Taking a look back, one big reqret is, I left Harvard with no real awareness of the awful inequities in the world. The appalling disparities of health and wealth and opportunity that condemned millions of people to the lives of despair. I learned a lot here at Harvard about new ideas and economics, and politics. I got great exposure to the advances being made in the sciences. But humanities greatest advances are not in its discoveries, but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity.
Bill GatesIn the decade ahead I can predict that we will provide over twice the productivity improvement that we provided in the '90s.
Bill GatesYou've got to be willing to read other people's code, then write your own, then have other people review your code.
Bill GatesThe world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Bill GatesOur modern lifestyle is not a political creation. Before 1700, everybody was poor as hell. Life was short and brutish. It wasn't because we didn't have good politicians; we had some really good politicians. But then we started inventing - electricity, steam engines, microprocessors, understanding genetics and medicine and things like that. Yes, stability and education are important - I'm not taking anything away from that - but innovation is the real driver of progress.
Bill Gates