Bill Gates Quotes

"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."

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

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

"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."

"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."

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

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

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

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

"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 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."

"Treatment without prevention is simply unsustainable."

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

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

"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."

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

"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."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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