and white also removed huge obstacles that a majority of Americans then faced.) My luck was accentuated by my living in a market system that sometimes produces distorted results, though overall it serves our country well. I've worked in an economy that rewards someone who saves the lives of others on a battlefield with a medal, rewards a great teacher with thank-you notes from parents, but rewards those who can detect the mispricing of securities with sums reaching into the billions. In short, fate's distribution of long straws is wildly capricious. The reaction of my family and me to our extraordinary good fortune is not guilt, but rather gratitude. Were we to use more than 1% of my claim checks on ourselves, neither our happiness nor our well-being would be enhanced. In contrast, that remaining 99% can have a huge effect on the health and welfare of others. That reality sets an obvious course for me and my family: Keep all we can conceivably need and distribute the rest to society, for its needs. My pledge starts us down that course.
 * "My Philanthropic Pledge" at the The Giving Pledge (2010)

 * I could end the deficit in five minutes. You just pass a law that says that any time there's a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election.
 * Interview on CNBC (1 July 2011)

 * The approach and strategies are very similar in that you gather all the information you can and then keep adding to that base of information as things develop. You do whatever the probabilities indicated based on the knowledge that you have at that time, but you are always willing to modify your behaviour or your approach as you get new information. In bridge, you behave in a way that gets the best from your partner. And in business, you behave in the way that gets the best from your managers and your employees.
 * "Buffett on Bridge" at Buffetcup.com (2013)

 * Criticize by category — praise by name.
 * (quote at 48:00 of 2:00:00)

 * I have been on twenty public company corporate boards, not counting any Berkshire subsidiaries. ... The independent directors, in many cases, are the the least independent. ... If the income you receive as a corporate director ... is an important part of your income ... how in the world is that independent?
 * (quote at 5:03:03 of 7:10:07)

 * My old boss, Ben Graham, told me very early on you get more trouble with a good idea than a bad idea, because the good idea works. I mean, it's a good idea to buy a home, for example. And then people go crazy sometimes. The good idea works, and it works, and it works. Stocks work out better than bonds most of the time. And, after a while, people forget that there were some other limiting conditions. With Edgar Lawrence Smith's book, it was that when bonds yield the same as stocks — which was the case then — the stocks are going to outperform because they have this retained earnings. So stocks started going up in the Twenties and all of a sudden they were selling at 5 or 6 times the prices as when they bought the book. And the original correct perception on his part had experienced changing conditions, but people ... got their confirmation through stock prices. That's what happens in bull markets. People start out thinking stocks are cheap, and then they start thinking stocks have gone up. And, a stock can be a good buy or a bad buy. A bond can be a good buy or a bad buy. It depends on price.
 * (quote at 10:50 of 2:04:02)

Letters to Shareholders (1957 - 2012)

 * Buffet's annual letters to shareholders (1957 - 2012)

 * Our performance, relatively, is likely to be better in a bear market than in a bull market ... in a year when the general market had a substantial advance, I would be well satisfied to match the advance of the averages.
 * Second annual letter to Limited Partners (1957)

 * I make no attempt to forecast the general market — my efforts are devoted to finding undervalued securities. However, I do believe that widespread public belief in the Inevitability of profits from investments in stocks will lead to eventual trouble. Should this occur, prices, but not intrinsic values in my opinion, of even undervalued securities can be expected to be substantially affected.
 * 2 November 1959

 * Management's objective is to achieve a return on capital over the long term which averages somewhat higher than that of American industry generally — while utilizing sound accounting and debt policies.
 * 29 March 1974

 * An irresistible footnote: in 1971, pension fund managers invested a record 122% of net funds available in equities — at full prices they couldn't buy enough of them. In 1974, after the bottom had fallen out, they committed a then record low of 21% to stocks.
 * 1978 Chairman's Letter

 * The primary test of managerial economic performance is the achievement of a high earnings rate on equity capital employed (without undue leverage, accounting gimmickry, etc.) and not the achievement of consistent gains in earnings per share. In our view, many businesses would be better understood by their shareholder owners, as well as by the general public, if managements and financial analysts modified the primary emphasis they place upon earnings per share, and upon yearly changes in that figure.
 * 1979 Chairman's Letter

