Great organizations demand a high level of commitment by the people involved. Eliminate politics, by giving everybody the same message. Keep a flat organization in which all issues are discussed openly. Empower teams to do their own things.

Given how few young people actually read the newspaper, it's a good thing they'll be reading a newspaper on a screen.

As for drugs - well, Gates was certainly not unusual there. Marijuana was the pharmaceutical of choice.

Bioterrorism is like earthquakes, you should think in order of magnitudes. If you can kill 10 people that's a one, 100 people that's a two... Bioterrorism is the thing that can give you not just sixes, but sevens, eights and nines.

There are GMO skeptics more in Europe maybe than in other places, but not exclusively.

There is a certain responsibility that accrued to me when I got to this unexpected position.

My mom and my dad were both very sociable, meeting lots of interesting people.