Elon Musk Quotes

Constantly seek criticism. A well thought out critique of what you're doing is as valuable as gold

For all the supporters of Tesla over the years, and it's been several years now and there have been some very tough times, I'd just like to say thank you very much. I deeply appreciate the support, particularly through the darkest times.

I've always wanted to be part of something that would radically change the world. . . . People forget the power of inspiration. All of humanity went to the moon with the Apollo missions. The issue was cost. There was no chance to build a base and create frequent flights. That's the problem I would like to solve.

It's OK to have your eggs in one basket as long as you control what happens to that basket.

If you're co-founder or CEO, you have to do all kinds of tasks you might not want to do. If you don't do your chores, the company won't succeed. No task is too menial.

Physics is really figuring out how to discover new things that are counterintuitive, like quantum mechanics. It's really counterintuitive.

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.

The fuel cell is just a fundamentally inferior way of delivering electrical energy to an electric motor than batteries.

The idea of lying on a beach as my main thing just sounds like the worst. It sounds horrible to me. I would go bonkers. I would have to be on serious drugs. I'd be super-duper bored. I like high intensity.

It's a fixer-upper of a planet but we could make it work.

If anyone has a vested interest in space solar power, it would have to be me.

I do love email. Wherever possible I try to communicate asynchronously. I'm really good at email.

Facebook is quite entrenched and has a network effect. It's hard to break into a network once it's formed.

Being an entrepreneur is like eating glass and staring into the abyss of death.

I think you should always be seeking negative feedback.

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

Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.

Tesla Motors was created to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport. If we clear a path to the creation of compelling electric vehicles, but then lay intellectual property landmines behind us to inhibit others, we are acting in a manner contrary to that goal. Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology.

I'm a Silicon Valley guy. I just think people from Silicon Valley can do anything.

Tesla is here to stay and keep fighting for the electric car revolution.

I think it matters whether someone has a good heart.

Persistence is very important. You should not give up unless you are forced to give up.

There's a real opportunity to have a vertical takeoff and landing electric supersonic jet.

My background educationally is physics and economics, and I grew up in sort of an engineering environment - my father is an electromechanical engineer. And so there were lots of engineery things around me.

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

When people really understand it's do or die [and] if we work hard and pull through, it's going to be a great outcome; people will give it everything they've got.

What I'm trying to do is to maximise the probability of the future being better.

Entrepreneurship is like eating glass and walking on hot coals at the same time

We have a strict 'no a-hole policy' at SpaceX. And we fire people they are. I mean, we give them a little bit of warning. But if they continue to be an a-hole, then they're fired.

I think that's the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.

It's just mind-blowingly awesome. I apologize, and I wish I was more articulate, but it's hard to be articulate when your mind's blown-but in a very good way.

Let's think beyond the normal stuff and have an environment where that sort of thinking is encouraged and rewarded and where it's okay to fail as well. Because when you try new things, you try this idea, that idea... well a large number of them are not gonna work, and that has to be okay. If every time somebody comes up with an idea it has to be successful, you're not gonna get people coming up with ideas.

You need to be in the position where it is the cost of the fuel that actually matters and not the cost of building the rocket in the first place.

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.

You want to be extra rigorous about making the best possible thing you can. Find everything that's wrong with it and fix it.

So, there's quite a big keep-out zone, and when you factor the keep-out zone into account, the solar panels put on that area would typically generate more power than that nuclear power plant.

My family fears that the Russians will assassinate me.

I don't think very highly of Henrik Fisker. [...H]e thinks the reason we don't have electric cars is for lack of styling

You want to do things you’re passionate about but also are useful to other people.

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.

I think it is possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary.

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.

We need to figure out how to have the things we love, and not destroy the world.

The reason we should do a carbon tax is because it's the right thing to do. It's economics 101, elementary stuff.

I do think there is a lot of potential if you have a compelling product and people are willing to pay a premium for that. I think that is what Apple has shown. You can buy a much cheaper cell phone or laptop, but Apple's product is so much better than the alternative, and people are willing to pay that premium.

I think long term you can see Tesla establishing factories in Europe, in other parts of the U.S. and in Asia.

You should be innovating so fast that you're invalidating your prior patents.

America is the spirit of human exploration distilled.