This article was last updated on June 10, 2022
Charles Munger is an American-born billionaire, philanthropist, and investor, better knowns as Charlie Munger. He is the Vice-Chairman of the multinational conglomerate company Berkshire Hathaway. As of 2021, his net worth is US$ 2.2 billion. He is widely considered as one of the greatest minds of the 20th century. Charlie Munger’s quotes are desired, due to the experience, sage-like perspective on life and finances, and portfolio he has to back all of that up.
Having someone with such experience give away advice is more than valuable. Some of his sayings are witty and others are dead-serious, all of which are succinct, making the information easily comprehensible.
He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1948, applying his skills later in life as a real estate attorney, allowing him to become a millionaire by 1970. In 1959 he met Warren Buffet where a lifelong partnership was formed. Munger is well-known to be the right-hand man of Buffet, and his closest business partner.
Aside from all that, Munger is also chairman of the news publisher Daily Journal and a director of Costco Wholesale Corporation. This can give you an accurate expectation of how important the following Charlie Munger quotes are.
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Charlie Munger Quotes To Inspire You
Inspiration comes and goes, but that doesn’t mean it cannot be restored, aside from internally. A positive mental attitude can only get you so far sometimes, leaving space for external inspiration to come to the rescue. It is during that exact time that these Charlie Munger inspirational quotes will be handy.
The reason Munger is so good at inspiring is the fact that he’s had a lot of experience in leading and teaching thousands of people through his books, speeches, interviews, and, of course, work.
Whether you are undergoing complications to stay motivated, or simply need that little push, going through these Charlie Munger sayings will definitely have you refreshed.
1. The habit of committing far more time to learning and thinking than to doing is no accident.
Charlie Munger
2. I try to get rid of people who confidently answer questions about which they don’t have any real knowledge.
Charlie Munger
3. We recognized early on that smart people do very dumb things, and we wanted to know why and who, so that we could avoid them.
Charlie Munger
4. Like Warren, I had a considerable passion to get rich, not because I wanted Ferrari’s -I wanted the independence. I desperately wanted it.
Charlie Munger
5. Knowing what you don’t know is more useful than being brilliant.
Charlie Munger
6. You don’t have to be brilliant, only a little bit wiser than the other guys, on average, for a long, long time.
Charlie Munger
7. Those who keep learning will keep rising in life.
Charlie Munger
8. To get what you want, you have to deserve what you want. That world is not yet a crazy enough place to reward a whole bunch of people.
Charlie Munger
The Next 10 Are Mind-blowing
9. I met the towering intellectuals in books, not in classroom, which is natural. My family was into all that stuff, getting ahead through discipline, knowledge, and self-control.
Charlie Munger
10. A majority of life’s errors are caused by forgetting what one is really trying to do.
Charlie Munger
11. To this day, I have never taken a course anywhere, in chemistry, economics, psychology, or business.
Charlie Munger
12. The best thing a human can do is to help another human being know more.
Charlie Munger
13. It takes character to sit with all that cash and to do nothing. I didn’t get to the top where I am by going after mediocre opportunities.
Charlie Munger
14. If you keep learning all the time you have a huge advantage.
Charlie Munger
15. Being something and doing something that no one had done before are two different things.”
Charlie Munger
16. People calculate too much and think too little.
Charlie Munger
17. People should take away less than they’re worth when they are favored by life…I would argue that when you rise high enough in American Business you’ve got a moral duty to be underpaid
Charlie Munger
18. Just the discipline of having to put your thoughts in order with somebody else is very useful thing.
Charlie Munger
19. One of the greatest ways to avoid trouble is to keep it simple…the system often goes out of control.
Charlie Munger
20. Opportunity comes to the prepared mind.
Charlie Munger Quotes
21. It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be intelligent.
Charlie Munger
22. You should avoid sloth and unreliability.
Charlie Munger
The Following Saying Will Resonate With Many Of Us
23. Like Warren, I had a considerable passion to get rich, not because I wanted Ferrari’s -I wanted the independence. I desperately wanted it.
Charlie Munger
24. If you skillfully follow the multidisciplinary path, you will never wish to come back. It would be like cutting off your hands.
