What quality has helped you the most in life?
That’s easy — rationality. If you’re just not crazy, you have a big advantage over 95% of the people. Most people have all kinds of crazy patches. If you’re just consistently not crazy, you get a big advantage in life.
If you’re patient and a gratification-deferrer, in addition to being not crazy, then it’s practically a cinch.
If you’re exceptionally good at satisfying your commitments to other people, then you’ve just automatically improved your resources and your chances in life enormously. It’s so simple.
Why don’t more people do it? It’s an interesting question. I don’t think you can educate your children to do it automatically. If you have ten children, you’ll have some that are a lot better than others at doing this.
— Charlie Munger
