Legendary investor Charlie Munger blasted gamblers, touted Heinz and Hermès, and revealed Warren Buffett's views in a recent interview. Here are the 22 best quotes.

charlie munger
Charlie Munger.AP Images / Nati Harnik
  • In a recent interview, Charlie Munger slammed speculators and warned truly great investing opportunities are rare.

  • Warren Buffett's right-hand man discussed Heinz, Hermès, quant funds, and his 100th birthday party.

  • Here are Munger's 22 best quotes from his first long-form podcast interview, released several weeks ago.

Charlie Munger tore into day traders and venture capitalists, underlined that investing is tougher today than in the past, and warned truly great opportunities are incredibly rare during his first long-form podcast interview with Acquired, released several weeks ago.

Warren Buffett's business partner and Berkshire Hathaway's vice-chairman discussed everything from Heinz and Hermès to quant funds, self-insurance, evolution, and his upcoming 100th birthday party.

The living legend also touched on Buffett's fear of the retail sector, deep concern for his shareholders, and inspired Japan bet.

Here are Munger's 22 best quotes, lightly edited for length and clarity:

1. "Are the dog tracks and race tracks and the casinos good for America? Of course not!"

2. "They don't really know anything about the companies, they just gamble on them going up and down in price. If I were running the world, I would have a tax on short-term gains with no offset for losses, and I would just drive this whole crowd of people out of business." (Munger was speaking about day traders and speculators.)

3. "The low-hanging fruit for the idiot – it's not gone but it's very small." (He was saying that investing is harder today than in the past.)

4. "You don't want to make money by screwing your investors, and that's what a lot of venture capitalists do."

5. "The only way they make these big returns is to have this huge leverage that would make you crazy if you were already rich." (Munger was discussing quantitative-trading firms like Renaissance Technologies.)

6. "If you're Warren, you want to be the house, not the punter."

7. "When you know you have an edge, you should bet heavily. They don't teach most people that in business school. It's insane. Of course you've got to bet heavily on your best bets."

8. "There are maybe five, six times in a lifetime when you know you're right, you know you have one that's really going to work wonderfully, and you get a chance to do it. People who do it two or three times early, they all go broke because they think it's easy. In fact it's very hard and rare."