Charlie Munger
25. Another thing I think should be avoided is extremely intense ideology because it cabbages up one’s mind…when you’re young it’s easy to drift into royalties and when you announce that you’re a loyal member…and you’re gradually ruining your mind.
Charlie Munger
26. Generally speaking, envy, resentment, and self-pity are disastrous modes of thoughts. Self-pity gets fairly close to paranoia, and paranoia is one of the very hardest things to reverse.
Charlie Munger
27. I believe in the discipline of mastering the best that other people have ever figured out. I don’t believe in just sitting down and trying to dream it all up yourself.
Charlie Munger
28. … we say that having a certain kind of temperament is more important than brains. You need to keep raw irrational emotion under control.
Charlie Munger
29. No man is fit to hold office who isn’t perfectly willing to leave it at any time…
Charlie Munger
30. Acknowledging what you don’t know is the dawning of wisdom.
Charlie Munger
31. Simplicity has a way of improving performance by enabling us to better understand what we are doing.
Charlie Munger
32. I paid no attention to the territorial boundaries of academic disciplines and I just grabbed all the big ideas that I could.
Charlie Munger
33. We have a passion for keeping things simple.
Charlie Munger
Last Couple Of Sayings Can Be Applied To Real-life Situations
34. Those of us who have been fortunate have a duty to give back. Whether one gives a lot as one goes along as I do, or a little and then a lot (when one dies) as Warren does, is a matter of personal preference.
Charlie Munger
35. It’s the work on your desk. Do well with what you already have and more will come in.
Charlie Munger
36. I think we have some special talents. That being said, I think it’s dangerous to rely on special talents — it’s better to own lots of monopolistic businesses with unregulated prices. But that’s not the world today. We have made money exercising our talents and will continue to do so.
Charlie Munger
37. The great algorithm to remember in dealing with this tendency is simple: an idea or a fact is not worth more merely because it’s easily available to you.
Charlie Munger
38. Go to bed smarter than when you woke up.
Charlie Munger
39. Own your work and compound credibility.
Charlie Munger
The Best Charlie Munger Investment Quotes
As a billionaire, Charlie Munger has proved a lot of times why his investment decisions have helped him multiply his net worth, especially when looking at his portfolio. To further prove his credibility, he’s always been open about making mistakes, as he thinks this is the best way to learn better.
If there is someone you want to turn to for financial advice, specifically investing, there aren’t many that will reach Munger’s integrity and insight.
Whether you are looking for general directions, or want to get to know how to invest better, you will notice how Munger has at least a couple of quotes that will help you out. Rationality is something you will see him mention more than once, without being too specific. This is due to the fact that he believes this is what helped him get to where he is.
40. A lot of people with high IQs are terrible investors because they’ve got terrible temperaments.
Charlie Munger
41. A great business at a fair price is superior to a fair business at a great price.
Charlie Munger
42. The liabilities are always 100 percent good. It’s the assets you have to worry about.
Charlie Munger
43. Ninety-nine percent of the troubles that threaten our civilization come from being too optimistic, therefore we should have a system where the accounting is a way more conservative.
Charlie Munger
44. … the most famous composer in the world but was utterly miserable most of the time, and of the reasons was because he always overspent his income. This was Mozart. If Mozart couldn’t get by with this kind of asinine conduct, I don’t think you should try.
Charlie Munger
Philantropy Is A Big Part Of Munger’s Life
45. I’ve seen so much folly and stupidity on the part of our major philanthropic groups, including the world bank. I really have more confidence in building up the more capitalistic ventures like Costco.
Charlie Munger Quotes
46. Our game is to recognize a big idea when it comes along when one doesn’t come along very often.
Charlie Munger
47. We’re not interested in taking a substantial chance of taking a lot of very decent people back to ‘Go’ so we can have one more zero on our net worth.
Charlie Munger
48. What is the secret of success? I’m rational. That’s the answer. I’m rational.
Charlie Munger
49. It’s not possible for investors to consistently outperform the market. Therefore you’re best served investing in a diversified portfolio of low-cost index funds [or exchange-traded funds].
