In his own words · Money & fees

“Easy money will always attract wretched excess. It's just nature. It's like a bunch of animals feeding on carcasses in Africa.”

— Charlie Munger · Daily Journal Corporation annual meeting, 2020 · 2020

As recalled from Daily Journal Corporation annual meeting, 2020 · 2020 — the sense is right but the wording is not verbatim.

Wording lightly cleaned of a spoken filler; on the excesses of modern finance.

Where he said it

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“It is one thing each year to pay the croupiers 3% of starting wealth when the average foundation is enjoying a real return, say, of 17% before the croupiers' take. But it is not written in the stars that foundations will always gain 17% gross, a common result in recent years.”

"Investment Practices of Leading Charitable Foundations," speech to the Foundation Financial Officers Group, Santa Monica, CA, October 14, 1998 · 1998

The punchy 'It is one thing… it is quite another' version circulated online is fabricated; this is the authentic passage.

“I like inequality a lot better than I like poverty.”

CNBC, "Charlie Munger: A Life of Wit and Wisdom" (final interview with Becky Quick, taped Nov. 14, 2023; aired Nov. 30, 2023) · 2023 · where he said it ↗

“The desire to get rich fast is pretty dangerous.”

David Clark, The Tao of Charlie Munger (Scribner, 2017), entry #1 · 2017 · as recalled

“You people, I think, have created a lot of "febezzle" through your foolish investment management practices in dealing with your large holdings of common stock.”

"Breakfast Meeting of the Philanthropy Roundtable," November 10, 2000 (Poor Charlie's Almanack, Talk Seven) · 2000

Munger's coinage — 'febezzle,' the functional equivalent of embezzlement — built on J. K. Galbraith's 'bezzle.'

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