quote from Warren Buffet (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Garson O'Toole]

Bill Mullins wrote
> Heard on Marketplace radio on the way to work this morning, attributed
> to Warren Buffet:
>
> "You never know who's swimming naked until the tide goes out."

It is a nice quote and I was able to push it back to an AP article on
June 21, 1988 in the Free Lance-Star. But Barry Popik had already done
this. He found the AP article in Advocate of Victoria, Texas. As Bill
discovered, the speaker was Robert Clarke:

Google News Archive
21 June 1988, Victoria (TX) Advocate, “Comptroller Says Some Banks Can
Rebound Easier,” pg. 12B, col. 5:
“In other words, when the economic tide goes out, you find out who is
swimming naked,” Clarke told the Stonier graduates.
(Comptroller of the Currency Robert L. Clarke --ed.)

http://goo.gl/KjwJz

http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/when_the_economic_tide_goes_out_you_find_out_who_is_swimming_naked_warren_b/

Continuing Bill Mullins message:
> Congressional Hearings:  _Financial Condition of the FSLIC and FDIC at
> year end 1988_ Mar 10 and 11 1989 p. 672 - 673 [Hathi Trust;
>
> http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/imgsrv/pdf?id=3Dmdp.39015024882030;orient=
> =3D
> 0;size=3D100;seq=3D673;num=3D673;attachment=3D0 ]
>
> "However, as native-Texan and Comptroller of the Currency Robert Clarke
> once said, "When the tide goes out as in an economic recession, you can
> see who's been swimming naked." "
>
> =20
>
> _Financial Times_ (London, England) - Saturday, December 30, 1989 p. 7
> (from Newsbank, no page image available)
>
> " "You can't tell who's swimming naked until after the tide goes out." =20
>
> David Darst, a vice-president of Goldman Sachs, on the difficulties of
> forecasting which leveraged buy-outs would be in trouble in the event of
> a recession."
>
> =20
>
> Michael Waldman _Who Robbed America?  A Citizen's Guide to the S&L
> Scandal_ NY:  Random House, 1990 p 53 [Google Books Snippet View]
>
> " In the words of Robert Clarke, former comptroller of the currency,
> "When the economic tide goes out, you find out who's swimming naked." "
>
> =20
>
> =20
>
> _Wall Street Journal_ Jan 14 1992 p A6 col 4
>
> ""You never know who's swimming naked until the tide goes out," Mr. Skar
> says." [Louis S. Sklar, exec VP of Gerald D. Hines of Houston, TX]
>
> =20
>
> _Boston Globe_  [Boston, Mass] 19 Jan 1992: 71. (from ProQuest, no page
> image available)
>
> " Or you could put it another way, as one of New England's legion of
> busted-out developers might. "When the tide goes out, you see who's been
> swimming naked.""
>
> =20
>
> =20
>
> Letter from Warren Buffett to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, Mar 1
> 1993 online at:
>
> http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/1992.html
>
> " It's only when the tide goes out that you learn who's been swimming
> naked."
>
> [The quote, or variants, shows up several times in later letters located
> in the same directory.]
>
> =20
>
> =20
>
> _New York Times_ (1923-Current file); Jul 17, 1993; pg. L32 col 2
>
> ""It's only when the tide goes out that you see who's been swimming
> naked," he [Gregory Whyte, VP at Dean Witter Reynolds] said."
>
> =20
>
> Lowe, Janet. _Warren Buffet Speaks:  Wit and Wisdom from the World's
> Greatest Investor_ Hoboken , NJ: John Wiley & Sons. P 143. quotes Buffet
> from 1993 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting:
>
> "It's only when the tide goes out that you learn who's been swimming
> naked."
>
> =20
>
> =20
>
> =20
>
> _USA TODAY_ - Thursday, February 9, 1995 p 3B (from Newsbank, no page
> image available)
>
> "Says [Nicholas] Carn: "You never know who's swimming naked until the
> tide goes out."
>
> =20
>
> =20
>
> =20
>
> _Watertown Daily Times_ (NY) - Tuesday, August 12, 1997 p. 28 (from
> Newsbank, no page image available)
>
> " "Ultimately, we think this will end up in court, with an impartial
> jury," she [Cathy Medina] told supporters at the rally, speaking into a
> microphone from the park's central gazebo. "You don't know who's
> swimming naked until the tide goes out. Hopefully, the tide will go
> out."  "
>
> [This quote is not in reference to financial positions, but rather a
> dispute between an obstetrician and a hospital.]
>
> =20
>
> =20
>
> _Star Tribune: Newspaper of the Twin Cities_ [Minneapolis-St.Paul MN] -
> Saturday, October 14, 2000 p 1D (from Newsbank, no page image available)
>
> "A look at the laggards in the aftermath of the recent sell-off also
> bears out the folksy adage attributed to legendary investor Warren
> Buffett, "You can't tell who's swimming naked until the tide rolls out."
> "
>
> =20
>
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org