Charlie Munger
50. Warren talks about these discounted cash flows. I’ve never seen him do one.
Charlie Munger
51. Forgetting your mistakes is a terrible error if you’re trying to improve your cognition. Reality doesn’t remind you. Why not celebrate stupidities in both categories?
Charlie Munger
52. The big money is not in buying or selling, but in the waiting.
Charlie Munger
53. Live within your income and save so you can invest. Learn what you need to learn.
Charlie Munger
54. It’s waiting that helps you as an investor and a lot of people just can’t stand to wait. If you didn’t get the deferred -gratification gene, you’ve got to work very hard to overcome that.
Charlie Munger
55. An intelligent investing is value investing, acquiring more than you are paying for.
Charlie Munger
56. We have three baskets for investing: yes, no, and too tough to understand.
Charlie Munger
57. Wall Street has too much wealth and political power.
Charlie Munger
Some Of These Will Resonate With You
58. A lot of people think if you just had more process and more compliance- checks and double-checks and so forth-you could create a better world. We just try to operate in a seamless web of deserved trust and be careful of whom we trust.
Charlie Munger
59. Everywhere there is a large commission, there is a high probability of a rip-off.
Charlie Munger
60. Take a simple idea, and take it seriously.
Charlie Munger Quotes
61. It’s like the slaughter of the innocents. It makes the people who run Las Vegas seem like good people.
Charlie Munger
62. We both (Charlie Munger & Warren Buffett) insist on a lot of time being available almost every day to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in American business. We read and think.
Charlie Munger
63. Mimicking the herd invites regression to the mean.
Charlie Munger
64. We all are learning, modifying, or destroying ideas all the time. Rapid destruction of your ideas when the time is right is one of the most valuable qualities you can acquire.
Charlie Munger
65. Pain-Avoiding Psychological Denial, one should recognize reality even when one doesn’t like it.
Charlie Munger
66. If you don’t get this elementary, but mildly unnatural, mathematics of elementary probability into your repertoire, then you go through a long life like a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest.
Charlie Munger
Interesting read: 20 Warren Buffet’s Book Recommendations You Need To Read Now
Fascinating Charlie Munger Quotes About Life
It cannot go unnoticed that Charlie Munger is nearly a century old. Coming as no surprise is the fact that he’s gone through many hardships, learning life lessons along the way. Thankfully, he’s been sharing his experiences a lot through the years, exploiting in a good way, the opportunity to teach.
Aside from being a great businessman, Munger also has an immense interest in books. His belief is that if you are not reading regularly, chances are, you are not going to be wise.
Furthermore, Charlie Munger always covers a couple of important factors to help one lead a happy life. These would be avoiding envy, being compassionate, staying away from overspending, aiming to remain cheerful, and carefully selecting the people that surround you.
After going through these Charlie Munger quotes on life, you will definitely be left with food for thought.
67. When you borrow a man’s car, always return it with a tank of gas.
Charlie Munger
68. Part of what you must learn is how to handle mistakes and new facts that change the odds. Life, in part, is like a poker game wherein you have to learn to quit sometimes when holding a much-loved hand.
Charlie Munger
69. Assume life will be really tough, and then ask if you can handle it. If the answer is yes, you’ve won.
Charlie Munger
70. Is there such a thing as a cheerful pessimist? That’s what I am.
Charlie Munger
71. Invert, always invert: Turn a situation or problem upside down. Look at it backward.
Charlie Munger
72. Remember that reputation and integrity are your most valuable assets and can be lost in a heartbeat.
Charlie Munger
73. There is more money to be made from law, but less time to enjoy it.
Charlie Munger
Becoming Wiser Should Be Everyone’s Goal
74. Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up. Discharge your duties faithfully and well. Systematically you get ahead, but not necessarily in fast spurts…At the end of the day if you live long enough most people get what they deserve.
