11 Warren Buffett quotes you've probably never heard before

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Harriman House has just done Buffettologists everywhere a service, publishing an annotated transcript of a symposium held twenty years ago in New York featuring Berkshire Hathaway Inc. CEO Warren Buffett and vice-chairman Charlie Munger, and a small circle of academics and investors (spotted in the photo gallery: a young Bill Ackman!). For those of you who don't face Omaha, NE daily for prayer, here's my selection of 11 of the best Warren Buffett quotes (plus two from Charlie).

On the role of the board

"As a stockholder, I'm really only interested in the board accomplishing two ends. One is to get a first class manager and the second is to intervene in some way when even that first class manager will have interests that are contrary to the interests of the owner."

On what to do with an average CEO

"If you get that first class chief executive -- which is a top priority -- he doesn't have to the best in the world, just a first class one. ... [Y]ou may be able to turn a '5' into a '5 ½' or something by having him consult with lots of other CEOs and get a lot of advice from the board. But my experience is that you don't turn a '5' into an '8.' I think you're better off getting rid of the '5' and going out and acquiring an '8.'"

On the relative impact of excessive compensation

"The compensation question where the first class executive could be in conflict with the owners, I think it gets abused some but don't think that it amounts to that much when compared with the other two questions -- getting the right one and also the question of acquisitions."