 * We have tried occasionally to buy toads at bargain prices with results that have been chronicled in past reports. Clearly our kisses fell flat. We have done well with a couple of princes — but they were princes when purchased. At least our kisses didn't turn them into toads. And, finally, we have occasionally been quite successful in purchasing fractional interests in easily-identifiable princes at toad-like prices.
 * 1981 Chairman's Letter

 * It's simply to say that managers and investors alike must understand that accounting numbers is the beginning, not the end, of business valuation.
 * 1982 Chairman's Letter

 * When returns on capital are ordinary, an earn-more-by-putting-up-more record is no great managerial achievement. You can get the same result personally while operating from your rocking chair. Just quadruple the capital you commit to a savings account and you will quadruple your earnings. You would hardly expect hosannas for that particular accomplishment. Yet, retirement announcements regularly sing the praises of CEOs who have, say, quadrupled earnings of their widget company during their reign — with no one examining whether this gain was attributable simply to many years of retained earnings and the workings of compound interest.
 * 1985 Chairman's Letter

 * Ben's Mr. Market allegory may seem out-of-date in today's investment world, in which most professionals and academicians talk of efficient markets, dynamic hedging and betas. Their interest in such matters is understandable, since techniques shrouded in mystery clearly have value to the purveyor of investment advice. After all, what witch doctor has ever achieved fame and fortune by simply advising "Take two aspirins"?
 * 1987 Chairman's Letter

 * Over the years, Charlie [Munger, Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman] and I have observed many accounting-based frauds of staggering size. Few of the perpetrators have been punished; many have not even been censured. It has been far safer to steal large sums with pen than small sums with a gun.
 * 1988 Chairman's Letter

 * In fact, when we own portions of outstanding businesses with outstanding managements, our favorite holding period is forever.
 * 1988 Chairman's Letter

 * For example: (1) As if governed by Newton's First Law of Motion, an institution will resist any change in its current direction; (2) Just as work expands to fill available time, corporate projects or acquisitions will materialize to soak up available funds; (3) Any business craving of the leader, however foolish, will be quickly supported by detailed rate-of-return and strategic studies prepared by his troops; and (4) The behavior of peer companies, whether they are expanding, acquiring, setting executive compensation or whatever, will be mindlessly imitated.
 * 1989 Chairman's Letter

 * After 25 years of buying and supervising a great variety of businesses, Charlie and I have not learned how to solve difficult business problems. What we have learned is to avoid them. To the extent we have been successful, it is because we concentrated on identifying one-foot hurdles that we could step over because we acquired any ability to clear seven-footers.
 * 1989 Chairman's Letter

 * The most common cause of low prices is pessimism — some times pervasive, some times specific to a company or industry. We want to do business in such an environment, not because we like pessimism but because we like the prices it produces. It's optimism that is the enemy of the rational buyer.
 * 1990 Chairman's Letter

 * Our stay-put behavior reflects our view that the stock market serves as a relocation center at which money is moved from the active to the patient.
 * 1991 Chairman's Letter

 * We've long felt that the only value of stock forecasters is to make fortune tellers look good. Even now, Charlie and I continue to believe that short-term market forecasts are poison and should be kept locked up in a safe place, away from children and also from grown-ups who behave in the market like children.
 * 1992 Chairman's Letter

 * The strategy we've adopted precludes our following standard diversification dogma. Many pundits would therefore say the strategy must be riskier than that employed by more conventional investors. We disagree. We believe that a policy of portfolio concentration may well decrease risk if it raises, as it should, both the intensity with which an investor thinks about a business and the comfort-level he must feel with its economic characteristics before buying into it. In stating this opinion, we define risk, using dictionary terms, as "the possibility of loss or injury."
 * 1993 Chairman's Letter

 * Just because Charlie and I can clearly see dramatic growth ahead for an industry does not mean we can judge what its profit margins and returns on capital will be as a host of competitors battle for supremacy. At Berkshire we will stick with businesses whose profit picture for decades to come seems reasonably predictable. Even then, we will make plenty of mistakes.
 * 1994 Chairman's Letter

