Got an email from Dah Hui Lah today with a quote from Buffett’s 1994 letter:

Quote of the Week

“We will continue to ignore political and economic forecasts, which are an expensive distraction for many investors and businessmen. Thirty years ago, no one could have foreseen the huge expansion of the Vietnam War, wage and price controls, two oil shocks, the resignation of a president, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a one-day drop in the Dow of 508 points, or treasury bill yields fluctuating between 2.8% and 17.4%.

But, surprise – none of these blockbuster events made the slightest dent in Ben Graham’s investment principles. Nor did they render unsound the negotiated purchases of fine businesses at sensible prices. Imagine the cost to us, then, if we had let a fear of unknowns cause us to defer or alter the deployment of capital. Indeed, we have usually made our best purchases when apprehensions about some macro event were at a peak. Fear is the foe of the faddist, but the friend of the fundamentalist.”

- Warren E. Buffett
1994 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Letter

Watch this…..he was wrong for over a year before he was spectacularly right. In today’s world he would be called “out of touch”, “a dope”, “fool” etc…. Just like we are hearing Berkowitz called today, Buffett was called in 1999-2000 and others.

The point is, the greatest trades often take time and you have to be willing to be wrong for a while….oh yea, and ignore those with time frame measured in minutes or days or weeks. Spectacular investments NEVER unfold in days or months.

From the “Innoculated Investor”

Berkshire Hathaway 2010 Annual Meeting Notes