Bill Gates Quotes

October 28, 1955

William Henry Gates III (born 28 October 1955) is the co-founder and Chairman of Microsoft, and founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Forbes magazine has ranked him as the richest person in the world for twelve consecutive years.

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

In the Independent on Sunday, 12 October 1997.

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

Bill Gates

Tags: Motivational, failure, success

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

Bill Gates
— Bill Gates, The Road Ahead (1995)

Tags: Motivational, success, lousy, teacher, seduces, smart, people, thinking, can't

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What's amazing is, if young people understood how doing well in school makes the rest of their life so much interesting, they would be more motivated. It's so far away in time that they can't appreciate what it means for their whole life.

Bill Gates
— As quoted in Building an Innovative Learning Organization: A Framework to Build a Smarter Workforce, Adapt to Change, and Drive Growth (2016), by Russell Sarder.

Tags: Future, Life, School, whole, means, what, appreciate, can't, time

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If something is expensive to develop, and somebody's not going to get paid, it won't get developed. So you decide: Do you want software to be written, or not?

Bill Gates
— Interview with Dennis Bathory-Kitsz in 80 Microcomputing (1980) Clips from the interview can be found on "No Money (Lullaby for Bill)" by Dennis Báthory-Kitsz.

Tags: something, expensive, develop, somebody's, going, paid, developed, you, decide

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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.

Bill Gates
— TIME magazine Vol. 149, No. 2 (13 January 1997)

Tags: possible, you, can, never, know, universe, exists, me, going

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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.

Bill Gates

Tags: Technology, computers

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The next generation of interesting software will be done on the Macintosh, not the IBM PC.

Bill Gates
— BusinessWeek, 26 November 1984

Tags: next, generation, interesting, software, done, Macintosh, IBM, PC

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I believe OS/2 is destined to be the most important operating system, and possibly program, of all time.

Bill Gates
— OS/2 Programmers Guide, November 1987

Tags: believe, destined, most, important, operating, system, possibly, program, time

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There's only one trick in software, and that is using a piece of software that's already been written.

Bill Gates
— Interview with Electronics magazine (1989)

Tags: one, trick, software, using, piece, been, written

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Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.

Bill Gates
— Business @ The Speed of Thought (1999)

Tags: learning, most, unhappy, customers, greatest, source

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Microsoft has had clear competitors in the past. It’s a good thing we have museums to document that.

Bill Gates
— Speech at the Computer History Museum, as quoted in InfoWorld magazine (October 2001)

Tags: Microsoft, clear, competitors, past, good, thing, we, museums, document

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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 irritating.

Bill Gates
— "Why I Hate Spam" in Microsoft PressPass (2003)

Tags: everyone, who, uses, email, receive, ton, spam, day, offers

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Spam will be a thing of the past in two years' time.

Bill Gates
— BBC News (24 January 2004)

Tags: Spam, thing, past, two, years', time

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If you show people the problems and you show people the solutions they will be moved to act.

Bill Gates
— At Live8 (2 July 2005) as reported in BBC News (4 July 2005)

Tags: you, show, people, problems, solutions, moved, act

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Understand that this is the last physical format there will ever be.

Bill Gates
— On Blu-ray. interview The Daily Princetonian (14 Oct 2005)

Tags: Understand, last, physical, format, there

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Robots will play an important role in providing physical assistance and even companionship for the elderly.

Bill Gates
— Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY

Tags: play, important, role, providing, physical, assistance, companionship, elderly

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The obvious mathematical breakthrough would be development of an easy way to factor large prime numbers.

Bill Gates
— p. 265 in hardcover edition, corrected in paperback

Tags: obvious, mathematical, breakthrough, development, easy, factor, large, prime, numbers

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I see little commercial potential for the internet for the next 10 years.

Bill Gates
— Remarks at COMDEX (November 1994), attributed in Kommunikation erstatter transport (2009) by Karl Krarup et al.

Tags: see, little, commercial, potential, internet, next, years

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Intellectual property has the shelf life of a banana.

Bill Gates
— The Wall Street Journal (December 29, 2011).

Tags: Intellectual, property, shelf, life, banana

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640K ought to be enough for anybody.

Bill Gates
— Often attributed to Gates in 1981. Gates considered the IBM PC's 640kB program memory a significant breakthrough over 8-bit systems that were typically limited to 64kB, but he has denied making this remark. Also see the 1989 and 1993 remarks above.

Tags: enough, anybody

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Is passing large sums of wealth on to your children good for them or right for society?

Bill Gates
— In his BBC television interview with Jeremy Paxman

Tags: wealth, passing, large, sums, children, good, right, society

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

Bill Gates
— (2006) in: "The future according to the world's richest man" on independent.co.uk, March 20, 2006

Tags: strategy, We, throes, transition, publication, think, digital

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

Bill Gates

Tags: Environment, global warming

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

Bill Gates

Tags: Positive

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

Bill Gates

Tags: discrimination

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Software is a great combination between artistry and engineering.

Bill Gates

Tags: Technology

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Treatment without prevention is simply unsustainable.

Bill Gates
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It's not manufacturers trying to rip anybody off or anything like that. There's nobody getting rich writing software that I know of.

Bill Gates
— Interview with Dennis Bathory-Kitsz in 80 Microcomputing (1980)

Tags: manufacturers, trying, rip, anybody, anything, nobody, rich, writing, software

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Instead of buying airplanes and playing around like some of our competitors, we've rolled almost everything back into the company.

Bill Gates
— Comment to reporters during the IBM PC launch (1981), interpreted as a jab at Gary Kildall

Tags: buying, airplanes, playing, our, competitors, rolled, everything, company

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