“If you have competence, you pretty much know its boundaries already. To ask the question [of whether you are past the boundary] is to answer it.”
Charlie Munger
Poor Charlie’s Almanack (Primary source)
In the tradition of Benjamin Franklin’s own almanack, Poor Charlie’s Almanack stands as a remarkable distillation of one man’s lifelong pursuit of what he termed elementary worldly wisdom. Compiled with evident devotion by Peter Kaufman and first published in 2005, this volume represents the most comprehensive gathering of Charles Munger’s speeches, insights, and philosophical observations spanning two decades of public discourse.
More about “Poor Charlie’s Almanack” →
“If anything, I now believe even more strongly that reliability is essential for progress in life and while quantum mechanics is unlearnable for a vast majority, reliability can be learned to great advantage by almost anyone.”
— Charlie Munger Primary source“In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter) who didn’t read all the time—none, zero. You’d be amazed how much Warren reads—and at how much I read. My children laugh at me. They think I’m a book with a couple of legs sticking out.”
— Charlie Munger Primary source“I think a life properly lived is just learn, learn, learn all the time.”
— Charlie Munger Primary source“So you have to figure out what your own aptitudes are. If you play games where other people have the aptitudes and you don’t, you’re going to lose. And that’s as close to certain as any prediction you can make. You have to figure out where you’ve got an edge. And you’ve got to play within your own circle of competence.”
— Charlie Munger Primary sourceMore quotes by Charlie Munger →
“The years teach much which the days never know.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“The noblest question in the world is, what good may I do in it?”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“He that never eats too much, will never be lazy.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“I don’t know much about cryptocurrencies except to avoid them.”
— Charlie Munger Primary source