Bill Gates Quotes

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

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

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

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

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.

We all need people who will give us feedback. That's how we improve.

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.

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

If you go back to 1800, everybody was poor. I mean everybody. The Industrial Revolution kicked in, and a lot of countries benefited, but by no means everyone.

Software is a great combination between artistry and engineering.

Software innovation, like almost every other kind of innovation, requires the ability to collaborate and share ideas with other people, and to sit down and talk with customers and get their feedback and understand their needs.

We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don't let yourself be lulled into inaction.

The Gates Foundation has learned that two questions can predict how much kids learn: 'Does your teacher use class time well?' and, 'When you're confused, does your teacher help you get straightened out?'

This is a fantastic time to be entering the business world, because business is going to change more in the next 10 years than it has in the last 50.

I get more spam than anyone I know.

You have to have a certain realism that government is a pretty blunt instrument, and without the constant attention of highly qualified people with the right metrics, it will fall into not doing things very well.

As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.

Headlines, in a way, are what mislead you because bad news is a headline, and gradual improvement is not.

Legacy is a stupid thing! I don't want a legacy.

You're never going to get the amount of CO2 emitted to go down unless you deal with the one magic metric, which is CO2 per kilowatt-hour.

In business, the idea of measuring what you are doing, picking the measurements that count like customer satisfaction and performance... you thrive on that.

Google's done a super good job on search; Apple's done a great job on the IPod.

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

The future of advertising is the Internet.

Whether I'm at the office, at home, or on the road, I always have a stack of books I'm looking forward to reading.

When you revolutionize education, you're taking the very mechanism of how people be smarter and do new things, and you're priming the pump for so many incredible things.

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

I went to a public school through sixth grade, and being good at tests wasn't cool.

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.

The U.S. immigration laws are bad - really, really bad. I'd say treatment of immigrants is one of the greatest injustices done in our government's name.

The outside perception and inside perception of Microsoft are so different. The view of Microsoft inside Microsoft is always kind of an underdog thing.

AIDS itself is subject to incredible stigma.

Corruption is one of the most common reasons I hear in views that criticize aid.

Driving up the value of the advertising is a big commitment for Microsoft.

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

The Internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow.

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.

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

Discrimination has a lot of layers that make it tough for minorities to get a leg up.

Treatment without prevention is simply unsustainable.

If I'd had some set idea of a finish line, don't you think I would have crossed it years ago?

This social-networking thing takes you to crazy places.

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

Everyone needs a coach. It doesn't matter whether you're a basketball player, a tennis player, a gymnast or a bridge player.

The ideal thing would be to have a 100 percent effective AIDS vaccine. And to have broad usage of that vaccine. That would literally break the epidemic.

Ninety percent of the cases of polio are in security-vulnerable areas.

Governments will always play a huge part in solving big problems. They set public policy and are uniquely able to provide the resources to make sure solutions reach everyone who needs them. They also fund basic research, which is a crucial component of the innovation that improves life for everyone.

Certainly there's a phenomenon around open source. You know free software will be a vibrant area. There will be a lot of neat things that get done there.

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.

Intellectual property has the shelf life of a banana.

The 'Billionaire' song is what my kids tease me with. They sing it to me. It's funny.

I remember thinking quite logically that I didn't want to spoil my children with wealth and so that I would create a foundation, but not knowing exactly what it would focus on.

We are in the throes of a transition where every publication has to think of their digital strategy.

In terms of mathematics textbooks, why can't you have the scale of a national market? Right now, we have a Texas textbook that's different from a California textbook that's different from a Massachusetts textbook. That's very expensive.

We are in the throes of a transition where every publication has to think of their digital strategy.

At Microsoft there are lots of brilliant ideas but the image is that they all come from the top - I'm afraid that's not quite right.

Until we're educating every kid in a fantastic way, until every inner city is cleaned up, there is no shortage of things to do.

There are more people dying of malaria than any specific cancer.

I would counsel people to go to college, because it's one of the best times in your life in terms of who you meet and develop a broad set of intellectual skills.

I believe the returns on investment in the poor are just as exciting as successes achieved in the business arena, and they are even more meaningful!

Polio's pretty special because once you get an eradication, you no longer have to spend money on it; it's just there as a gift for the rest of time.

Nuclear energy, in terms of an overall safety record, is better than other energy.

Paper is no longer a big part of my day. I get 90% of my news online, and when I go to a meeting and want to jot things down, I bring my Tablet PC. It's fully synchronized with my office machine, so I have all the files I need. It also has a note-taking piece of software called OneNote, so all my notes are in digital form.

Should surveillance be usable for petty crimes like jaywalking or minor drug possession? Or is there a higher threshold for certain information? Those aren't easy questions.

You can always think of something like the Xbox 360 as a super set-top box that can do everything the set-top box does, but then have the graphics to do the games as well.

Whether it's Google or Apple or free software, we've got some fantastic competitors and it keeps us on our toes.

I have a nice office. I have a nice house... So I'm not denying myself some great things. I just don't happen to have expensive hobbies.

