The gift of loneliness is sometimes a radical vision of society or one's people that has not previously been taken into account.

For in the end, freedom is a personal and lonely battle; and one faces down fears of today so that those of tomorrow might be engaged.

Tea to the English is really a picnic indoors.

I think we have to own the fears that we have of each other, and then, in some practical way, some daily way, figure out how to see people differently than the way we were brought up to.

Us sing and dance, make faces and give flower bouquets, trying to be loved. You ever notice that trees do everything to git attention we do, except walk?

I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their good intellects.

Don’t make the same decision twice. Spend time and thought to make a solid decision the first time so that you don’t revisit the issue unnecessarily

I’m a geek

The general idea of the rich helping the poor, I think, is important

Effective philanthropy requires a lot of time and creativity – the same kind of focus and skills that building a business requires

At Microsoft there are lots of brilliant ideas but the image is that they all come from the top – I’m afraid that’s not quite right

I was lucky to be involved and get to contribute to something that was important, which is empowering people with software.

I don’t think there’s anything unique about human intelligence.

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

“Software is a great combination between artistry and engineering.”

“To win big, you sometimes need to take big risks.” 

“Find yourself.”

“People always fear change. People feared electricity when it was invented, didn’t they.”

“I really had a lot of dreams when I was a kid, and I think that a great deal of that grew out of the fact that I had a chance to read a lot

If your culture doesn’t like geeks, you are in real trouble.

I can understand wanting to have millions of dollars, there’s a certain freedom, meaningful freedom, that comes with that. ‘But once you get much beyond that, I have to tell you, it’s the same hamburger.

If you can’t make it good, at least make it look good

If you think your teacher is tough, wait ’til you get a boss. He doesn’t have tenure

Everyone needs a coach. It doesn't matter whether you're a basketball player, a tennis player, a gymnast or a bridge player.