“As usual in human affairs, what determines the behavior are incentives for the decision-maker, and getting the incentives right is a very, very important lesson.”
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” →
“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 →
“The most important thing in any relationship is not what you get but what you give.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt Primary source“All our science lacks a human side.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“For a poet he threw a very accurate milk bottle.”
— Ernest Hemingway Primary source“I thought she was probably a little crazy. It was all right if she was. I did not care what I was getting into.”
— Ernest Hemingway Primary source