Unemployment rates among Americans who never went to college are about double that of those who have a postsecondary education.

Digital reading will completely take over. It's lightweight and it's fantastic for sharing. Over time it will take over.

Being flooded with information doesn't mean we have the right information or that we're in touch with the right people.

Music, even with these dial-up connections you have to the Internet, is very practical to download.

My wife thinks she's better than me at puzzles. I haven't given in on that one yet.

I think that society has to be careful not to shift all of its resources to the elderly versus the young.

People are using Windows PCs more than they watch TV now.

I don't like typing messages on my phone. Some people get used to it.

People are going to buy cheap fertilizer so they can grow enough crops to feed themselves, which will be increasingly difficult with climate change.

Although I don't have a prescription for what others should do, I know I have been very fortunate and feel a responsibility to give back to society in a very significant way.

Two out of every five people on Earth today owe their lives to the higher crop outputs that fertilizer has made possible.

I've been very lucky, and therefore I owe it to try and reduce the inequity in the world. And that's kind of a religious belief. I mean, it's at least a moral belief.

The main thing that's missing in energy is an incentive to create things that are zero-CO2-emitting and that have the right scale and reliability characteristics.

I don't think there's a... boundary between digital media and print media. Every magazine is doing an online version.

Software substitution, whether it's for drivers or waiters or nurses - it's progressing. Technology over time will reduce demand for jobs, particularly at the lower end of skill set.

I have been struck again and again by how important measurement is to improving the human condition.

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

Like almost everyone who uses e-mail, I receive a ton of spam every day. Much of it offers to help me get out of debt or get rich quick. It would be funny if it weren't so exciting.

The best teacher is very interactive.

Teaching's hard! You need different skills: positive reinforcement, keeping students from getting bored, commanding their attention in a certain way.

In almost every job now, people use software and work with information to enable their organisation to operate more effectively.

Understanding science and pushing the boundaries of science is what makes me immensely satisfied.

Eventually we'll be able to sequence the human genome and replicate how nature did intelligence in a carbon-based system.

3D is a way of organizing things, particularly as we're getting much more media information on the computer, a lot more choices, a lot more navigation than we've ever had before.

Innovation is moving at a scarily fast pace.

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.

When I was growing up, my parents were almost involved in various volunteer things. My dad was head of Planned Parenthood. And it was very controversial to be involved with that.

If your culture doesn't like geeks, you are in real trouble.

I believe that if you show people the problems and you show them the solutions they will be moved to act.

Microsoft is not about greed. It's about innovation and fairness.

Expectations are a form of first-class truth: If people believe it, it's true.

Globalization has made copper and other minerals more valuable, and Ghana and Kenya have recently discovered mineral resources.

If you've found some way to educate yourself about engineering, stocks, or whatever it is, good employers will have some type of exam or interview and see a sample of your work.

I know there's a farmer out there somewhere who never wants a PC and that's fine with me.

We've got to put a lot of money into changing behavior.

The general idea of the rich helping the poor, I think, is important.

I have an excellent memory, a most excellent memory.

I read a lot of obscure books and it is nice to open a book.

The general idea of the rich helping the poor, I think, is important.

Unfortunately, the highly curious student is a small percentage of the kids.

Some very poor countries run great vaccination systems, and some richer ones run terrible programs.

China is certainly an important player in the global economy, and a widespread AIDS epidemic would threaten that growth.

Living on $6 a day means you have a refrigerator, a TV, a cell phone, your children can go to school. That's not possible on $1 a day.

Well, no one gives aid to Zimbabwe through the Mugabe government.

It's the poorer people in tropical zones who will get really hit by climate change - as well as some ecosystems, which nobody wants to see disappear.

Measles will always show you if someone isn't doing a good job on vaccinations. Kids will start dying of measles.

Helping convene global stakeholders to establish a set of measurable, actionable and consensus-built goals focused on extreme poverty is invaluable.

The only definition by which America's best days are behind it is on a purely relative basis.

I don't generally read a lot of fiction.

The ability of a successful company to add functionality to its product has long been upheld.

Americans want students to get the best education possible. We want schools to prepare children to become good citizens and members of a prosperous American economy.

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.

Over time, yes, countries will need to look at specific GMO products like they look at drugs today, where they don't approve them all. They look hard at the safety and the testing. And they make sure that the benefits far outweigh any of the downsides.

The future of Windows is to let the computer see, listen and even learn.

When the PC was launched, people knew it was important.

People should just buy a CD and rip it. You are legal then.

It's a nice reader, but there's nothing on the iPad I look at and say, 'Oh, I wish Microsoft had done it.'

Employers have decided that having the breadth of knowledge that's associated with a four-year degree is often something they want to see in the people they give that job to.

Capitalism has worked very well. Anyone who wants to move to North Korea is welcome.

I think any statement about stock prices is always suspect unless it's made by Warren Buffett.

What destroys more self-confidence than any other educational thing in America is being assigned to some remedial math when you get into some college, and then it's not taught very well and you end up with this sense of, 'Hey, I can't really figure those things out.

