“ Imagine the big rating agencies as three competitive saloons standing side by side, with each free to set its own drinking age. Before long, nine-year-olds would be downing bourbon Roger Lowenstein
“ Buffett found it 'extraordinary' that academics studied such things. They studied what was measurable, rather than what was meaningful. 'As a friend [Charlie Munger] said, to a man with a hammer, ever… Roger Lowenstein
“ Buffett's uncommon urge to chronicle made him a unique character in American life, not only a great capitalist but the Great Explainer of American capitalism. He taught a generation how to think about… Roger Lowenstein
“ The modern spirit is a hesitant one. Spontaneity has given way to cautious legalisms, and the age of heroes has been superseded by a cult of specialization. We have no more giants; only obedient ants. Roger Lowenstein
“ Buffett's methodology was straightforward, and in that sense 'simple.' It was not simple in the sense of being easy to execute. Valuing companies such as Coca-Cola took a wisdom forged by years of exp… Roger Lowenstein
“ As Peter Bernstein has written, nature's pattern emerges only from the chaotic disorder of many random events. Roger Lowenstein
“ A compact organization lets all of us spend our time managing the business rather than managing each other. Roger Lowenstein
“ The public shareholders who invested with Buffett also got rich, and in exactly the same proportion to their capital that Buffett did. The numbers themselves are almost inconceivable. If one had inves… Roger Lowenstein
“ Buffett’s genius was largely a genius of character—of patience, discipline, and rationality. Roger Lowenstein
“ Being right on a stock had something of the purity of a perfect move in chess; it had an intellectual resonance. Roger Lowenstein
“ Buffett does enjoy being a billionaire, but in offbeat ways. As he put it, though money cannot change your health or how many people love you, it lets you be in 'more interesting environments. Roger Lowenstein
“ Investors long for steady waters, but paradoxically, the opportunities are richest when markets turn turbulent. Roger Lowenstein
“ VARIOUS OTHER BANKERS—heirs to the Indianapolis convention—carried on the fight for reform. However, unlike Warburg, they favored establishing an asset currency, a decentralized scheme based on each i… Roger Lowenstein
“ The professors' conceit was to think that models could forecast the limits of behavior. In fact, the models could tell them what was reasonable or what was predictable based on the past. The professor… Roger Lowenstein
“ Merton ... humbly warned, however, It's a wrong perception to believe that you can eliminate risk just because you can measure it. Roger Lowenstein
“ Bundy sternly tool his fellow endowment fund managers to task - not for being too bold, but for being insufficiently so:We have the preliminary impression that over the long run caution has cost our c… Roger Lowenstein
“ A year earlier, no company had been accorded more faith than Enron; by late November, none was trusted less. And so, a gasping gurgle, a desperate SOS: Enron, the emblem of free markets, the champion… Roger Lowenstein
