Microsoft's only factory asset is the human imagination.

(Talking about his first computer) Like all kids we not only fooled around with our toys, we changed them. If you've ever watched a child with a cardboard carton and a box of crayons create a spaceship with cool control panels, or listened to their improvised rules, such as "Red cars can jump all others," then you know that this impulse to make a toy do more is at the heart of innovative childhood play. It is also the essence of creativity.

When making choices, or setting policies about the economy, education or medicine, society is best served by electing people who are particularly hardworking, intelligent and interested in long-term thinking.

Like a human being, a company has to have an internal communication mechanism, a "nervous system", to coordinate its actions.

Being maniacal about something is very helpful.

No one person controls Microsoft. The board and the shareholders decide whether they want to have me as CEO.

And knowledge management is a means, not an end.