If your goal is to make the world a better place, one thing you can do is pick a specific challenge that you really care about. Then, learn as much as you can about it and try to volunteer your time to help an organization that is working in this area. While you're doing that, look for creative new ways to use technology to tackle parts of the problem that you come in contact with.
Bill GatesThe leader needs to create an environment in which people can analyze the situation and develop a good response.
Bill GatesAs for drugs - well, Gates was certainly not unusual there. Marijuana was the pharmaceutical of choice.
Bill GatesPaul and I, we never thought that we would make much money out of the thing. We just loved writing software.
Bill GatesDoes the universe exist only for me? It's possible. If so, it's sure going well for me, I must admit.
Bill GatesIt is hard to overstate how valuable it is to have all the incredible tools that are used for human disease to study plants.
Bill GatesIf you believe that all men are created equal, then a child's death in some other country is no less tragic than in the United States.
Bill GatesOn my desk I have three screens, synchronized to form a single desktop. I can drag items from one screen to the next. Once you have that large display area, you'll never go back, because it has a direct impact on productivity.
Bill GatesFinally, assuming that many of those are fulfilled, which won't be easy in tight budget times, we're taking the supply side at the basic research level, because that's where government is absolutely fundamental.
Bill GatesThe thing about HD-DVD that is attractive to Microsoft is that it's very pro-consumer in letting you copy all movies up onto the hard disk.
Bill GatesIn this business, by the time you realize you're in trouble, it's too late to save yourself. Unless you're running scared all the time, you're gone.
Bill GatesIn the philanthropy game, you're going for different outcomes: saving childhood lives, having kids grow up - because they don't have malnutrition or disease - that they achieve their full potential. We take for Warren [Buffett] things that, because he's very intelligent about the world but doesn't get to go out in Africa and see what we see, we've taken and say to him where we stand and it's basically a very positive report that his gift has made a phenomenal difference.
Bill GatesThis is not about trade, no one is a stronger supporter of capitalism and trade than I am. This is about sovereignty and whether a country has the right to set its own public health policies.
Bill GatesThe most amazing philanthropists are people who are actually making a significant sacrifice.
Bill GatesI was lucky to be involved and get to contribute to something that was important, which is empowering people with software.
Bill GatesPeople often overestimate what will happen in the next two years and underestimate what will happen in ten.
Bill GatesThe part of uranium that's fissile - when you hit it with a neutron, it splits in two - is about 0.7%. The reactors we have today are burning that 0.7%.
Bill GatesThe malaria parasite has been killing children and sapping the strength of whole populations for tens of thousands of years. It is impossible to calculate the harm malaria has done to the world.
Bill GatesI love nuclear. It does this radiation thing that's tricky. But they're good solutions. You know, it was interesting; recently, in Connecticut this natural gas plant blew up 11 guys. It just blew them up.
Bill GatesOnly a few businesses will succeed by having the lowest price, so most will need a strategy that includes customer services.
Bill GatesNigeria has moved into low-middle-income, but their north is very poor, and the health care systems there have broken down.
Bill GatesMy son likes to go see mines and electric plants, or the Large Hadron Collider, and we've had a chance to see a lot of interesting stuff.
Bill GatesI think that our progress on key diseases over the next several decades is going to be pretty amazing and so I am very interested in that.
Bill GatesWe are seeing pioneers moving out to the Internet, banks that are taking transactions, retail shopping on the Internet, and although it's going to take most of a decade before most adults are turning to the Internet for a high percentage of their act
Bill GatesDrones overall will be more impactful than I think people recognize in positive ways to help society.
Bill Gates[Smart] is an elusive concept. There's a certain sharpness, an ability to absorb new facts. To ask an insightful question. To relate to domains that may not seem connected at first. A certain creativity that allows people to be effective.
Bill GatesHeadlines, in a way, are what mislead you because bad news is a headline, and gradual improvement is not.
Bill GatesWe're responsible for the creation of the PC industry. The whole idea of compatible machines and lots of software - that's something we brought to computing. And so it's a responsibility for us to make sure that things like security don't get in the way of that dream.
Bill GatesHumanity’s greatest advances are not in its discoveries – but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity. Whether through democracy, strong public education, quality health care, or broad economic opportunity – reducing inequity is the highest human achievement.
Bill GatesSoftware is inherently complicated. If you say to somebody I want an airline reservation system, to really say what you want in terms of overbooking and fares, and different airlines communicating with each or schedule changes, it's immensely complex. And so you can't write a program that's any simpler than that full specification.
Bill GatesWhenever you have a few setbacks, the idea that half as many children are dying now as back in 1990 and so... it was over 12 million a year, now it's less than 6 million a year. We have a clear path to get that under 3 million a year and we know what to do. And this generation of young Africans is a very large group.
Bill GatesLike almost everyone who uses e-mail, I receive a ton of spam every day. Much of it offers to help me get out of debt or get rich quick. It would be funny if it weren't so irritating.
Bill GatesThe power of capitalism to mediate the gap between rich and poor is pretty incredible. Indeed, I think, year by year, the gap gets less.
Bill GatesWhen you are failing, you are forced to be creative, to dig deep and think, night and day.
Bill GatesI know there's a farmer out there somewhere who never wants a PC and that's fine with me.
Bill GatesSometimes, I think my most important job as a CEO is to listen for bad news. If you don't act on it, your people will eventually stop bringing bad news to your attention and that is the beginning of the end.
Bill GatesWhen you have a fortune that is almost hard to imagine, the best thing is not to pass that on to one's children. That distorts their life situation.
Bill GatesI know that historically our foundation has had great relations with all the administrations.[Bill] Clinton administration did a lot of outreach. The greatest rise in U.S. foreign aid was under the [George] Bush administration, that's where we got the AIDS initiative, which is called PEPFAR.
Bill Gates