Warren Buffett, the legendary chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, has long emphasised a core principle of successful investing: keeping emotions separate from financial decisions. He warns that the greatest
threat to long-term wealth is not market volatility, but the emotional impulses of the investor.
Recently, an old clip of Buffett has gone viral on X, bringing renewed attention to one of his most enduring lessons, which is avoiding emotion-driven decisions in the stock market. The 58-second video, taken from the 2017 HBO documentary Becoming Warren Buffett, captures his advice to focus strictly on a company’s performance rather than personal sentiment.
“The stock doesn’t know you own it,” he says in the video. He goes on to add, “If you are emotional about investments, you are not going to do well. You may love the stocks that go up, and hate the ones that go down. You may have all these feelings about the stock, [but] the stock has no feelings about you. It’s going to reflect what the company behind the stock does.”
Watch the clip here:
Warren Buffett:
“You may love the stocks that go up, and hate the ones that go down.” “You may have all these feelings about the stock, [but] the stock has no feelings about you: it’s going to reflect what the company behind the stock does.” pic.twitter.com/5PnoGht82u
— Investment Wisdom (@InvestingCanons) December 15, 2025
Buffett has over six decades of experience as chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, building one of the most impressive investment records in history. Trained in value investing under Benjamin Graham in the 1950s, he has always focused on company fundamentals and avoided market fads, bubbles, and panic-driven sell-offs.
The viral clip highlights this mindset once again.
He also stresses that investment choices should be free from emotional influence. “My investment decisions don’t have emotion in them. We have plenty of emotions for other situations. But business and investment decisions, if you’ve got emotions in the equation, you’re going to do a lot of dumb things,” Buffett says.
The resurfacing of this clip reminds investors that, even in today’s world of meme stocks, algorithmic trading, and high-frequency speculation, the basics of disciplined investing remain the same. A stock’s value reflects the company’s performance, not the hopes or fears of those who own it.
As the clip spreads, it offers both a reality check and a grounding lesson for investors in volatile markets. True to Buffett’s style, the message is simple and timeless: focus on fundamentals, keep emotions in check, and let reason guide your investment choices.