 * The sad fact is that most major acquisitions display an egregious imbalance: They are a bonanza for the shareholders of the acquiree; they increase the income and status of the acquirer's management; and they are a honey pot for the investment bankers and other professionals on both sides. But, alas, they usually reduce the wealth of the acquirer's shareholders, often to a substantial extent. That happens because the acquirer typically gives up more intrinsic value than it receives. Do that enough, says John Medlin, the retired head of Wachovia Corp., and "you are running a chain letter in reverse." ... The acquisition problem is often compounded by a biological bias: Many CEOs attain their position in part because they possess an abundance of animal spirits and ego.
 * 1995 Chairman's Letter

 * Of course, Charlie and I can identify only a few Inevitables, even after a lifetime of looking for them. Leadership alone provides no certainties: Witness the shocks some years back at General Motors, IBM and Sears, all of which had enjoyed long periods of seeming invincibility. Though some industries or lines of business exhibit characteristics that endow leaders with virtually insurmountable advantages, and that tend to establish Survival of the Fattest as almost a natural law, most do not. Thus, for every Inevitable, there are dozens of Impostors, companies now riding high but vulnerable to competitive attacks.
 * 1996 Chairman's Letter

 * In a bull market, one must avoid the error of the preening duck that quacks boastfully after a torrential rainstorm, thinking that its paddling skills have caused it to rise in the world. A right-thinking duck would instead compare its position after the downpour to that of the other ducks on the pond.
 * 1997 Chairman's Letter

 * But now for the final exam: If you expect to be a net saver during the next five years, should you hope for a higher or lower stock market during that period? Many investors get this one wrong. Even though they are going to be net buyers of stocks for many years to come, they are elated when stock prices rise and depressed when they fall. In effect, they rejoice because prices have risen for the "hamburgers" they will soon be buying. This reaction makes no sense. Only those who will be sellers of equities in the near future should be happy at seeing stocks rise. Prospective purchasers should much prefer sinking prices.
 * 1997 Chairman's Letter

 * Our future rates of gain will fall far short of those achieved in the past. Berkshire's capital base is now simply too large to allow us to earn truly outsized returns. If you believe otherwise, you should consider a career in sales but avoid one in mathematics (bearing in mind that there are really only three kinds of people in the world: those who can count and those who can't).
 * 1998 Chairman's Letter

 * Intrinsic value can be defined simply: It is the discounted value of the cash that can be taken out of a business during its remaining life. The calculation of intrinsic value, though, is not so simple. As our definition suggests, intrinsic value is an estimate rather than a precise figure, and it is additionally an estimate that must be changed if interest rates move or forecasts of future cash flows are revised.
 * Berkshire Hathaway Inc.: An Owner's Manual (1999)

 * We will reject interesting opportunities rather than over-leverage our balance sheet.
 * Berkshire Hathaway Inc.: An Owner's Manual (1999)

 * Those who attended [the annual meeting] last year saw your Chairman pitch to Ernie Banks. This encounter proved to be the titanic duel that the sports world had long awaited. After the first few pitches — which were not my best, but when have I ever thrown my best? — I fired a brushback at Ernie just to let him know who was in command. Ernie charged the mound, and I charged the plate. But a clash was avoided because we became exhausted before reaching each other.
 * 1999 Chairman's Letter

 * The line separating investment and speculation, which is never bright and clear, becomes blurred still further when most market participants have recently enjoyed triumphs. Nothing sedates rationality like large doses of effortless money. After a heady experience of that kind, normally sensible people drift into behavior akin to that of Cinderella at the ball. They know that overstaying the festivities—that is, continuing to speculate in companies that have gigantic valuations relative to the cash they are likely to generate in the future—will eventually bring on pumpkins and mice. But they nevertheless hate to miss a single minute of what is one helluva party. Therefore, the giddy participants all plan to leave just seconds before midnight. There's a problem, though: They are dancing in a room in which the clocks have no hands.
 * 2000 Chairman's Letter

 * Instead, we try to apply Aesop's 2,600-year-old equation to opportunities in which we have reasonable confidence as to how many birds are in the bush and when they will emerge (a formulation that my grandsons would probably update to "A girl in a convertible is worth five in the phonebook.").
 * 2000 Chairman's Letter

