Key Quotes from 1984 Shareholder Letter

1. "Our twenty-year compounded annual gain in book value has been 22.1% (from $19.46 in 1964 to $1108.77 in 1984), but our gain in 1984 was only 13.6%."

2. "To earn even 15% annually over the next decade... we would need profits aggregating about $3.9 billion. Accomplishing this will require a few big ideas - small ones just won't do."

3. "Charlie Munger, my partner in general management, and I do not have any such ideas at present, but our experience has been that they pop up occasionally. (How's that for a strategic plan?)"

4. "Book value serves as a useful, although somewhat understated, proxy"

5. "Using my academic voice, I have told you in the past of the drag that a mushrooming capital base exerts upon rates of return. Unfortunately, my academic voice is now giving way to a reportorial voice."

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Source: Full Letter