Bill Gates

"Philanthropy is improving the lives of as many people as possible in as many ways as possible."

"In the next 15 years, the gap in income between my country and yours will grow even larger than it is today, and all the linear trends will continue."

"The most amazing philanthropists are people who give when they have very little to give."

"I really had a lot of dreams when I was a kid, and I think a great life is one where you hold on to some of your dreams in a child-like way."

"Being number one isn't everything to me, but for a while, I thought it was."

"We can make the world a place where every newborn will have a good chance of living a healthy and productive life."

"You will always wish you could have done more for your parents or friends or community."

"Reading is still the main way that I both learn new things and test my knowledge."

"The most important thing is getting the right people and getting them to commit to the right vision."

"The key innovation has always been write software that helps people do their job better."

"Our ability to share experiences and learn from one another has never been greater."

"Your school may have done well by you without being very selective. There are many exceptions. However, in the nation as a whole, the selective schools in the past have fucked up in the way that they've defined learning."

"There's always this thing called luck. You create your own luck in some sense because you're putting yourself in position to be lucky."

"I'm a great believer that the most important thing is the quality of the people and how much the people want to help each other."

"What I really hate is people who are negative and don't have energy and aren't passionate about what they do."

"Reduce poverty and you will reduce violence."

"I believe that if you show people the problems and you show them the solutions they can help provide, they will get involved."

"The advance of technology is based on making it fit in so that you don't really notice it, so it's part of everyday life."

"I think it's fair to say that the average person doesn't have a good sense of how they're doing at their job."

"The ability to learn is the most important thing in business or in any field."

"If you come from a background of privilege, you have to work hard not to take advantage of people."

"Our lives improve only when we take chances, and the first and most difficult chance we can take is to be honest with ourselves."

"Melinda and I believe that we have a responsibility to use our wealth to help level the playing field for people around the world."

"The internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow."

"People fear what they don't understand."

"The most important single thing about software is that it is a tool for the human mind."

"Understanding the lives of the poorest people is critical to improving them."

"I'm interested in science and nature, and I think there's a lot of connections there."

"The best way to prepare for the future is to invent it."

"I'm convinced that we will eventually have a vaccine for AIDS that will be safe and effective and can be used to prevent HIV infection."