 * But a pin lies in wait for every bubble. And when the two eventually meet, a new wave of investors learns some very old lessons: First, many in Wall Street — a community in which quality control is not prized — will sell investors anything they will buy. Second, speculation is most dangerous when it looks easiest.
 * 2000 Chairman's Letter

 * After all, you only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.
 * 2001 Chairman's Letter

 * Most companies are saddled with institutional constraints. A company's history, for example, may commit it to an industry that now offers limited opportunity. A more common problem is a shareholder constituency that pressures its manager to dance to Wall Street's tune. Many CEOs resist, but others give in and adopt operating and capital-allocation policies far different from those they would choose if left to themselves.
 * 2003 Chairman's Letter

 * Investors should remember that excitement and expenses are their enemies. And if they insist on trying to time their participation in equities, they should try to be fearful when others are greedy and greedy only when others are fearful.
 * 2004 Chairman's Letter

 * Long ago, Sir Isaac Newton gave us three laws of motion, which were the work of genius. But Sir Isaac's talents didn't extend to investing: He lost a bundle in the South Sea Bubble, explaining later, "I can calculate the movement of the stars, but not the madness of men." If he had not been traumatized by this loss, Sir Isaac might well have gone on to discover the Fourth Law of Motion: For investors as a whole, returns decrease as motion increases.
 * 2005 Chairman's Letter

 * Size seems to make many organizations slow-thinking, resistant to change and smug.
 * 2006 Chairman's Letter

 * The worst sort of business is one that grows rapidly, requires significant capital to engender the growth, and then earns little or no money. Think airlines. Here a durable competitive advantage has proven elusive ever since the days of the Wright Brothers. Indeed, if a farsighted capitalist had been present at Kitty Hawk, he would have done his successors a huge favor by shooting Orville down.
 * 2007 Chairman's Letter

 * I've reluctantly discarded the notion of my continuing to manage the portfolio after my death — abandoning my hope to give new meaning to the term "thinking outside the box."
 * 2007 Chairman's Letter

 * Long ago, Ben Graham taught me that “Price is what you pay; value is what you get.” Whether we're talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down.
 * 2008 Chairman's Letter

 * Putting people into homes, though a desirable goal, shouldn't be our country's primary objective. Keeping them in their homes should be the ambition.
 * 2008 Chairman's Letter

 * We never want to count on the kindness of strangers in order to meet tomorrow's obligations. When forced to choose, I will not trade even a night's sleep for the chance of extra profits.
 * 2008 Chairman's Letter

 * Upon leaving [the derivatives business], our feelings about the business mirrored a line in a country song: "I liked you better before I got to know you so well."
 * 2008 Chairman's Letter

(Fall, 1984)

 * Hermes, Columbia Business School magazine, source.

 * The common intellectual theme of the investors from Graham-Doddsville is this: they search for discrepencies between the value of a business and the price of small pieces of that business in the market... through the medium of marketable stocks...

 * Our Graham & Dodd investors... do not discuss beta, the or  in returns among securities. ...[M]ost of them would have difficulty defining these terms. The investors simply focus on two variables: price and value.

 * Walter never went to college, but took a course from Ben Graham at night at the . Walter left Graham-Newman [Partnership] in 1955... He knows how to identify securities that sell at considerably less than their value to a private owner. And that's all he does. ...He simply says, if a business is worth a dollar and I can buy it for 40 cents, something good may happen to me. And he does it over and over again.

 * Tom [Knapp] was a chemistry major at Princeton before the war; when he came back... he was a beach bum. And then one day he read that Dave Dodd was giving a night course in investments at Columbia. Tom took it on a non-credit basis, and he got so interested... that he enrolled at Columbia Business School where he got the MBA... He took Dodd's course again, and took Ben Graham's course. ...35 years later ...I found him on the beach ...he owns the beach!

 * [T]he idea of buying dollar bills for 40 cents takes immediately with people or it doesn't take at all. It's like an inoculation. ...It doesn't seem to be a matter of I.Q. or academic training. It's instant recognition, or it's nothing.

