In his own words · Independence

“Like Warren, I had a considerable passion to get rich. Not because I wanted Ferraris — I wanted the independence. I desperately wanted it.”

— Charlie Munger · Janet Lowe, Damn Right! (2000) · 2000

Verified. Sourced to Janet Lowe, Damn Right! (2000) · 2000.

More Munger on Independence

“I want to swim as well as I can against the tides. I'm not trying to predict the tides.”

Daily Journal Corporation Annual Meeting (2022) · 2022 · where he said it ↗

“If you don't work hard at trying to remain rational and you're constantly floating along caring terribly about what other people think, you're almost sure to be carried to folly by the folly of the crowd.”

Outstanding Investor Digest, 2003 Wesco Financial AGM excerpts, via Kingswell ('Yet Another Munger Masterclass: The 2003 Wesco Financial AGM', https://www.kingswell.io/p/yet-another-munger-masterclass-the) and Investment Masters Class (http://mastersinvest.com/herdscrowdscontrariansquotes) · 2003 · as recalled

Wording approximate (from OID's 2003 Wesco excerpts).

“I don't love Ben Graham and his ideas the way Warren does. You have to understand, to Warren — who discovered him at such a young age and then went to work for him — Ben Graham's insights changed his whole life. But I have to say, Ben Graham had a lot to learn as an investor.”

Daily Journal Corp. annual meeting, Los Angeles, as told to Jason Zweig, "A Fireside Chat With Charlie Munger," The Wall Street Journal (2014) · 2014

Lightly trimmed from the 2014 fireside; the connective 'But I have to say' is editorial. He genuinely rated Graham below Buffett's veneration of him.

“This 'choose your idiot' form of news gathering I don't much like. I flip back and forth between idiot types. I will not stay with just one type of idiot.”

Daily Journal Corporation annual meeting, 2018 · 2018 · where he said it ↗

All independence quotes