“Our game is recognize a big idea when it comes along, when one doesn’t come along very often. Opportunity comes to the prepared mind.”
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.
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“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“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 source“I think a life properly lived is just learn, learn, learn all the time.”
— Charlie Munger Primary source“Invert, always invert”
— Charlie Munger Primary sourceMore quotes by Charlie Munger →
“You may be too cunning for one, but not for all.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“The type of person who comes up with the brilliant idea isn’t often the best person to turn it into a business.”
— Bill Gates Primary source“The only rational way of educating is to be an example—if one can’t help it, a warning example.”
— Albert Einstein Primary source