Charlie Munger
75. The highest form that civilization can reach is a seamless web of deserved trust-not much procedure, just totally reliable people correctly trusting one another…
Charlie Munger
76. Confucious said that real knowledge is knowing the extent of one’s ignorance. Aristotle and Socrates said the same thing. Is it a skill that can be taught or learned? It probably can, if you have enough of a stake riding on the outcome…
Charlie Munger
77. In my whole life, I have known no wise people…who didn’t read all the time –none, zero. You’d be amazed at how much Warren reads –at how much I read…They think I’m a book with a couple of legs sticking out.
Charlie Munger
78. I would argue that passion is more important than brainpower.
Charlie Munger
79. Develop into a lifelong self-learner through voracious reading; cultivate curiosity and strive to become a little wiser every day.
Charlie Munger
80. The iron rule of nature is: You get what you reward for. If you want ants to come, you put sugar on the floor.
Charlie Munger
81. Just because you like it does not mean that the world will necessarily give it to you.
Charlie Munger Quotes
82. I think that one should recognize the reality even when one doesn’t like it; indeed, especially when one doesn’t like it.
Charlie Munger
83. There is no way you can live an adequate life without making mistakes.
Charlie Munger
Self-pity Is Never An Option
84. Don’t drift into self-pity because it doesn’t solve any problems.
Charlie Munger
85. Always take the high road, it’s far less crowded.
Charlie Munger
86. One solution fits all is not the way to go. All these cultures are different. The right culture for the Mayo Clinic is different from the right culture at a Hollywood movie studio. You can’t run all these places with a cookie-cutter solution.
Charlie Munger
87. The best armor of old age is a well-spent life perfecting it.
Charlie Munger
88. It’s not supposed to be easy. Anyone who finds it easy is stupid.
Charlie Munger
89. No wise pilot, no matter how great his talent and experience, fails to use a checklist.
Charlie Munger
90. You must force yourself to consider opposing arguments. Especially when they challenge your best-loved ideas.
Charlie Munger Quotes
91. If something is too hard, we move on to something else. What could be more simpler than that?
Charlie Munger
92. You don’t have to have the ability that quantum mechanics requires. You just have to know a few simple things and really know them.
Charlie Munger
93. Wisdom acquisition is a moral duty. It’s not something you do just to advance in life…You are not going to get very far in life based on what you already know. You’re going to advance in life by what you learn after you leave here.
Charlie Munger
94. You need patience, discipline, and agility to take losses and adversity without going crazy.
Charlie Munger
95. There’s a tendency to think that our present politicians are much worse than we had in the past. But we tend to forget how awful our politicians were in the past.
Charlie Munger
No Matter What, We Must Recover
96. Another thing, of course, is that life will have terrible blows in it, horrible blows, unfair blows. It doesn’t matter. And some people recover and others don’t…
Charlie Munger
97. Most people are too fretful, they worry too much. Success means being very patient, but aggressive when it’s time.
Charlie Munger
98. Some people are extraordinarily good at knowing the limits of their knowledge because they have to be.
Charlie Munger
99. How to find a good spouse? The best single way is to deserve a good spouse.
Charlie Munger
100. There is no better teacher than history in determining the future…there are answers worth billions of dollars in 30$ history book.
Charlie Munger
101. Crowd folly, the tendency of humans, under some circumstances, to resemble lemmings, explains much foolish thinking of brilliant men and much foolish behavior.
Charlie Munger
Final Words
If you went through all these Charlie Munger quotes, you’ve definitely got a lot on your plate. A great idea will be to write down some of these, the ones that left the biggest impression. This way, they will be staying within an arm’s reach for when you need them the most.
He mentions patience, in one way or another, being one of the main points for life and, especially, financial success. After all, it took him quite some time to even become a millionaire, reaching that point at the age of 46.
As you can see, Munger is an excellent source of information and life lessons, whether it is about business or life. He’s got his way with words, which is the reason he is globally acknowledged as an exceptional speaker.
Finally, If there is one thing to take from these Charlie Munger quotes, there are always ways to improve. This comes from a person who has lived through it all. So don’t be afraid to follow your calling, not only financial but personal as well.
If you are interested in Warren Buffet, we suggest checking out our compilation of Warren’s Buffet quotes.
Image credit: Nick Webb via Flickr
