The single biggest advantage a value investor has is not IQ.

Hear the words of Mohnish Pabrai, who declared with the clarity of a sage: “The single biggest advantage a value investor has is not IQ. It’s patience and waiting. Waiting for the right pitch, and waiting for many years for the right pitch.” Though he speaks of markets and investments, these words echo far beyond the realm of finance. They reveal an eternal truth: that victory in life belongs not to the quick of wit alone, but to those who endure, who know how to wait for the moment when the door of destiny swings open.

The ancients knew this well. The hunter who loosed his arrow too soon returned empty-handed, while the one who crouched in silence, watching and waiting, returned with a feast. The farmer who planted in haste before the rains wasted his seed, while the one who waited for the right season harvested plenty. In every age, the rhythm of life has whispered this truth: patience and waiting are powers greater than intellect, greater even than strength. They are the weapons of those who know that time itself can be an ally.

Pabrai speaks of the pitch, a metaphor drawn from the game of baseball, where the wise batter does not swing at every ball but waits for the one that lies within his reach, the one he can strike with power. So it is in investment, and so it is in life. Opportunities come and go, but not all are worthy. The fool lunges at every chance, exhausting himself and scattering his strength. The wise one waits, sometimes for years, and when the true moment arrives, he strikes with precision, and his reward is great.

Consider the life of Warren Buffett, mentor and model for many investors. His fortune was not built in a day, nor by chasing every shining coin. He waited for companies undervalued, patient through years of inaction, letting lesser men mock his inactivity. Yet when his moment came, he seized it, and his wealth grew like a mighty tree. His genius was not in numbers alone, but in patience, in waiting with calm while others panicked or rushed headlong into folly.

History offers many other mirrors. The generals of Rome often refused battle until conditions favored them; Fabius Maximus, called “the Delayer,” defeated Hannibal not by reckless charge, but by waiting, conserving his forces until the Carthaginian army withered. In the end, his strategy preserved Rome. Thus, patience is not weakness—it is strength disguised as stillness, the art of reserving power until the world bends in your favor.

The deeper meaning of Pabrai’s words is this: IQ—the sharpness of the mind—may give one an advantage in analysis, but it is useless without the discipline of waiting. Knowledge is abundant, but wisdom is rare. Wisdom is knowing when to act and when to remain still. To rush is to lose, but to wait rightly is to triumph. The truest advantage is not brilliance, but endurance.

The lesson for us, children of tomorrow, is clear: do not rush into every opportunity, nor despair when progress is slow. Cultivate patience like a sacred art. Watch, study, prepare, and when your pitch comes, act with all your strength. But accept also that such moments are rare, and may demand years of endurance. Do not waste your life swinging at every chance; instead, wait for the right one, and strike true.

Practical actions lie before you: practice restraint in your decisions. Learn to say no when the timing is not right. Strengthen your will by enduring small delays without frustration, so you may endure greater ones when destiny demands. And above all, trust that waiting is not idleness—it is preparation, it is gathering strength, it is aligning yourself with the rhythm of time.

Thus let Pabrai’s words echo as an eternal teaching: the greatest advantage is not IQ, but patience and waiting. For the river of opportunity flows not always, but only in seasons. And those who can endure until its waters rise are the ones who shall drink deeply and be satisfied.