: “The Hilarious Impact of Charlie Munger’s Wit on Berkshire Meetings

Charlie Munger at his book signing event Katherine Graham at Borsheim’s Jewelry store.

Mark Peterson | Getty Images

Becoming a titan of business does not require giving up your personality or humor, as Charlie Munger proved repeatedly in his long and successful life.

Munger, who died Tuesday at the age of 99, leaves behind not just an illustrious career as an investor but also a string of jokes and stories that entertained Berkshire Hathaway watchers for decades.

Many of the quotes below come from annual meetings of Berkshire Hathaway and are chronicled in CNBC’s Warren Buffett archive. Those events — sometimes called “Woodstock for Capitalists” — allowed Berkshire shareholders to ask Buffett and Munger questions about the company. They also gave the investing titans a chance to share wisdom and jokes, often at their own expense.

Here’s a collection of some of Munger’s funniest quotes and life advice, starting with his musings on aging and the proper goals for your own funeral.

2017:

“What you don’t want to be is like the man who, when they had his funeral, the minister said ‘now’s the time for someone to say something nice about the deceased.’ And nobody came forward. And nobody came forward. He said ‘surely somebody can say something nice to say about the deceased.’ And nobody came forward. And finally one man came up and said, ‘Well, his brother was worse.'”

“Sometimes when I am especially wistful, I think ‘Oh, to be 90 again.'”

Munger was an active commentator on different investing topics until the end, including more modern topics like cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence. But some of his sayings fell somewhere between the categories of general business and personal life advice.

2000:

“If you mix the mathematics of the chain letter or the Ponzi scheme with some legitimate development like the development of the internet, you are mixing something which is wretched or irrational or has bad consequences with something that has very good consequences. But you know, if you mix raisins with turds, they’re still turds.”

2004:

“You particularly want to avoid evil or seriously irrational people, particularly if they are attractive members of the opposite sex. That can lead to a lot of trouble.”

Munger, who was a practicing attorney and hedge fund manager before joining Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway, was often self-deprecating when discussing his professional success.

2014:

“Competency is a relative concept. … What I needed to get ahead was to compete against idiots. And luckily there’s a large supply.”

2015:

“Warren, if people weren’t so often wrong we wouldn’t be so rich.”

2017:

“I did not intend to get rich. I wanted to get independent. I just overshot.”

Given his longevity and success, Munger was often asked questions about how to live a happy and fulfilling life,

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