rudyard kipling if you can keep your head

'There is simply no telling how far stocks can fall in a short period,' writes Buffett. Market downturns 'offer extraordinary opportunities to those who are not handicapped by debt,' he says, which brings up another important investing lesson: Never borrow money to buy stocks. Rather than watch the market closely and panic, keep a level head.

The light can at any time go from green to red without pausing at yellow.' Major declines have happened before and are going to happen again, he says: 'No one can tell you when these will happen. He went on to cite each of the steep share-price drops, including the most recent one from September 2008 to March 2009, when Berkshire shares plummeted 50.7 percent. Yet Berkshire shares have suffered four truly major dips.' For the last 53 years, the company has built value by reinvesting its earnings and letting compound interest work its magic. Market downturns are inevitable, Buffett pointed out, using his own company as an example: 'Berkshire, itself, provides some vivid examples of how price randomness in the short term can obscure long-term growth in value. Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it. If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you. If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim. If you can wait and not be tired by waiting. If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs. So, during downturns, 'heed these lines' from the classic 19th century Rudyard Kipling poem 'If-' which help illustrate this lesson, Buffett wrote in his 2017 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter:

Rudyard kipling if you can keep your head