If something's important enough, you should try. Even if you - the probable outcome is failure.

I think it's important to reason from first principles rather than by analogy. The normal way we conduct our lives is we reason by analogy. [With analogy] we are doing this because it's like something else that was done, or it is like what other people are doing. [With first principles] you boil things down to the most fundamental truths…and then reason up from there.

I'm increasingly inclined to think there should be some regulatory oversight, maybe at the national and international level just to make sure that we don't do something very foolish.

I read books and talked to people. I mean that's kind of how one learns anything. There's lots of great books out there & lots of smart people.

Patience is a virtue, and I'm learning patience. It's a tough lesson.

The overarching goal of Tesla is to help reduce carbon emissions and that means low cost and high volume. We will also serve as an example to the auto industry, proving that the technology really works and customers want to buy electric vehicles.

I realized that a methane-oxygen rocket engine could achieve a specific impulse greater than 380.