Quotes from Bill Gates

It's pretty incredible to look back 30 years to when Microsoft was starting and realize how work has been transformed. We're finally getting close to what I call the digital workstyle.

I'm going to retain a lot of Microsoft's stock.

I read a lot of obscure books and it is nice to open a book.

I failed my exam in some subjects but my friend passed. Now he's an engineer in Microsoft and I am the owner.

People always fear change. People feared electricity when it was invented, didn't they? People feared coal, they feared gas-powered engines… There will always be ignorance, and ignorance leads to fear. But with time, people will come to accept their silicon masters.

I failed in some subjects in exam, but my friend passed in all. Now he is an engineer in Microsoft and I am the owner of Microsoft.

Exposure from a young age to the realities of the world is a super-big thing.

The Internet is the easiest thing to get into. To be an Internet retailer, you just get that URL.

The Gates Foundation has learned that two questions can predict how much kids learn: 'Does your teacher use class time well?' and, 'When you're confused, does your teacher help you get straightened out?'

In almost every job now, people use software and work with information to enable their organisation to operate more effectively.

I think it's fair to say that personal computers have become the most empowering tool we've ever created. They're tools of communication, they're tools of creativity, and they can be shaped by their user.

Steve Jobs' ability to focus in on a few things that count, get people who get user interface right, and market things as revolutionary are amazing things.

The truth of Moore's law has made remarkable things possible. On the software side, I think natural user interfaces in all their forms are equally significant.

DOS is ugly and interferes with users' experience.

Middle-income countries are the biggest users of GMOs. Places like Brazil.

Like almost everyone who uses e-mail, I receive a ton of spam every day. Much of it offers to help me get out of debt or get rich quick. It would be funny if it weren't so exciting.

The most interesting biofuel efforts avoid using land that's expensive and has high opportunity costs. They do this by getting onto other types of land, or taking advantage of byproducts that aren't used in the food chain today, or by intercropping.

The ideal thing would be to have a 100 percent effective AIDS vaccine. And to have broad usage of that vaccine. That would literally break the epidemic.

Globalization has made copper and other minerals more valuable, and Ghana and Kenya have recently discovered mineral resources.

It is hard to overstate how valuable it is to have all the incredible tools that are used for human disease to study plants.

Driving up the value of the advertising is a big commitment for Microsoft.

If you're a person struggling to eat and stay healthy, you might have heard about Michael Jordan or Muhammad Ali, but you'll never have heard of Bill Gates.

I have a company that is not Microsoft, called Corbis. Corbis is the operation that merged with Bettman Archives. It has nothing to do with Microsoft. It was intentionally done outside of Microsoft because Microsoft isn't interested.

I meet people overseas that know five languages - that the only language I'm comfortable in is English.