10 Charlie Munger Quotes on Life, Education, and Happiness
A few months ago, at the Daily Journal Annual meeting for whom he is the Chairman, someone in the audience asked Charlie Munger what he learned by working in Warren Buffett’s grandpa’s grocery store as a teenager.
His response was classic Munger:
“What I learned at a very young age when I was just a kid, I could see some of the adults around me were nuts and yet they were very talented. I could see how much irrationality there was in very talented people.
So, I got interested in seeking out the patterns and understanding why it happened and learning tricks to cope and so on. And I did that when I was a little kid. And of course, it helped me. Who is not helped by an early start in a promising activity? And what activity could be more promising than in diagnosing stupidity?” 2
In case you are unfamiliar with Charlie Munger, he is an American investor, businessman, philanthropist and former real estate attorney. He may be best known as the man Warren Buffett refers to as his ‘partner’ as he is the Vice-Chairman of Berkshire-Hathaway to which Buffett is chairman and CEO.
Today, we will borrow some wisdom from the Tao of Charlie Munger: A Compilation of Quotes from Berkshire Hathaway’s Vice Chairman on Life, Business, and the Pursuit of Wealth and review some of the best Charlie Munger quotes on life, education, and the pursuit of happiness.
10 Great Charlie Munger Quotes
Let’s now take a look at 10 of my favorite Charlie Munger quotes and how we can make them actionable in our lives:
(1) “Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up. Discharge your duties faithfully and well. Slug it out one inch at a time, day by day. At the end of the day—if you live long enough—most people get what they deserve.”
No one gets successful overnight. It takes sustained continuous improvement to get from where you are to where you want to be.
Make it actionable: Try to improve just 1% every day, then those improvements will compound just like that penny in the bank!
(2) “Three rules for a career: (1) Don’t sell anything you wouldn’t buy yourself, (2) Don’t work for anyone you don’t respect and admire; and (3) Work only with people you enjoy.”
3 great pieces of career advice from someone who has been at it a long time.
Make it actionable: It’s self-explanatory: make sure you believe in your work, find a good boss, and find a place where you have great co-workers – if you can.
(3) “I like people admitting they were complete stupid horses’ asses. I know I’ll perform better if I rub my nose in my mistake. This is a wonderful trick to learn.”
This piece of advice from Munger is all about taking responsibility for your actions.
Make it actionable: The first step to improving is being honest with yourself and others when you have messed up. Only then can you move ahead with improvement.
(4) “Mozart is a good example of a life ruined by nuttiness. His achievement wasn’t diminished—he may well have had the best innate musical talent ever—but from the start, he was pretty miserable. He overspent his income his entire life—that will make you miserable.”
While money isn’t everything, being financially unstable can cause much stress.
Make it actionable: Live within your means.
(5) “I have never succeeded very much in anything in which I was not very interested. If you can’t somehow find yourself very interested in something, I don’t think you’ll succeed very much, even if you’re fairly smart.”
It is much easier to be successful if you are interested in and passionate about whatever it is you are doing.
Make it actionable: Try to focus on areas that you are interested in.
(6) “We are all 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. You must force yourself to consider arguments on the other side.”
This one is advising us to look at our ideas or arguments from as many angles as possible, including the negative.
Make it actionable: Look at your ideas or arguments from different points of view. One tool you can use is called 6 thinking hats, another is Other Person’s Viewpoint (OPV).
(7) “Oh, it’s just so useful dealing with people you can trust and getting all the others the hell out of your life…But wise people want to avoid other people who are just total rat poison, and there are a lot of them.”
If you cannot trust someone, what is the point in having them in your life?
Make it actionable: Deal only with those you can trust and divest yourself of the rest, there are too many good people to have to do with those who Munger calls ‘rat poison’.
(8) “Look at this generation, with all of its electronic devices and multitasking. I will confidently predict less success than Warren, who just focused on reading. If you want wisdom, you’ll get it sitting on your ass. That’s the way it comes.”
Buffett is known as an avid reader and thinker and Munger is very similar. In fact, I saw another quote where Munger said his children think he is a book with legs!
Make it actionable: Read as much as possible in whatever areas interest you! Buffett and Munger are fans of learning from others via biographies and memoirs.
(9) “Life is always going to hurt some people in some ways and help others. There should be more willingness to take the blows of life as they fall. That’s what manhood is, taking life as it falls. Not whining all the time and trying to fix it by whining.”
We are all going to go through tough times and fail, but if we persist through these times it is also when we will grow the most.
Make it actionable: Instead of whining when things don’t go your way, suck it up, persist and get better.
(10) “I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines. They go to bed every night a little wiser than they were when they got up, and boy, does that help, particularly when you have a long run ahead of you.”
Similar to the first of our Charlie Munger quotes, but this one gives more tangible advice on how to get a bit better every day and that is to be what Munger calls ‘a learning machine’!
Make it actionable: One of the best metaskills you can acquire in life is that of being a lifelong learner. Whether it is reading, listening to podcasts, taking courses, watching TED Talks or all of the above…keep learning!
We’ll End This Blog Post…
…on Charlie Munger quotes with another comment from an audience member directed toward Munger at the 2019 Daily Journal Annual meeting which was:
“One of my favorite lines from you is you want to hire the guy with the IQ of 130 that thinks it’s 120 and the guy with an IQ of 150 who thinks it’s 170 will just kill you.”
Munger’s response?
“You must be thinking about Elon Musk.”
Gotta love ol’ Charlie’s honesty!
Until next time, take some time to reflect on these Charlie Munger quotes and as always…PYMFP!
–Rick
P.S. Wanna know more? Read the entire book.
What Do You Think?
What do you think of these Charlie Munger quotes? Do you have any other favorite Charlie Munger quotes or stories? Please share in the comments below!
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References
1 Tao of Charlie Munger: A Compilation of Quotes from Berkshire Hathaway’s Vice Chairman on Life, Business, and the Pursuit of Wealth by David Clark
I think that you might be a book with legs( lol) . Actually, that is a compliment . Your readers benefit from the knowledge you share. Great insightful quotes.
Hi Eileen, I think you are definitely right, haha. Thanks and take care, Rick
I really like meaningful quotes, and these are some great one.
(4) So true. Watch the movie Amadeus, which shows Mozart as a genius musician and composer, but who totally screws up everything else in his life, which leads to an early death.
(5) One reason mandatory classes in college outside your major are boring – you are not interested in the subject.
(6) Dammit, you are at it again. First thing I thought of was Howie’s OPV video.
(8) All multi-tasking means is that you are screwing up several tasks or projects at the same time. Pick #one, then focus. When doe, pick #two, and focus.
(9) There are situations that will totally suck. Figure out how to “unsuck” it in the future. Its called Lessons Learned.
Hi Dave, thanks for the great and funny comment. I haven’t seen Amadeus, I will need to check it out. You are spot on re: multitasking, actually, I just finished writing an upcoming blog post on the neuroscience behind multitasking, interesting stuff. Thanks again and take care, Rick