 * Stan [Perlmeter] was a liberal arts major... We happened to be in the same building... Again, it took five minutes for Stan to embrace the value approach.

 * Very, very few s are managed from a value standpoint.

 * It's not like I am reciting... the names of a bunch of lottery winners. ...I knew what they had been taught and ...had some personal knowledge of their intellect, character and temperament. ...[T]his group has assumed far less risk than average; note their record in years when the general market is weak. While they differ greatly in style, these investors are, mentally, always buying the business, not buying the stock. ...[A]ll exploit the difference between the market price of a business and its intrinsic value.

 * I'm convinced that there is much inefficiency in the market.

 * When the price of a stock can be influenced by a "herd" on Wall Street with prices set at the margin by the most emotional person, or the greediest person, or the most depressed person, it is hard to argue that the market always prices rationally. In fact, market prices are often nonsensical.

 * The greater the potential for reward in the value portfolio, the less risk there is.

 * The Washington Post Company in 1973 was selling for $80 million in the market. ...[Y]ou could have sold the assets ...for not less than $400 million ...Now, if the stock had declined even further... to $40 million... its beta would have been greater. ...This is truly Alice in Wonderland. I have never been able to figure out why it's riskier to buy $400 million worth of properties for $40 million than for $80 million.

 * You... have to have the knowledge to... make a very general estimate about the value of the underlying businesses. But you do not cut it close. That is what Ben Graham meant by having a margin of safety.

 * [T]he secret has been out for 50 years, ever since Ben Graham and Dave Dodd wrote Security Analysis, yet I have seen no trend toward in... 35 years... There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult.

 * There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace, and those who read their Graham and Dodd will continue to prosper.

Quotes from the press

 * Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing. "The Three Essential Warren Buffett Quotes To Live By" forbes.com (20 April 2014)

 * We're going to move a lot of crude (oil) in this country, and we have to learn how to do it very safely. "Buffett: Moving Oil By Rail Safely Is A Major Industry Concern" Investing.com (24 April 2014)

 * You can't make a good deal with a bad person. "23 Quotes from Warren Buffett on Life and Generosity" forbes.com (02 December 2013)

 * Opportunities come infrequently. When it rains gold, put out the bucket, not the thimble. "25 Best Warren Buffett Quotes" The Motley Fool (28 September 2014)

 * What counts for most people in investing is not how much they know, but rather how realistically they define what they don't know. "The genius of Warren Buffett in 23 quotes" MarketWatch (19 August 2015)

 * I insist on a lot of time being spent, almost every day, to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in American business. I read and think. So I do more reading and thinking, and make less impulse decisions than most people in business. I do it because I like this kind of life. "10 Brilliant Quotes From Warren Buffett, America's Second-Richest Person " entrepreneur.com (13 November 2014)

 * The best thing that happens to us is when a great company gets into temporary trouble... We want to buy them when they're on the operating table. "resensi buku warren buffett | jatuh bangun" gracetzy.com (30 May 2022)

 * The problem with municipal finance generally is that, you know, Neville Chamberlain said “not in our time,” in terms of peace and, basically, many politicians think “not in my time” when they’re dealing with fiscal matters. The pension situation, first states, then cities, and so-on, you… it’s absolutely terrible, because really don’t wanna face – they want, they can give promises now which translate into votes, and they don’t really have to with the pensions they really don’t have to deliver on those until they’re long gone. And Puerto Rico, they’ve been kicking the can down the road for a long time, and they even raised new money, I think, not much more than a year ago, a very high price for hedge funds. The answer to financial problems is not more borrowing, more borrowing, but they’ll do it as long as they can and finally the day of reckoning comes and it would have been so much easier to tackle the problem earlier and no, you know, you got all different classes of bondholders and other claimants and they’re gonna fight like crazy. Charlie [Munger] always says, he says, “an ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure,” and now you’re in the cure stage in Puerto Rico. "Buffett on Puerto Rico's debt crisis" CNBC (2 May 2016)

Rules for success

 * Take the job that you would take if you were independently wealthy.

 * Look for integrity, intelligence and energy.

 * There's a whole bunch of things I don't know a thing about — I just stay away from those. So, I stay within what I call my circle of competence.

