Quotes by Bill Gates

"Exposure from a young age to the realities of the world is a super-big thing."

"Steve Jobs' ability to focus in on a few things that count, get people who get user interface right, and market things as revolutionary are amazing things."

"This whole phenomenon of the computer in a library is an amazing thing."

"Intellectual property has the shelf life of a banana."

"The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency."

"Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven. I don't think anybody can talk meaningfully about one without the talking about the other."

"In this business, by the time you realize you're in trouble, it's too late to save yourself. Unless you're running scared all the time, you're gone."

"I really had a lot of dreams when I was a kid, and I think a great deal of that grew out of the fact that I had a chance to read a lot."

"I'm a great believer that any tool that enhances communication has profound effects in terms of how people can learn from each other, and how they can achieve the kind of freedoms that they're interested in."

"I think it's fair to say that personal computers have become the most empowering tool we've ever created. They're tools of communication, they're tools of creativity, and they can be shaped by their user."

"If you have 50 different plug types, appliances wouldn't be available and would be very expensive. But once an electric outlet becomes standardized, many companies can design appliances, and competition ensues, creating variety and better prices for consumers."

"When Paul Allen and I started Microsoft over 30 years ago, we had big dreams about software. We had dreams about the impact it could have."

"It's fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure."

"People always fear change. People feared electricity when it was invented, didn't they? People feared coal, they feared gas-powered engines... There will always be ignorance, and ignorance leads to fear. But with time, people will come to accept their silicon masters."

"We make the future sustainable when we invest in the poor, not when we insist on their suffering."

"If you can't make it good, at least make it look good."

"Connectivity enables transparency for better government, education, and health."

"Software is a great combination between artistry and engineering."

"By improving health, empowering women, population growth comes down."

"I don't think there's anything unique about human intelligence."

"Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning."

"Money has no utility to me beyond a certain point."

"Drones overall will be more impactful than I think people recognize, in positive ways to help society."

"Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There's a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning."

"I've always been interested in science - one of my favourite books is James Watson's 'Molecular Biology of the Gene.'"

"The malaria parasite has been killing children and sapping the strength of whole populations for tens of thousands of years. It is impossible to calculate the harm malaria has done to the world."

"Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose."

"Research shows that there is only half as much variation in student achievement between schools as there is among classrooms in the same school. If you want your child to get the best education possible, it is actually more important to get him assigned to a great teacher than to a great school."

"Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important."

"The advance of technology is based on making it fit in so that you don't really even notice it, so it's part of everyday life."

"If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 MPG."

"The intersection of law, politics, and technology is going to force a lot of good thinking."

"In the long run, your human capital is your main base of competition. Your leading indicator of where you're going to be 20 years from now is how well you're doing in your education system."

"Climate change is a terrible problem, and it absolutely needs to be solved. It deserves to be a huge priority."

"In a budget, how important is art versus music versus athletics versus computer programming? At the end of the day, some of those trade-offs will be made politically."

"Philanthropy should be taking much bigger risks that business. If these are easy problems, business and government can come in and solve them."

"The way to be successful in the software world is to come up with breakthrough software, and so whether it's Microsoft Office or Windows, its pushing that forward. New ideas, surprising the marketplace, so good engineering and good business are one in the same."

"The U.S. couldn't even get rid of Saddam Hussein. And we all know that the EU is just a passing fad. They'll be killing each other again in less than a year. I'm sick to death of all these fascist lawsuits."