Warren Buffett Quotes: 15 Inspirational Sayings On His 88th Birthday

The stock market icon Warren Buffet turned 88 years old on Aug. 30. One of the most successful investors in history, his net worth was estimated to be nearly $87.2 billion, which makes him the third-richest person in the world, according to Forbes Real Time Net Worth.

Buffet was someone who started off from very humble beginnings; from delivering newspapers when he was in high school to becoming the third richest person in the world, he is an inspiration for everyone.

The business magnate's interest in stock market began when he was just 11-years-old.

“I’d been interested in the stock market since the time I was 11, when I spent sometime watching the market and marking the board at Harris Upham, a New York Stock exchange firm that was in the same building as my dad’s firm, Buffett-Falk & Company,” Buffett said, reported to Financial Express.

He made his first share purchase at the same age, and filed his first tax returns at the age of 14. He was rejected by Harvard Business School, and then enrolled at Columbia Business School when he learned Benjamin Graham, a British-born American investor, economist and professor, taught there.

In 1962, he took over Berkshire Hathaway, which at present owns more than 60 other companies. Interestingly enough, 94 percent of Buffet’s wealth came after he turned 60-years-old. In 2008, he was the world’s richest man with $62 billion in net worth.

But the current third richest man in the world is known for his humble lifestyle and inspiring thought process. He even has some unique habits like having coke for breakfast and carrying around an old-school flip phone.

On his 88th birthday, here are 15 quotes from the inspirational man taken from Inc., and Goalcast.

1. "If you’re in the luckiest 1 percent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 percent."
2. "It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently."
3. "Of the billionaires I have known, money just brings out the basic traits in them. If they were jerks before they had money, they are simply jerks with a billion dollars."
4. "The business schools reward difficult complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective."
5. "Without passion, you don’t have energy. Without energy, you have nothing."
6. "You do things when the opportunities come along. I’ve had periods in my life when I’ve had a bundle of ideas come along, and I’ve had long dry spells. If I get an idea next week, I’ll do something. If not, I won’t do a damn thing."
7. "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."
8. "It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction."
9. "In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield."
10. "Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing."
11. "There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult."
12. "Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken."
13. "Wall Street is the only place that people ride to in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway."
14. "Never invest in a business you can’t understand."
15. "Only when you combine sound intellect with emotional discipline do you get rational behavior."