 * I just read and read and read. ... I have always enjoyed reading.

 * Capitalism is all about somebody coming and trying to take the castle. Now what you need is .... you need a castle that has some durable competitive advantage — some castle that has a moat around it.

 * I like to study failure, actually. My partner says, "I want to know where I'll die so I'll never go there." We want to see what has caused businesses to go bad. The biggest thing that kills them is complacency. ... The danger would always be that you rest on your laurels.

 * Warren Buffett's Top 10 Rules for Success – YouTube, uploaded by Evan Carmichael, 2015

Other

 * I eat like a normal 6-year-old, but if you look at the mortality statistics, I mean, 6-year-olds don't die very often.
 * "Part 2 — Billionaire Warren Buffett says GOP health reform bills are relief for the rich" PBS Newshour (27 June 2017)

 * Confidence comes back one at a time, but fear, is instantaneous.
 * Interview with Tae Kim, CNBC, (12 September 2018)

Disputed

 * Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.
 * Though Buffett is reported to have expressed such ideas with such remarks many times in his lectures, he never claimed to originate the idea, and in the article "The Chains of Habit Are Too Light To Be Felt Until They Are Too Heavy To Be Broken" at the Quote Investigator it is shown that this sort of expression about chains goes back at least to similar ideas presented by Samuel Johnson in "The Vision of Theodore, The Hermit of Teneriffe, Found in His Cell" in The Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 18 (April 1748), p.160:
 * It was the peculiar artifice of Habit not to suffer her power to be felt at first. Those whom she led, she had the address of appearing only to attend, but was continually doubling her chains upon her companions; which were so slender in themselves, and so silently fastened, that while the attention was engaged by other objects, they were not easily perceived. Each link grew tighter as it had been longer worn, and when, by continual additions, they became so heavy as to be felt, they were very frequently too strong to be broken.
 * Such sentiments were later succinctly summarized by Maria Edgeworth in Moral Tales For Young People by Miss Edgeworth (1806), Vol 1, Second Edition, p. 86:
 * … the diminutive chains of habit, as somebody says, are scarcely ever heavy enough to be felt, till they are too strong to be broken.

 * Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget rule No. 1.
 * This maxim (perhaps of gambling or horse racing origin) is widely attributed to Warren Buffett and, as such, has traditionally been cited in print; notably, it was attributed (perhaps facetiously) to him by Mary Buffett in, The Tao of Warren Buffett. A more uncommon, less well known version, and perhaps one with a more lasting credibility (or certainly with a higher degree of checkability), would be: "The first rule is don't lose, and the second rule is never forget the first rule." This version was noted by Steve Forbes in a friendly meeting in Omaha, in an article published as: Jay-Z, Buffett and Forbes on Success and Giving Back. This article is available on the Forbes website, published on September 23, 2010.

Quotes about Buffett

 * Boy, if he doesn't give capitalism a good name, who does?
 * Benjamin C. Bradlee, remarking on Buffet's honesty and philanthropy, in a television documentary on Buffett on The Biography Channel (2006)

 * Buffett, one of the richest men in the world and a vocal supporter of higher taxes on the rich, also is making use of a Roth. At the end of 2018, Buffett had $20.2 million in it.
 * Justin Elliott, "Lord of the Roths: How Tech Mogul Peter Thiel Turned a Retirement Account for the Middle Class Into a $5 Billion Tax-Free Piggy Bank" (by Justin Elliott, Patricia Callahan and James Bandler June 24, 2021, 5 a.m. EDT)

 * Buffett does not believe that it is wise to bequeath great wealth and plans to give most of his money to his charitable foundation. ... Buffett is not cutting his children out of his fortune because they are wastrels or wantons or refuse to go into the family business — the traditional reasons rich parents withhold money. Says he: "My kids are going to carve out their own place in this world, and they know I'm for them whatever they want to do." But he believes that setting up his heirs with "a lifetime supply of food stamps just because they came out of the right womb" can be "harmful" for them and is "an antisocial act." To him the perfect amount to leave children is "enough money so that they would feel they could do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing." For a college graduate, Buffett reckons "a few hundred thousand dollars" sounds about right.
 * Richard I. Kirkland Jr., "Should You Leave It All to the Children?", Fortune (29 September 1986)

