Warren Buffett on parenting, horse betting and why he stopped talking politics

Warren Buffett and Becky Quick covered excessively galore topics successful the interviews that aired successful a two-hour peculiar connected CNBC Tuesday evening for maine to constitute a cogent summary.

"Warren Buffett: A Life and Legacy" included discussions astir his inability to find a large institution to purchase for Berkshire Hathaway arsenic its currency heap moves toward $400 billion, caller CEO Greg Abel, his company's future and past, the trouble of giving distant billions of dollars, and the invaluable relation of luck successful his success. That's not a broad list.

Here, however, are immoderate little clips and quotes that caught my attention.  

• Buffett connected what's needed to find bully businesses: "It doesn't instrumentality a genius, and it definite doesn't instrumentality immoderate Greek symbols oregon thing similar that to fig retired what a concern is worth... If (Greg Abel) discontinue astatine precocious schoolhouse similar immoderate of our managers have, he'd inactive beryllium arsenic astute arsenic helium is."
  
• Buffett connected the Sunday committee gathering erstwhile directors considered his proposal they sanction Greg Abel arsenic adjacent CEO: "(Director) Steve Burke yet said, you know, 'We don't request to beryllium astir for 3 months and adjacent astatine our navel oregon thing connected this. This is the close decision.' And truthful they voted to bash it."
  

• Buffett connected Berkshire's future: "It'll ever beryllium moving somewhat, but it'll beryllium mostly expanding. Occasionally, determination volition beryllium things that vanish ... We volition person companies that 50 oregon 100 years from present volition not beryllium viable successful the system of that world. But we'll person a full batch much that developed implicit the years. And we tin spell wherever the state goes, and we tin spell with capital."
  
• Why being connected a corporation's committee of directors is the champion occupation successful the world:

"Being a director. I mean, it's the champion occupation successful the world. You get 250, 300, adjacent up to 500 1000 dollars a twelvemonth for doing thing that's rather pleasant. Usually they springiness you the transportation, and they person cars waiting to instrumentality you astir everything. And everybody's polite. And everybody'd emotion that job. I mean, who wouldn't?"

• Why helium gave up betting connected horses erstwhile helium was successful precocious school: "One of the archetypal things you larn successful equine racing is you tin bushed a race, but you can't bushed the races... I had a mates of horses successful mind, but I mislaid the wealth connected the archetypal race. And past I did the dumbest happening you tin imagine... I conscionable kept betting each race. And erstwhile I went home, I was $50 poorer, which was each I'd taken with me... 
  I went to the Howard Johnson's, and I had a mates of dollars left. I bought myself a fancy repast and conscionable sat determination and thought astir it and thought astir it connected the train. And that was the extremity of equine racing."
  
• Buffett connected moving Berkshire for decades:

"Everything I wanted to person hap has worked out... Doesn't mean that everything we've done has worked out. But I couldn't ideate much amusive than I've had moving Berkshire. And Charlie and I would person much amusive retired of the things that didn't enactment a batch of times than (if they) did."

• On being a teacher connected the side: "I loved it. It appealed to my didactic style, and I liked my ain ideas... I conscionable had amusive teaching. And I inactive do, but I ran retired of state a fewer years ago."

• Advice for caller parents: "The lone portion of proposal I springiness to newlyweds is don't ever usage sarcasm with your children. I mean, it whitethorn beryllium sarcasm to you, but it's a lash crossed the backmost to them they'll ne'er forget."

• Learning and evolving:

"You should beryllium wiser successful the 2nd fractional of your beingness than the archetypal half. And if you've -- if things person worked good for you, you should beryllium a amended idiosyncratic successful the 2nd fractional of your life."

• On being kind: "I would conscionable inquire anybody to situation maine connected whether being benignant could wounded them successful immoderate way, and whether the happiness of the satellite wouldn't beryllium amended if ... each greeting they said to themselves, 'I'll person things that are bully and atrocious hap to maine today, but I tin beryllium benignant to anybody.'"

Even though the peculiar was 2 hours long, determination was much interrogation than time, forcing the shaper to marque immoderate hard decisions.

Here for Warren Buffett Watch readers is simply a clip that she wanted to get into the last cut. Buffett explains wherefore helium hasn't been speaking retired connected authorities successful caller years:

Buffett has given his 3 big children the highly hard speech of unanimously deciding however to springiness distant his tremendous nett worthy aft helium dies.

When she was successful Omaha to interrogation their father, Becky sat down with Howard, Susan, and Peter Buffett to speech astir that assignment, their ain philanthropic efforts, and what it was similar increasing up successful Buffett's famously unassuming house.

An extended information aired successful the special, but this is the full conversation:

In this excerpt, they retrieve however their begetter got "clever" astir giving them an allowance:

In his Inside Wealth report connected Wednesday's "Squawk Box," Robert Frank explained wherefore Buffett's children whitethorn person the astir hard occupation successful philanthropy:

BRK.A banal price: $740,750

BRK.B banal price: $493.29

BRK.B P/E (TTM): 15.78

Berkshire marketplace capitalization: $1,064,618,103,867

Berkshire Cash arsenic of September 30: $381.7 cardinal (Up 10.9% from June 30)

Excluding Rail Cash and Subtracting T-Bills Payable: $354.3 cardinal (Up 4.3% from June 30)

No Berkshire banal repurchases since May 2024.

(All figures are arsenic of the day of publication, unless different indicated)

Berkshire's apical holdings of disclosed publically traded stocks successful the U.S. and Japan, by marketplace value, based connected the latest closing prices.

Holdings are arsenic of September 30, 2025, arsenic reported in Berkshire Hathaway's 13F filing on November 14, 2025, but for:

• Itochu, which is arsenic of March 17, 2025, and Mitsubishi, which is arsenic of August 28, 2025. Tokyo Stock Exchange prices are converted to U.S. dollars from Japanese yen.

The afloat database of holdings and existent marketplace values is disposable from CNBC.com's Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker.

Please nonstop immoderate questions oregon comments astir the newsletter to maine at alex.crippen@nbcuni.com. (Sorry, but we don't guardant questions oregon comments to Buffett himself.)

If you aren't already subscribed to this newsletter, you tin motion up here.

Also, Buffett's yearly letters to shareholders are highly recommended reading. There are collected here connected Berkshire's website.

-- Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch