My motivation for all my companies has been to be involved in something that I thought would have a significant impact on the world.

Land on Mars, a round-trip ticket - half a million dollars. It can be done.

I don't spend my time pontificating about high-concept things; I spend my time solving engineering and manufacturing problems.

Work like hell. I mean you just have to put in 80 to 100 hour weeks every week. [This] improves the odds of success. If other people are putting in 40 hour work weeks and you’re putting in 100 hour work weeks, then even if you’re doing the same thing you know that you will achieve in 4 months what it takes them a year to achieve.

A Prius is not a true hybrid, really. The current Prius is, like, 2 percent electric. It's a gasoline car with slightly better mileage.

It was obvious to me that we could never colonize Mars without reusability, any more than America would have been colonized if they had to burn the ships after every trip.

I started SpaceX with the expectation of failure.