William Henry Gates III is an American business magnate, software developer, investor, and philanthropist. He is best known as the co-founder of Microsoft Corporation. He co-founded Microsoft with childhood friend Paul Allen in 1975 in Albuquerque, New Mexico; it went on to become the world’s largest personal computer software company. Bill Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs and pioneers of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s.
During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of chairman, chief executive officer (CEO), president and chief software architect. He was also the largest individual shareholder of Microsoft until May 2014. Later in his career and since leaving day-to-day operations at Microsoft in 2008, Gates pursued a number of philanthropic endeavours.
He donated large amounts of money to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, reported to be the world’s largest private charity. In 2009, Gates and Warren Buffett founded The Giving Pledge, whereby they and other billionaires pledge to give at least half of their wealth to philanthropy.
Some of the best quotes from Bill Gates are listed below.
- “As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.” – Bill Gates
- “Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.” – Bill Gates
- “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.” – Bill Gates
- “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.” – Bill Gates
- “Don’t compare yourself with anyone in this world. If you do so, you are insulting yourself.”– Bill Gates
- “I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.” – Bill Gates
- “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.” – Bill Gates
- “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.” – Bill Gates
- “If I’d had some set idea of a finish line, don’t you think I would have crossed it years ago?” – Bill Gates
- “If you can’t make it good, at least make it look good.” – Bill Gates
- “If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes, learn from them.” – Bill Gates
- “If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.” – Bill Gates
- “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.” – Bill Gates
- “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.” – Bill Gates
- “It’s fine to celebrate success, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” – Bill Gates
- “Life is not fair – get used to it!” – Bill Gates
- “Of my mental cycles, I devote maybe 10% to business thinking. Business isn’t that complicated. I wouldn’t want that on my business card.” – Bill Gates
- “Our success has really been based on partnerships from the very beginning.” – Bill Gates
- “Patience is a key element of success.” – Bill Gates
- “People always fear change. People feared electricity when it was invented, didn’t they?” – Bill Gates
- “Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.” – Bill Gates
- “The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.” – Bill Gates
- “The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.” – Bill Gates
- “To win big, you sometimes have to take big risks.” – Bill Gates
- “We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don’t let yourself be lulled into inaction.” – Bill Gates
- “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.” – Bill Gates
- “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” – Bill Gates
- “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.” – Bill Gates
