If you’re an entrepreneur (or wanna be an entrepreneur) then you need some motivation, don’t you? And motivation needs regular top-ups. I have already shared a bunch of inspirational quotes as listicles over the past many, many years.

Today, it’s all about Microsoft. Oh yeah, I’m a Microsoft fanatic. As I enormously admire Bill Gates and Microsoft I have collected as much inspirational and motivational quotes as possible by Bill Gates.

5 Things You Might Not Know About Bill Gates

Bill Gates was consistently ranked as the world’s wealthiest person from 1995 – 2007. He told his university teachers he would be a millionaire by age 30. He became a billionaire at age 31. His SAT score was 1590. The top score for the test is 1600. He pledged to give 95% of his wealth to charity – than leaving it for his children. He’s now given $28 billion to charity.



For more facts about Bill Gates check out the remarkable interview with Bill Gates by Daily Mail and the personal details revealed by him.

Bill Gates Quotes On Life, Money, Success, Education, Leadership

I have made sure that only his best quotes remains in this list and have ignored all those famous quotes which are regularly shared on social media as they were mostly misattributed.

Just in case, why do we need inspiration? As you probably know, success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration . So here is that 1%. ;)

Quotes On Money & Business

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” “This is a fantastic time to be entering the business world, because business is going to change more in the next 10 years than it has in the last 50.” “Whether it’s Google or Apple or free software, we’ve got some fantastic competitors and it keeps us on our toes.” “If you give people tools, [and they use] their natural ability and their curiosity, they will develop things in ways that will surprise you very much beyond what you might have expected.” “Intellectual property has the shelf life of a banana.” “There’s only one trick in software, and that is using a piece of software that’s already been written.” “It’s not manufacturers trying to rip anybody off or anything like that. There’s nobody getting rich writing software that I know of.” “Great organizations demand a high level of commitment by the people involved.” “About three million computers get sold every year in China, but people don’t pay for the software. Someday they will, though. As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They’ll get sort of addicted, and then we’ll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade.” “Make it just like a Mac.” “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.” “The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.” “I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.” “In three years, every product my company makes will be obsolete. The only question is whether we will make them obsolete or somebody else will.” “We’re responsible for the creation of the PC industry. The whole idea of compatible machines and lots of software.. that’s something we brought to computing. And so it’s a responsibility for us to make sure that things like security don’t get in the way of that dream.” “People always fear change. People feared electricity when it was invented, didn’t they?” “Every day were saying, ‘How can we keep this customer happy?’ How can we get ahead in innovation by doing this, because if we don’t, somebody else will.” “It’s easier for our software to compete with Linux when there’s piracy than when there’s not.” “Microsoft has had clear competitors in the past. It’s a good thing we have museums to document that.” “If something is expensive to develop, and somebody’s not going to get paid, it won’t get developed. So you decide: Do you want software to be written, or not?” “If you show people the problems and you show people the solutions they will be moved to act.” “If you can’t make it good, at least make it look good.” “In this business, by the time you realize you’re in trouble, it’s too late to save yourself. Unless you’re running scared all the time, you’re gone.” “Intellectual property has the shelf life of a banana.” “Microsoft is not about greed. It’s about innovation and fairness.”

Don’t Miss: My Favorite Motivational Quotes – Ideas, Innovation, Startups

Quotes On Success & Leadership

“As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.” “I do think this next century, hopefully, will be about a more global view. Where you don’t just think, yes my country is doing well, but you think about the world at large.” “Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important.” “Patience is a key element of success.” “Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.” “It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” “If geek means you’re willing to study things, and if you think science and engineering matter, I plead guilty. If your culture doesn’t like geeks, you are in real trouble.” “The best way to prepare [to be a programmer] is to write programs, and to study great programs that other people have written. In my case, I went to the garbage cans at the Computer Science Center and fished out listings of their operating system.” “Measuring programming progress by lines of code is like measuring aircraft building progress by weight.” “Capitalism is this wonderful thing that motivates people, it causes wonderful inventions to be done. But in this area of diseases of the world at large, it’s really let us down.” “To win big, you sometimes have to take big risks.” “Don’t compare yourself with anyone in this world. If you do so, you are insulting yourself.”

Don’t Miss: Over 61 Inspirational Quotes About Life, Success & Change

Quotes On Life & Education

“Life is not fair – get used to it!” “‘I don’t know’ has become ‘I don’t know yet’.” “The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.” “You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won’t be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.” “If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.” “Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping – they called it opportunity.” “If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes, learn from them.” “Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent’s generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.” “Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they’ll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.” “Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.” “Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.” “Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.” “I really had a lot of dreams when I was a kid, and I think a great deal of that grew out of the fact that I had a chance to read a lot.” “I realized about 10 years ago that my wealth has to go back to society. A fortune, the size of which is hard to imagine, is best not passed on to one’s children. It’s not constructive for them.”

Don’t Miss: My Favorite Inspirational Quotes – Creativity, Life, Self, Success

Bill Gates Quotes On Computing & Technology

“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 irritating.” “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.” “The Internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow.” “We are not even close to finishing the basic dream of what the PC can be.” “When the PC was launched, people knew it was important.” “The great thing about a computer notebook is that no matter how much you stuff into it, it doesn’t get bigger or heavier.” “To create a new standard, it takes something that’s not just a little bit different; it takes something that’s really new and really captures people’s imagination — and the Macintosh, of all the machines I’ve ever seen, is the only one that meets that standard.” “When you want to do your homework, fill out your tax return, or see all the choices for a trip you want to take, you need a full-size screen.” “The advance of technology is based on making it fit in so that you don’t really even notice it, so it’s part of everyday life.” “The Internet will help achieve “friction free capitalism” by putting buyer and seller in direct contact and providing more information to both about each other.” “I’ve always loved digging into the science and math behind my work. At Microsoft, I got deep into computer science. At the foundation, it’s computer science plus biology, chemistry, agronomy, and more. I’ll spend hours talking to a researcher or an expert, and then I’ll go home, dying to tell Melinda what I’ve learned. I can’t imagine a better way to spend the bulk of my time.”

Don’t Miss: Over 71 Inspirational Steve Jobs Quotes To Make You Feel Like You Can Achieve Anything

BONUS: Bill Gates Speech at Harvard



Have I missed your favorite quote by Bill Gates? If so, let me know as a comment below!

Stay Inspired! :)

First Published: August 20, 2012; Last Updated: Saturday, February 10, 2018.