There will be statues of Bill Gates across the Third World. There's a reasonable shot that - because of his money - we will cure malaria.

In fact, researchers have settled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise: ten thousand hours.

The single most important thing a city can do is provide a community where interesting, smart people want to live with their families.

I have a new way of doing things, and I don’t care if you think I’m crazy.

It wasn't an excuse. It was a fact. He'd had to make his way alone, and no one - not rock stars, not professional athletes, not software billionaires, and not even geniuses - ever makes it alone.

When people reflexively write checks to institutions that have billions of dollars in the bank, they are essentially committing a moral crime. Your money could do good in this world and you're choosing instead to waste it. People have to do a better job of that. You've got to find places where your money's going to do some good and direct your dollars towards that institution.

A prediction, in a field where prediction is not possible, is no more than a prejudice.