This quote was the reason that convinced me to invest instead of speculating, to invest long-term instead of short-term. Investing to me is putting money to work to build the future. That is why we say "invest in infrastructure", "invest in human capital", "invest in healthcare" etc. It is because it is not a guess or gamble. Investing has a purpose, has an output, and is beneficial to the economy. Imagine someone saying "let's speculate in our infrastructure, human capital and healthcare". How scary is that!
Using Warren Buffett's example, imagine you are stranded on an island with another 99 people (total 100 people on the island). In order to survive, the people are grouped and allocated different tasks:
10 wheat farmers
10 corn farmers
10 pig breeders
10 chicken breeders
10 cow breeders
10 fishermen
10 dig wells and cleanse water
10 build houses
5 auditors/accountants
5 police to ......