Diversification

“The result is a concentrated portfolio that tends to be more volatile than the indices — a situation that’s not well tolerated by lay people and Wall Street alike.”

“Please do not forget that as the common stock level advances, the advantages of common stocks appear to be more attractive and the basic need for owning them becomes more persuasive in everybody’s reasoning. Yet in fact, common stocks undoubtedly become riskier as the price advances, and thus the risk increases as the widespread acceptance of common stock develops.”

“The diversification benefit of combining value and momentum is large”

“In any diversified portfolio, there will be both winners and losers, and the consideration that should determine which you should sell, if any, is certainly not the price at which you bought it originally.”

“If you think Treasuries have no risk and high yield bonds have risk, the yield spread is there to compensate for the bearing of that incremental risk. The question is whether it is adequate.”

“Diversification is a safety factor that is essential because we should be humble enough to admit we can be wrong.”

“Concentration in great companies is less risky than diversification into mediocrity”

“Concentration is the natural result of knowledge.”

“An investor is not likely to obtain superior results by buying a broad cross-section of the market. The more diversification, the more performance is likely to be average, at best.”

“Concentration is earned through knowledge, not conviction alone.”

“Diversification cannot protect against ignorance.”

“We think diversification is only a surrogate, and usually a poor surrogate, for knowledge, control, and price consciousness.”

“Diversification is a damn poor surrogate for knowledge.”

“Diversification protects against ignorance, not insight.”

“What’s comfortable is not the right way to invest. You must own things that you’re uncomfortable with. Otherwise you’re not really diversified.”

“Diversification of risk matters not just defensively, but because it maximizes returns as well, because we expose ourselves to all of the opportunities that there may be out there.”

“I view diversification not only as a survival strategy but as an aggressive strategy, because the next windfall might come from a surprising place.”

“The only time you’re really diversified is when you have assets you don’t want to own.”

“Don’t confuse diversification with owning many things”

“True diversification comes from balancing risks”

“I think diversification and all the stuff they’re teaching at business school today is probably the most misguided concept everywhere.”

“When picking a list of growth stocks for long-term investment, broad diversification of the risk is the first and most important principle to follow. No one can look ahead five or ten years and say what is the most promising industry or the best stock to own.”

“Diversification is protection against ignorance, but if you don’t feel ignorant, the need for it goes down drastically.”

“If you really know businesses, you probably shouldn’t own more than six of them. If you can identify six wonderful businesses, that is all the diversification you need and you’re going to make a lot of money.”

“If you are not a professional investor, if your goal is not to manage money in such a way so you get a significantly better return than the world, then I believe in extreme diversification.”