I could either watch it happen or be a part of it.

The odds of me coming into the rocket business, not knowing anything about rockets, not having ever built anything, I mean, I would have to be insane if I thought the odds were in my favor.

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

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.

Trying to read our DNA is like trying to understand software code - with only 90% of the code riddled with errors. It's very difficult in that case to understand and predict what that software code is going to do.

In order for us to have a future that's exciting and inspiring, it has to be one where we're a space-bearing civilization.

You have to be pretty driven to make it happen. Otherwise, you will just make yourself miserable.