Bill Gates Quotes

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

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

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

"Life is not fair; get used to it!"

"If you are born poor it's not your mistake, but if you die poor it's your mistake."

"I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it."

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

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

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

"Treatment without prevention is simply unsustainable."

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

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

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

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

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

"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."

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

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

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

"The future of advertising is the Internet."

"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."

"The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself."

"I failed in some subjects in exam, but my friend passed in all. Now he is an engineer in Microsoft and I am the owner of Microsoft."

"Patience is a key element of success."

"Don't compare yourself with anyone in this world. If you do so, you are insulting yourself."

"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 very important to have a feedback loop, where you're constantly thinking about what you've done and how you could be doing it better."

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

"We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten."

"I spend a lot of time reading."

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

"I have always been an optimist. I believe that progress is possible, and that the world can get better."

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

"Once you've taken care of yourself and your children, the best use of extra wealth is to give it back to society."

"I cannot think of a more personally rewarding and appropriate use of wealth than to give while one is living, to personally devote oneself to meaningful efforts to improve the human condition."

"Wealth is accumulating. At some point, if someone's serious about giving away half of their worth, by the time they're in their seventies or eighties, surely they need to be hoping to get to 10% plus of their net worth a year to have a chance to get down."

"We'd known for a while that we wanted to give away the majority of our wealth from Microsoft and use it to make people's lives better."

"Innovation is the key to improving the world."

"At its best, philanthropy takes risks that governments can't and corporations won't."

"The goal isn't just incremental progress. It's to put the full force of our efforts and resources behind the big bets that, if successful, will save and improve lives."

"We have this incredible opportunity to use innovation to make the world a better place."

"The most amazing philanthropists are people who are actually making a significant sacrifice."

"We need to put a lot of money into changing behavior."

"Giving is not just about making a donation. It is about making a difference."

"I decided that I would be better off giving my children enough money so that they could do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing."

"If you have a lot of money, it’s your responsibility to use it wisely."

"We should be careful about how we spend our money, because every dollar we spend is a dollar we can’t spend somewhere else."

"The idea that everyone deserves a chance to live a healthy, productive life is the core of my philanthropy."

"I think it’s important to give back to society in a way that has a real impact."

"Philanthropy is about taking risks that others can’t or won’t take."

"I believe the world will keep improving—but it is harder to see that today than it has been in a long time."

"But being an optimist isn’t about knowing that life used to be worse. It’s about knowing how life can get better."

"I have always been an optimist."

"We are far better off than when I was born 70 years ago."

"I think it's fair to say that personal computers have become the most empowering tool we've ever created."

"At the core of our foundation’s work is the idea that every person deserves the chance to live a healthy and productive life."

"I was lucky enough to accumulate the wealth that is going into the foundation because I got a great education."

"The world is healthier and safer than ever."

"Some surprises help people see that the status quo needs to change."

"We believe in a world where innovation is for everyone—where no child dies from a disease it’s possible to prevent."

"A benefit of surprises is that they’re often a prod to action."

"The needs of the poor are greater than the resources available to help them solve their problems."

"It is important to get more money, but that alone will not solve the big problems."

"Society underinvests in innovation in general but particularly in two important areas."

"We have to find a way to make the benefits of capitalism reach everyone."

"I’m still an optimist because I see what innovation accelerated by artificial intelligence will bring."

"To me, being hopeful about the future doesn’t mean you ignore the bad news. It’s actually the opposite."

"I loved the magic of software, and the ever-rising learning curve that Microsoft provided."

"If the next 250 years are going to be as good for humanity as the last 250, we can’t take it for granted."

"My work has always been driven by a simple idea: The world can get better."

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

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

"My success, part of it certainly, is that I have focused in on a few things."

"Who decides what's in Windows? The customers who buy it."

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

"If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn’t have tenure."

"To win big, you sometimes have to take big risks."

"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."

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

"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 most meaningful way to differentiate your company from your competition, the best way to put distance between you and the crowd, is to do an outstanding job with information."

"It's not manufacturers who decide what the products will be. It's the customers."

"I never took a day off in my twenties. Not one."

"I had to be successful, there was no alternative."