The stock market will swing up and down. But in good times and bad, Buffett stays focused on his goals.
 * Buffett believes the most important quality for an investor is temperament, not intellect. A successful investor doesn't focus on being with or against the crowd.
 * Stephanie Loiacono in "Rules That Warren Buffett Lives By" at Yahoo Finance (23 February 2010)

 * Buffett had invited me to Omaha to discuss tax policy. More specifically, he wanted to know why Washington continued to cut taxes for people in his income bracket when the country was broke. ... Buffett's low rates were a consequence of the fact that, like most wealthy Americans, almost all his income came from dividends and capital gains, investment income that since 2003 has been taxed at only 15 percent. The receptionist's salary, on the other hand, was taxed at almost twice that rate once FICA was included. From Buffett's perspective, the discrepancy was unconscionable.
 * Barack Obama, in The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (2006), Ch. 5

“I’ll tell you, not very many,” he said. “'''They have this idea that it’s ‘their money’ and they deserve to keep every penny of it. What they don't factor in is all the public investment that lets us live the way we do." … It may be surprising to some to hear the world’s foremost capitalist talk in this way, but Buffett’s views aren’t necessarily a sign of a soft heart. Rather, they reflect an understanding that how well we respond to globalization won’t be just a matter of identifying the right policies. It will also have to do with a change in spirit, a willingness to put our common interests and the interests of future generations ahead of short-term expediency.'''
 * I asked Buffett how many of his fellow billionaires shared his views. He laughed.
 * Barack Obama, in The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (2006), Ch. 5

 * Warren Buffett, one of the richest guys in the world, openly admits that his effective tax rate is lower than his secretary's. It's time to tell the billionaire class that if they want to enjoy the benefits of America, they have to accept their responsibilities, and they have to start paying their fair share of taxes.
 * Bernie Sanders, Late Night with Seth Meyers, (2 June 2015)

 * "How can you reconcile destroying the livelihoods of six hundred families," a local county judge wrote to Mr. Buffett at the time (2001). "Surely greater profits can't be more important than the lives of these people," he wrote, pleading with Mr. Buffett to keep the plant open. Mr. Buffett never responded, and the factory was closed just a few months later.
 * Bernie Sanders Our Revolution (2016)

 * What J.P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller were to the Age of Robber Barons, Microsoft's Bill Gates and Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett, as well as digital moguls like Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos are to the contemporary age of the rule of the 1%. Then as now, the super-rich used governments to write laws and rules to allow them to accumulate unlimited wealth; then as now, creating monopolies by enclosing the commons and killing competition is the strategy for becoming the 1%.
 * Vandana Shiva Oneness vs. the 1%: Shattering Illusions, Seeding Freedom (2018)

He said health care eats up 17 percent of U.S. gross domestic product, at a time when many other countries pay only nine or 10 percent of GDP but have more doctors, nurses and hospital beds per capita. "It's like a tapeworm eating at our economic body," Buffett said on CNBC television. "If it was a choice today between Plan A, which is what we've got, or Plan B, which is the Senate bill, I would vote for the Senate bill," he said. "But I would much rather see a Plan C that really attacks costs, and I think that's what the American public wants to see." Rising costs, Buffett said, are holding back an economy that faced an "economic Pearl Harbor" in late 2008 when capital markets seized up.
 * The world's second-richest person called on Washington policymakers to adopt fundamental reforms on such costs to address what he called a "national emergency."
 * Jonathan Stempel, in "Buffett: Health care "tapeworm" drags on economy" at Reuters (1 March 2010)

 * I have no large desire to sacrifice much of my personal habits, intellectual pleasures, and personal standards in order to become a billionaire like Warren Buffet, and I... do not see the point of becoming one if I were to adopt Spartan (even miserly) habits and live in my starter house. Something about the praise lavished upon him for living in austerity while being so rich escapes me; if austerity is the end, he should become a monk or a social worker... becoming rich is a purely selfish act, not a social one. ...[T]here is no need to extol ...greed as a moral (or intellectual) accomplishment.
 * Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets (2001) Eight: Too Many Millionaires | Double Survivorship Biases | More Experts

 * A related idea [i.e., about anticipating and adapting to economic crises] is expressed in a perhaps apocryphal statement by the financier Warren Buffet that he tries to invest in business that "are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will."
 * Nassim Nicholas Taleb Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder (2013), p. 137

David Cay Johnston; How The One Percent Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (Jun 23, 2009)

 * David Cay Johnston, Part 1 of an interview hosted by Lawence R. Velvel, Dean, Massachusetts School of Law at Andover. A source.

