I realized about 10 years ago that my wealth has to go back to society. A fortune, the size of which is hard to imagine, is best not passed on to one's children. It's not constructive for them.

I believe that every life is valuable. That we can make things better. That innovation is the key to a bright future. That we're just getting started.

Looking at these issues as a businessman, I believe that investing in the world's poorest people is the smartest way that our government spends money.

There are more people dying of malaria than any specific cancer.

In the US in the 1900's 60 % of people were employed on the farms. Today it's less than 1%. If you told people back then that this would happen they wouldn't have believed it. If you told them we would have therapy, massages and spas that played important parts in our lives they would've have believed us.

Inspiration starts somewhere.

People can criticize Microsoft for supporting this TV thing for the past eight years, but it is a long-term bet, There is not any other software business that is as dedicated to the vision of the TV and the PDA [personal digital assistant] as we are.