Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Essential Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger

Demosthenes, parsed out, was thus saying that man displays not only simple, pain-avoiding psychological denial but also an excess of optimism, even when he is already doing well.

The brain of man conserves programming space by being reluctant to change, which is a form of inconsistency avoidance.

Like my father, Abe Trillin had a fundamental reserve, partially Midwestern in origin, that was at odds with his personable qualities. He did not regard a long drive in a car or a fishing outing as an opportunity to catch up. He did not linger on the telephone. His son eventually came to marvel at “how much my father managed to get across to me wit

if you want to be a good thinker, you must develop a mind that can jump the jurisdictional boundaries.

“It’s kind of fun to sit there and outthink people who are way smarter than you are because you’ve trained yourself to be more objective and more multidisciplinary. Furthermore, there is a lot of money in it, as I can testify from my own personal experience.”

Look first for someone both smarter and wiser than you are. After locating him (or her), ask him not to flaunt his superiority so that you may enjoy acclaim for the many accomplishments that sprang from his thoughts and advice. Seek a partner who will never second-guess you nor sulk when you make expensive mistakes. Look also for a generous soul wh

principles taught by his grandfather: to concentrate on the task immediately in front of him and to control spending.

Well, he will like and love being liked and loved. So

knew, bad behavior is intensely habit-forming when it is rewarded.

He especially assesses a company’s management well beyond conventional number crunching—in particular, the degree to which they are “able, trustworthy, and owner-oriented.” For example, how do they deploy cash? Do they allocate it intelligently on behalf of the owners or do they overcompensate themselves or pursue ego-oriented growth for growth’s s