I like the idea of putting your Christmas wish list up and letting people share it.

Innovation is a good thing. The human condition - put aside bioterrorism and a few footnotes - is improving because of innovation.

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.

China adopted a capitalist system in the 1980s, and they went from a 60% poverty rate to 10%.

I don't have a magic formula for prioritizing the world's problems.

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

Like my friend Warren Buffett, I feel particularly lucky to do something every day that I love to do. He calls it 'tap-dancing to work.

The mainstream is always under attack.

There is no author whose books I look forward to more than Vaclav Smil.

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

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

I believe in innovation and that the way you get innovation is you fund research and you learn the basic facts.

It's easier to add things on to a PC than it's ever been before. It's one click, and boom, it comes down.

We should all grow our own food and do our own waste processing, we really should.

The misconception that aid falls straight into the hands of dictators largely stems from the Cold War era.

The outpouring of support from millions of people in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti has been impressive.

There are websites that any government wants to block. The truth about the Internet is that it's extremely hard to block anything - extremely hard. You'll never get perfect blocking.

Well private money can take risks in a way that government money often isn't willing to.

Certainly, the Windows share of servers is strong.

In order to deal with all the medical cost demands and other challenges in the U.S., as we look to raise that revenue, the rich will have to pay slightly more. That's quite clear.

People everywhere love Windows.

I was lucky to be involved and get to contribute to something that was important, which is empowering people with software.

Innovations that are guided by smallholder farmers, adapted to local circumstances, and sustainable for the economy and environment will be necessary to ensure food security in the future.

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.

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 never took a day off in my twenties. Not one. And I'm still fanatical, but now I'm a little less fanatical.

Well-spent aid money is saving lives for a few thousand dollars per life saved.

In inner-city, low-income communities of color, there's such a high correlation in terms of educational quality and success.

It's hard to improve public education - that's clear.

There are people who don't like capitalism, and people who don't like PCs. But there's no-one who likes the PC who doesn't like Microsoft.

I have a particular relationship with Vinod Khosla because he's got a lot of very interesting science-based energy startups.

Me and my dad are the biggest promoters of an estate tax in the US. It's not a popular position.

When you want to do your homework, fill out your tax return, or see all the choices for a trip you want to take, you need a full-size screen.

I can understand wanting to have millions of dollars; there's a certain freedom, meaningful freedom, that comes with that.

The kids are a big part of my schedule.

Well, I don't think there's any need for people to focus on my career.

The next time someone tells you we can trim the budget by cutting aid, I hope you will ask whether it will come at the cost of more people dying.

By 2035, there will be almost no poor countries left in the world. Almost all countries will be what we now call lower-middle income or richer.

When a country has the skill and self-confidence to take action against its biggest problems, it makes outsiders eager to be a part of it.

Digital technology has several features that can make it much easier for teachers to pay special attention to all their students.

India is more of an aid recipient than a provider of aid.

Harnessing steam power required many innovations, as William Rosen chronicles in the book 'The Most Powerful Idea in the World.'

In low-income countries, the main problems you have is infectious diseases.

It's possible - you can never know - that the universe exists only for me. If so, it's sure going well for me, I must admit.

In low-income countries, the main problems you have is infectious diseases.

Whenever you have multiple devices including multiple PCs that you want to share information with, it's always been a bit complicated.

Eventually you won't think of 'the Internet business.' You'll think of it more like news, weather, sports, but even that taxonomy isn't clear.

I think when smallpox was eliminated, the whole world got pretty excited about that because it's just such a dramatic success.

I think it makes sense to believe in God, but exactly what decision in your life you make differently because of it, I don't know.

I'm an investor in a number of biotech companies, partly because of my incredible enthusiasm for the great innovations they will bring.

It is hard to overstate how valuable it is to have all the incredible tools that are used for human disease to study plants.

Of my mental cycles, I devote maybe ten percent to business thinking. Business isn't that complicated. I wouldn't want to put it on my business card.

The trouble with energy farming is that the energy isn't always where you want to use it, and it isn't always when you want to use it.

The world has been very careful to pick very few diseases for eradication, because it is very tough.

According to Ethiopian custom, parents wait to name a baby because children often die in the first weeks of life.

Any version of Windows is going to have lots of great new things that people use and things that are tough.

Being able to see an activity log of where a kid has been going on the Internet is a good thing.

I think the positive competition between states in India is one of the most positive dynamics that the country has.

Like any well designed software product, Windows is designed, developed and tested as an integrated whole.

Nigeria has moved into low-middle-income, but their north is very poor, and the health care systems there have broken down.

The belief that the world is getting worse, that we can't solve extreme poverty and disease, isn't just mistaken. It is harmful.

The tablet is not mainstream. Reading off the screen is not mainstream.

In the old generation, if one kid bought a PlayStation 2 and the other kid bought an Xbox, at his house you played PlayStation, at your house you played Xbox. Now that it's online, all those early buyers who... you want to play with, they've got their reputation online of who they are and how good they are at these games.

Really advanced civilization is based on advances in energy.