I came to the conclusion that we should aspire to increase the scope and scale of human consciousness in order to better understand what questions to ask. Really, the only thing that makes sense is to strive for greater collective enlightenment.

Silicon Valley has evolved a critical mass of engineers and venture capitalists and all the support structure - the law firms, the real estate, all that - that are all actually geared toward being accepting of startups.

I think it's very important to have a feedback loop, where you're constantly thinking about what you've done and how you could be doing it better.

For me it was never about money, but solving problems for the future of humanity.

Yeah, well I think anyone who likes fast cars will love the Tesla. And it has fantastic handling by the way. I mean this car will crush a Porsche on the track, just crush it. So if you like fast cars, you'll love this car. And then oh, by the way, it happens to be electric and it's twice the efficiency of a Prius.

People should pursue what they're passionate about. That will make them happier than pretty much anything else.

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.