With the 52nd Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting – dubbed the “Woodstock for Capitalists” which is “unique in corporate America, a celebration of the billionaire’s image and success” – now in the history books, all that’s left are the quotes and avuncular aphorisms.

While Buffett and Munger covered a wide variety of topics, some headlines made a particular splash, such as Buffett’s statement that markets have a “casino characteristic” and that people “still succumb to speculative impulses”, while ignoring that a far more narrow subset of people will also get bailed out by the government when the speculative impulses lead to massive losses. Speaking of hypocrisy, Buffett also slammed Wells Fargo, of which he is the biggest shareholder, for failing to stop its employees from engaging in the bank’s scandalous cross-selling practices, saying you cannot “incentivize bad behavior”, even as it was Buffett’s support of current management and board that was key to ensuring the re-election of the entire board last month.

None of this had an impact on the thousands of shareholders and “value investors” who conducted their latest annual “pilgirmage” to see and hear the 86-year-old Oracle of Omaha.

 Hundreds of shareholders lined up early outside downtown Omaha’s CenturyLink Center for the meeting. Several said they got there nearly five hours before doors opened around 6:45 a.m.

 “Every year it seems I have to come earlier,” said Chris Tesari, a retired businessman from Pacific Palisades, California who said he arrived at 3:20 a.m. for his 21st meeting. “It’s a pilgrimage.”

While a full breakdown of the day’s main events can be found in the following link, for those pressed for time here is a summary of the key quotes and highlights, courtesy of Reuters:

ON OBAMACARE REPEAL

• “Medical costs are the tapeworm of American economic competitiveness.
• “Our health costs have gone up (incredibly) and will go up a lot more … that is a problem this society is having trouble with and is going to have more trouble with. It almost transcends (political party).
• “If you talk about the world competitiveness of American industry, (health costs are) the biggest single variable where we keep getting more and more out of whack with the rest of the world.
• “(The Obamacare repeal) is a huge tax cut for guys like me … either the deficit goes up or they get the taxes from someone else.”

ON BERKSHIRE’S DURABILITY

• “I can’t think of anything that can harm Berkshire in a material, permanent way except weapons of mass destruction.
• “If that ever happens, there’ll be more to worry about than the price of Berkshire.”

CHARLIE MUNGER ON PUERTO RICO (more…)