 * As taxpayers we gave one of Warren Buffet's companies, in 2006, an interest-free loan of $665 million dollars, and he only has to pay half of it back 28 years from now. ...Imagine ...you bought a house in 1980 at the price in 1980. Up until now [2009] you haven't made any payments on the house, and this year you have to pay half in the... dollars you agreed to back then, no adjustment for inflation. Do you think that alone might make you a wealthy man?

 * We gave Warren Buffet (another one of his companies) $100 million gift last year. ...[T]he state of New York had to create a special district in Erie County... [T]he justification for this is that Buffalo has the highest unemployment of the cities in New York state, and this would create jobs. It was a call-center for insurance... [A] competitor closed down their call-center, so there were no new jobs created, and... they created it in one of the whitest, wealthiest suburbs where there is virtually no public transportation. Again, transferring money up the chain of command, benefiting the second wealthiest man in America.

 * Warren Buffet controls an electric utility that has operations in the Midwest, Utah and Oregon. Oregon passed a law saying whatever income taxes are embedded in the electric rates paid to this monopoly electric company, must be paid to the government, or the ratepayers get the money back. Warren Buffet's fighting that like mad, because he knows... that company can permanently capture those taxes (if they're very smart about how they handle their finances) and enhance their profits.

 * Buffet's electric company in Iowa... There used to be 9 corporate-owned [electric] utilities owned in Iowa. They were rolled up into 2. The people in Johnson City... and 5 or 6 little neighboring communities got together and said, "We want lower electric rates. We've consolidated. Rates should go down." "No way," said the company. So they started organizing to buy out Warren Buffet's company and have municipal power. Everywhere in America that you have municipal power, it's cheaper than corporate [electric] power. Pretty soon they got advice and recommendations and help from the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities... Two prominent Iowa legislators... had a bill that would tax these municipal power agencies, and would hamstring them from any change in their business model... in the future, and that unless they promised to never again help people try to buy out Mr. Buffet's company, they had the votes to get this enacted. ...[A]s Carol Spaziani, the... retired city librarian... and one of the organizers of this drive said, "...I turn on the television and here are these images and these news stories about this beneficent billionaire, Warren Buffet, who is giving away all of this money. What nobody writes about is how he's gouging the people of Johnson City with excessive electricity rates, and that's how he's making his money.

title: Warren Buffett


text:
Steve Reich

Stephen Michael Reich (born October 3, 1936) is an American composer, associated for much of his career with minimalist music.

Quotes

 * I discovered that the most interesting music of all was made by simply lining the loops in unison, and letting them slowly shift out of phase with each other...
 * In: Steve Reich, Paul Hillier (2002) Writings on Music, 1965-2000, p. 20

 * ...in serial music, the series itself is seldom audible... What I'm interested in is a compositional process and a sounding music that are one in the same thing.
 * In: Steve Reich, Paul Hillier (2002) Writings on Music, 1965-2000, p. 35

 * What I don't want to do is to go and buy a bunch of exotic-looking drums and set up an Afrikanische Musik in New York City.
 * In: Steve Reich, Paul Hillier (2002) Writings on Music, 1965-2000, p. 55

title: Steve Reich


text:
User talk:128.248.117.178

To the user at IP 128.248.117.178 who replaced quotations with derisive statements… you can make some civil comments about quotations or the source of them upon the talk page of an article — accessed by clicking "Discuss this page". Do not erase quotations without good reason, and avoid any indulgence in extreme slander, or you will be blocked from making further edits. — Kalki 22:45, 9 Mar 2004 (UTC)

title: User talk:128.248.117.178