巴菲特认为他19岁被哈佛商学院拒绝是人生中一段关键的经历。他说，回首过去，哈佛可能并不一定适合他。但当时，在芝加哥的哈佛入学面试中被拒绝之后，他有了一种恐惧的感觉，并害怕会让他的父亲失望。
Mr. Buffett regards his rejection at age 19 by Harvard Business School as a pivotal episode in his life. Looking back, he says Harvard wouldn't have been a good fit. But at the time, he 'had this feeling of dread' after being rejected in an admissions interview in Chicago, and a fear of disappointing his father.
巴菲特说，最终他的父亲给了他无条件的爱和无条件的信心。在寻找其它大学的过程中，他意识到格雷厄姆(Benjamin Graham)和多德(David Dodd)这两位他所钦佩的投资专家当时正在哥伦比亚大学的商学院教书。他匆忙完成了一份迟到的申请，出于运气，多德回复并接受了他的申请。巴菲特说他从这些导师那里学到了指导他进行投资的核心原理。哈佛的拒绝也让他的母校获益良多；基于税务文件，2008年他通过巴菲特基金会(Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation)向哥伦比亚大学捐款达1200万美元以上。
As it turned out, his father responded with 'only this unconditional love . . . an unconditional belief in me,' Mr. Buffett says. Exploring other options, he realized that two investing experts he admired, Benjamin Graham and David Dodd, were teaching at Columbia's graduate business school. He dashed off a late application, where by a stroke of luck it was fielded and accepted by Mr. Dodd. From these mentors, Mr. Buffett says he learned core principles that guided his investing. The Harvard rejection also benefited his alma mater; he gave more than million to Columbia in 2008 through the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, based on tax filings.
巴菲特说他多次体会到“塞翁失马，焉知非福”的道理。他害怕发表演讲，以至于年轻时他有时会在演讲前呕吐。所以他参加了一期迪尔•卡内基（Dale Carnegie）的公开演讲课程。他说他在那儿学到的技巧让他能够向他未来的妻子苏珊•汤普森求爱。他说自己的太太是一位“冠军辩手”。他说，我在上课期间便向我的太太求婚了。如果我只是一名普普通通的演讲者，我可能不会成功。
The lesson of negatives becoming positives has proven true repeatedly, Mr. Buffett says. He was terrified of public speaking -- so much so that when he was young he sometimes threw up before giving an address. So he enrolled in a Dale Carnegie public speaking course and says the skills he learned there enabled him to woo his future wife, Susan Thompson, a 'champion debater,' he says. 'I even proposed to my wife during the course,' he says. 'If I had been only a mediocre speaker I might not have taken it.'
诺贝尔奖得主、纽约斯隆-凯特琳癌症中心(Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center)总裁瓦慕斯医生曾两次被哈佛医学院拒绝。第一次被拒时，他感到沮丧。他更改了自己的申请，注册了哈佛的文学研究生课程，但一想到要从事这个领域的工作就提不起兴趣。
Dr. Varmus, the Nobel laureate and president of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, was daunted by the first of his two turndowns by Harvard's med school. He enrolled instead in grad studies in literature at Harvard, but was uninspired by thoughts of a career in that field.