I made a million, and I lost a million.
I bought a company in the mid-'90s called Dexter Shoe and paid $400 million for it. And it went to zero. And I gave about $400 million worth of Berkshire stock, which is probably now worth $400 billion. But I've made lots of dumb decisions. That's part of the game.
But one day we shall be rich, and the next poor. One day we shall dine in a palace and the next we'll sit in a forest and toast mushrooms on a hatpin.
To-day kings, to-marrow beggars, it is only when they are themselves that they are nothing.
When I got my statement in January, I was worth $2.2 billion. Then I got another statement in August that said I was worth $3.2 billion. So I figure it's only nine months' earnings, who cares?
There were times when I had maybe a couple of hundred dollars, and times I made myself think I was on top of the world.
You could be worth $2 billion today and a half a billion tomorrow. It doesn't take much for this to disappear overnight.
Money comes and goes. I may make a million dollars, then get a divorce and damn near lose all of it.
There is scarcely an instance of a man who has made a fortune by speculation and kept it
Where wealth is concerned, individuals aren't stuck in little boxes. You don't start out wealthy, stay wealthy, and end wealthy.
Every thing is moving and changing. Persons in poverty, are rising to opulence, and persons of wealth, are sinking to poverty.
I think money comes and goes. What comes easy goes easy.
The year 2000, I was the richest for three days. So I know up and down.
Your net worth can fluctuate, but your self-worth should only appreciate.
