Sources and verification

Each entry has a traceable source. Grade A prioritizes original video, official speeches, original letters and interview transcripts. Grade B covers credible media reports with an identified date, occasion and interviewee. Grade C denotes secondary reproductions used to find leads, not as final verification.

Disclaimer: This is an independent editorial project, unaffiliated with Warren Buffett or Berkshire Hathaway. It does not reproduce full interviews, paid articles or videos in bulk. It uses limited excerpts, original commentary and source links. Unverified material is not presented as Buffett’s own words. Editorial interpretation, Chinese paraphrases and AI-assisted organization are not presented as direct quotations.

Additional verification notes

The idea of leaving children enough to do anything but not enough to do nothing is introduced by the questioner in the cited 2013 exchange. Buffett expressed the same view elsewhere, so this does not establish that he never said it. Compare page 1 of Berkshire’s official November 25, 2024 document ↗。

QT-011: Three qualities in choosing people contains “first two”, which contradicts the following sentence. The original recording still needs checking. The English transcript is retained and the Chinese rendering is marked provisional.

How to read verification notes

Text checked: Compared with public text or a transcript. This does not mean the original recording was checked line by line; see individual source notes.

✓ Verified: The wording can be checked against the source page, or agrees word for word across independent sources. See the specific evidence listed.

◐ Partially verified: Some evidence is available, but wording, transcription or attribution remains unresolved. Read the individual note; do not treat it as an unqualified verbatim quotation.

Further research

The collection does not cover every year or all available material. Further research can consult:

CNBC Warren Buffett Archive (buffett.cnbc.com): annual-meeting videos and shareholder letters
Official Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letters (berkshirehathaway.com/letters)
Original university lecture and commencement videos or university transcripts
Original interviews with an identified date, occasion and interviewer