[Ads-l] Request Charlie Munger quotation in 1989 Annual Report of Wesco

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Correction: The link that should work on Aug 25th is this.
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2025/08/25/not-stupid/

Garson

On Wed, Aug 20, 2025 at 4:52 PM ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Here are details that will appear in the QI article which is scheduled
> for Aug 25th.
> Stephen Goranson and Jesse Sheidlower are acknowledged. Thanks again.
>
> Charlie Munger was the Chairman of the Board of the Wesco Financial
> Corporation, and the company's annual reports often included letters
> from Munger. The 1989 annual report was released in 1990, and it
> contained a letter from Munger dated March 5, 1990:
>
> [ref] 1990, Wesco Financial Corporation Annual Report 1989, Letter to
> Wesco stockholders from the Chairman of the Company Charles T. Munger,
> Date of Letter: March 5, 1990, Start Page 54, Quote Page 69, Published
> by Wesco Financial Corporation, Pasadena, California. (Verified with
> scans) [/ref]
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Wesco continues to try more to profit from always remembering the
> obvious than from grasping the esoteric. It is remarkable how much
> long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be
> consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.
> There must be some wisdom in the folk saying: "It's the strong
> swimmers who drown". Our approach, while it has worked fairly well on
> average in the past and will probably work fairly well over the
> long-term future, is bound to encounter periods of dullness and
> disadvantage as it limits action.
> [End excerpt]
>
> This link does not work yet. It should work on Aug 25th.
> https://quoteinvestigator.com/2025/08/21/not-stupid/
>
> Garson

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