Time & hindsight

What is the most important lesson life has taught you?

141 answers answered between 1956 and 2026 one of 25 in The Q&A

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The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

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Charlie Munger Vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, 1978–2023
Every mischance in life was an opportunity to learn something and your duty was not to be submerged in self-pity, but to utilize the terrible blow in a constructive fashion.
Recorded USC Gould School of Law commencement, 2007, Speakola, 2007 source ↗
Warren Buffett Chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, 1970–2025
The number one rule I give them is just not give them the golden rule. Do unto others, I'm not a religious guy, but, I mean, nobody said it any better in a couple thousand years than that, which may be why it's lasted to a certain degree too. I mean, more people are reading a 2000-year-old book about how to behave than anything that anybody's coming up with lately. Now it's got a lot of, particularly the Old Testament, it's got different kinds of stories, to some extent, but if the whole world lived by the golden rule, it would be such a more wonderful society.
Recorded Becky Quick, Interview at the 2026 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting; CNBC's own transcript of its own broadcast, 2 May 2026 source ↗

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