Warren Buffet's Secrets of Succes

Warren Buffett, Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, is arguably the world's greatest investor. He is also a great philanthropist: last year he declared plans to give away over $37 billion (Rs 151,700 crore) in charity, to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

But he is not just a man with a large heart and a matching wallet. Also known as The Sage of Omaha, he is also full of wisdom and wit.

Here are some of his gems of advice for investors who look at the stock market to make a fortune, culled from various publications, his speeches and writings:

• 'Never invest in a business you cannot understand.'

• 'Always invest for the long term.'

• 'Remember that the stock market is manic-depressive.'

• 'Buy a business, don't rent stocks.'

• 'Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.'

• 'Stop trying to predict the direction of the stock market, the economy, interest rates, or elections.'

• 'I never attempt to make money on the stock market. I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years.'

• 'Wall Street is the only place that people ride to in a Rolls-Royce to get advice from those who take the subway.'

• 'Buy companies with strong histories of profitability and with a dominant business franchise.'

• 'It is optimism that is the enemy of the rational buyer.'

• 'As far as you are concerned, the stock market does not exist. Ignore it.'

• 'The ability to say 'no' is a tremendous advantage for an investor.'

• 'If you're doing something you love, you're more likely to put your all into it, and that generally equates to making money.'

'My idea of a group decision is to look in the mirror.'

• 'Most people get interested in stocks when everyone else is. The time to get interested is when no one else is. You can't buy what is popular and do well.'

• 'The smarter the journalists are, the better off society is.'

• 'Success in investing doesn't correlate with IQ once you're above the level of 25. Once you have ordinary intelligence, what you need is the temperament to control the urges that get other people into trouble in investing.'

• 'Diversification is a protection against ignorance. It makes very little sense for those who know what they're doing.'

• 'You're neither right nor wrong because other people agree with you. You're right because your facts are right and your reasoning is right - that's the only thing that makes you right. And if your facts and reasoning are right, you don't have to worry about anybody else.'

• 'There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult.'

• 'In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run it is a weighing machine.'

• 'It's only when the tide goes out that you learn who's been swimming naked.'

• 'Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don't have the first, the other two will kill you. You think about it; it's true. If you hire somebody without the first, you really want them to be dumb and lazy.'

• 'There are three kinds of people in the world: those who can count, and those who can't.'

• 'It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to lose it.'