The difference between a good investor and a great one isn't the ability to find more opportunities — it's the discipline to do nothing when there are none worth taking. Most of the money in investing is made by sitting, not by acting.

A great business at a fair price is superior to a fair business at a great price. But what most people miss is the third lesson: the passage of time is the friend of the wonderful business and the enemy of the mediocre one. Patience isn't just a virtue in investing — it's a compounding force.

The biggest returns in investing come not from picking the right answer, but from surviving long enough to be right. Time is the only factor that can't be faked, borrowed, or optimized away.

The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. To dig for treasures shows not only impatience and greed, but lack of faith. Patience, patience, patience, is what the sea teaches. Patience and faith.

The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient. But what most people miss is that patience itself is a skill — and like all skills, it atrophies without deliberate practice against the grain of every instinct you have.

Occasionally, the market does something so stupid it takes your breath away. The trick is to make sure you're there to take advantage of it — and that requires doing almost nothing most of the time, which is psychologically brutal for people who feel they're paid to act.

The single greatest edge an investor can have is a long-term orientation that other investors are structurally unable to adopt. Most institutions are prisoners of their own quarterly reporting cycles, which means patience itself is a source of alpha — not intelligence, not information.

The trick in investing is just to sit there and watch pitch after pitch go by and wait for the one right in your sweet spot. And if people are yelling 'Swing, you bum!', ignore them. There's a temptation for people to act far too frequently in stocks simply because they're so liquid. Over the years, you'd get very rich if you thought of yourself as having a punch card with only twenty punches in it for your whole investment lifetime.

The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient. But patience itself is not a strategy — you must also be right about what you're waiting for.

You have to be willing to look wrong for a long time before you look right. The market has no obligation to validate your thesis on your schedule.

The market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient. But patience isn't passive — it requires the psychological discipline to do nothing when everything in you screams to act.

The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. To dig for treasures shows not only impatience and greed, but lack of faith. Patience, patience, patience, is what the sea teaches.

The trick in investing is just to sit there and watch pitch after pitch go by and wait for the one right in your sweet spot. And if people are yelling 'Swing, you bum!' ignore them. There's a temptation for people to act far too frequently in stocks simply because markets are open every day.

The ability to sit quietly and patiently while everyone else is acting is not a passive virtue — it is the hardest-won competitive advantage in investing. Most of the damage investors do to themselves comes from the compulsion to do something when the right action is nothing.

The market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient. But what most people miss is that patience isn't passive — it requires the active courage to hold while everything around you screams sell.

The big money is not in the buying and selling, but in the waiting. Patience is the virtue that is most rewarded in investing.

The big money is not in the buying and selling, but in the waiting. You have to be willing to let your profits run and cut your losses short.

The big money is not in the buying and selling, but in the waiting. You have to be willing to hold. Most people aren't.

The big money is not in the buying and selling, but in the waiting. You have to sit on your ass and do nothing.

The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.

The difference between a business that compounds and one that doesn't is often not the brilliance of the idea, but the willingness to accept small returns for decades while reinvesting everything. Most people can't do this psychologically.

The big money is not in the buying and selling, but in the waiting. If you have the temperament, you can make a lot of money by sitting on your ass.

The best thing for your long-term results is to be boring. Exciting investing is likely to be bad for your wealth. Most of the time, the best thing to do is nothing.

The big money is not in the buying and selling, but in the waiting. If you have the capital and the patience, you can ride out the volatility and let compounding do the work.

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. The apparent leisureliness of natural processes conceals an efficiency that frantic human activity can never match.

The big money is not in the buying and selling, but in the waiting. Lethargy bordering on sloth remains the best investment style.

The first rule of compounding: Never interrupt it unnecessarily. The second rule of compounding: Never interrupt it unnecessarily.

The big money is not in the buying and selling, but in the waiting. Lethargy bordering on sloth should remain the cornerstone of an investment style.

The big money is not in the buying and selling, but in the waiting. Investors often mistake activity for accomplishment.

The big money is not in the buying and selling, but in the waiting. Investors often confuse activity with progress—the most valuable thing you can do is simply sit with a good decision.