If we [Microsoft Corporation] weren't still hiring great people and pushing ahead at full speed, it would be easy to fall behind and become a mediocre company. Fear should guide you, but it should be latent. I have some latent fear. I consider failure on a regular basis.

When you program, you want to think you're writing the best possible program for the... for the task you're trying to solve.

here are economies like China's economy where it's less than a tenth [of a percent] today, although it is growing, is quite small, because of the notion that the government takes care of everything, and Europe and China, philanthropy has not been nearly of the same scale.

To win big, you sometimes have to take big risks.

If you get health, then you have opportunity for literacy. Health first, then literacy. Once you have literacy, then you have a chance to bring in the new tools of communication. Let people reach out and have access to the latest advances.

If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Setting clear goals and finding measures that will mark progress toward them can improve the human condition.