Well, my motivation behind Tesla is really to do as much good as possible for the environment and the electric-vehicle revolution. I think there is still a lot of work to do and if we were to sell to a big company, I'm not sure it would progress at the same pace.

People often mistake technology for a static picture. It's less like a picture and more like a movie. It's the velocity of technology innovation that matters. It's the acceleration.

My mentality is that of a samurai. I would rather commit seppuku than fail.

In almost any industry, if you're passionate about doing a great job and making people that buy your product or service as happy as possible, it's really fulfilling.

Actively seek out and listen carefully to negative feedback.

What I'm trying to do is, is to make a significant difference in space flight. And help make space flight accessible to almost anyone.

An asteroid or a supervolcano could certainly destroy us, but we also face risks the dinosaurs never saw: An engineered virus, nuclear war, inadvertent creation of a micro black hole, or some as-yet-unknown technology could spell the end of us.