Warren Buffett, the Oracle of Omaha, is well-known for making wisecracks from time to time. And when he was invited to speak with Coins2Day’s Carol Loomis at the Most Powerful Women Summit this year, he certainly didn’t disappoint.
Here’s a look at some of his best zingers from the event.
At one point during the conversation, Loomis quizzed Buffett on his thoughts about activist investors and, notably, whether he’d ever consider becoming one. “What is your own personal appetite for joining with the activists?” She asked. “Well, it’s zero,” he replied. “Zero. Yeah.”
The discussion covered Wall Street, too. The Berkshire Hathaway CEO and billionaire investor offered his humorous perspective on how people interact there.
“Carol and I had a friend that described Wall Street in terms of the way it operates as having the innovators, the imitators, and the swarming incompetence,” he said, as the room of executives broke out into laughter. “And essentially that’s the way money attraction is.”
With the upcoming U.S. Election for president, Loomis took the opportunity to ask Buffett for his views on politics: “It’s a great spectator sport,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to be a participant, but I like it as a great spectator sport.”
Buffett, a supporter of Hillary Clinton who predicted that she would run for president and win, also answered a question about the email controversy that has rocked Clinton’s candidacy recently: “And how about the email controversy?” Asked Loomis. “Do you think that could maybe have been handled a little bit better?”
“Yeah. It could’ve been handled better,” he said with a grin. “Yeah.”
The discussion didn’t only center on politics and investing. Buffett also took some time to talk about marriage, too: “My partner Charlie Munger said if you want to guarantee yourself a life of misery, marry somebody with the idea of changing them.”
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Loomis next asked: “Didn’t he also say if you want to have a happy marriage…” At that point, Buffett put up his hand to interject: “No. He said if you want to have a marriage that will last,” prompting more laughter from the room. “He said, ‘What quality do you look for in a spouse? Do you look for beauty? Do you look for brains? Do you look for character? Do you look for honesty? Do you look for humor?’ No, no no,” added Buffett. “You want to marry the last—look for someone with low expectations.”
In his annual letter to shareholders from 2015, Buffett also provided a feast of one-liners, as collected by Coins2Day’s Stephen Gandel. Just a taste: He discussed why managers should be objective in their investing, saying: “If horses had controlled investment decisions, there would have been no auto industry,” Buffett wrote.
