"Price is what you pay. Value is what you get"
About this Quote
Buffett’s line lands because it sounds like a truism while smuggling in a worldview: markets talk in numbers, but life is lived in outcomes. “Price” is clean, measurable, undeniable. “Value” is fuzzier, almost moral. By separating the two with a crisp, parallel sentence, he gives everyday investors permission to distrust the most hypnotic signal in capitalism: the sticker.
The intent is practical and quietly insurgent. In a culture trained to equate expensive with good and cheap with smart, Buffett reframes the decision from transaction to consequence. The subtext is that people routinely buy stories, status, and short-term relief, then call it “value” after the fact. He’s warning against that self-deception. Notice the plain language; there’s no finance jargon, because he’s not talking to quants. He’s talking to the part of you that wants certainty. Price offers certainty. Value demands judgment.
Context matters: Buffett’s investing identity is built on patience, fundamentals, and the refusal to be bullied by market mood. When markets swing, “price” becomes a collective emotional outburst. “Value” becomes the unpopular spreadsheet, the boring moat, the unsexy business model that keeps throwing off cash. The line also doubles as a broader consumer ethic: the cheapest option can be ruinous if it breaks, wastes time, or corrodes trust.
It works because it compresses an entire philosophy of restraint into eight words: don’t confuse what’s counted with what counts.
The intent is practical and quietly insurgent. In a culture trained to equate expensive with good and cheap with smart, Buffett reframes the decision from transaction to consequence. The subtext is that people routinely buy stories, status, and short-term relief, then call it “value” after the fact. He’s warning against that self-deception. Notice the plain language; there’s no finance jargon, because he’s not talking to quants. He’s talking to the part of you that wants certainty. Price offers certainty. Value demands judgment.
Context matters: Buffett’s investing identity is built on patience, fundamentals, and the refusal to be bullied by market mood. When markets swing, “price” becomes a collective emotional outburst. “Value” becomes the unpopular spreadsheet, the boring moat, the unsexy business model that keeps throwing off cash. The line also doubles as a broader consumer ethic: the cheapest option can be ruinous if it breaks, wastes time, or corrodes trust.
It works because it compresses an entire philosophy of restraint into eight words: don’t confuse what’s counted with what counts.
Quote Details
| Topic | Investment |
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