Quotes by Bill Gates

 

“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.”

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

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

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

“Intellectual property has the shelf life of a banana.”

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

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

“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.”

“The best teacher is very interactive.”

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

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

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

“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!”

“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.”

“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.”

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

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

“Investing for the poor requires participation from the entire community.”

“Money has always been in politics. And I’m not sure you’d want money to be completely out of politics.”

“There is a difference between what technology enables and what historical business practices enable.”

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”

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

“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.”

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