Quote of the Day: Warren Buffett on How One Choice Can Change Everything

When it comes to market savvy, there is no one more highly regarded than mogul Warren Buffett. The 95-year-old investor was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on August 30, 1930, to Leila and Howard Buffett. His grandparents owned their own grocery store while his father was in the investment business and even became a Republican congressman in 1942. With a rich history of entrepreneurial savvy folks, at the tender age of 11, Buffett made his first investment in the stock market: 3 shares of Cities Service preferred stock at $38 per share. It plunged, then surged to $40, which he quickly sold, and he learned a hard lesson when it kept surging. He kept his head down and worked hard on a newspaper route as a teenager, earning enough to invest in a local farm.

By 17, Buffett enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School but graduated from the University of Nebraska with a B.A. in Business Administration. However, it was his time at Columbia University for grad school that would prove the most impactful, as it was there that he met one of his “greatest teachers,” the father of value investing, Benjamin Graham, an English-American economist, professor, and professional investor.

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In 1956, with his own $100 and $300,000 he raised from friends and family, he began Buffett Associates Ltd. Just six years later, the net asset value of the partnership was in excess of $7.2 million, and in that same year, Buffett met Charles T. Munger, who would be his business partner for the following 60 years. Despite originally opposing it, Munger and Buffett took over a failing textile manufacturer, Berkshire Hathaway, in 1962. By 1968, Buffett’s original investment partnership had grown to $104 million in assets. The following year, he began winding down the partnership and, after dissolving Buffett Associates, turned his full attention to managing Berkshire Hathaway. He then deployed the company’s excess capital to acquire private businesses and invest in publicly traded companies.

The investment company currently owns some of the largest companies in history, such as Dairy Queen and Geico, and holds stakes in both Coca-Cola and American Express. Buffett’s network is estimated to be roughly $129 billion-with-a-B, which he earned through his savvy investments.

Related: Warren Buffett Says Now Is Not a Good Time To Invest— But Here’s Why He Likely Won’t Listen to His Own Advice

Quote of the Day by Warren Buffett

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it,” comes from the book Corporate Survival: The Critical Importance of Sustainability Risk Management (2005) by Dan Robert Anderson.

The non-fiction book argues that businesses need to be proactive about their environmental and social risks, a position that Buffett himself has repeatedly advocated. The book serves as a guide for executives to avoid detrimental outcomes such as liability lawsuits and boycotts, and to align sustainability with profitability.

Related: Warren Buffett Breaks His Own Investing ‘Rule’ With Major $2.65B Move In Rising Stock

The Deeper Meaning Behind the Quote

While Buffett is undeniably an intelligent, savvy man, the truth is his principles and strategies are brilliantly simplistic. This quote clearly means that, in business, working with integrity, reliability, and consistency is far more profitable and valuable than cutthroat practices.

Trust is extremely hard-earned and is not built overnight, and it can take just one bad decision to dismantle every good one you’ve made — especially in the public purview of business.

More Quote from Warren Buffett

• “Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget rule No. 1″
• “Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.”
• “Risk comes from not knowing what you are doing.”
• “If you aren’t thinking about owning a stock for 10 years, don’t even think about owning it for 10 minutes.”
• “Honesty is a very expensive gift. Don’t expect it from cheap people.”
• “Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”