"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 I'd had some set idea of a finish line, don't you think I would have crossed it years ago?"
"Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important."
"We are not even close to finishing the basic dream of what the PC can be."
"I am results-oriented."
"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."
"Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There's a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning."
"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'm sorry that we have to have a Washington presence. We thrived during our first 16 years without any of this. I never made a political visit to Washington and we had no people here. It wasn't on our radar screen. We were just making great software."
"There are people who don't like capitalism, and people who don't like PCs. But there's no-one who likes the PC who doesn't like Microsoft."
"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."
"Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning."
"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."
"Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven. I don't think anybody can talk meaningfully about one without the talking about the other."
"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."
"When the PC was launched, people knew it was important."
"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."
"I actually thought that it would be a little confusing during the same period of your life to be in one meeting when you're trying to make money, and then go to another meeting where you're giving it away. I mean is it gonna erode your ability, you know, to make money? Are you gonna somehow get confused about what you're trying to do?"
"We've got to put a lot of money into changing behavior."
"Microsoft is not about greed. It's about innovation and fairness."
"People everywhere love Windows."
"The U.S. couldn't even get rid of Saddam Hussein. And we all know that the EU is just a passing fad. They'll be killing each other again in less than a year. I'm sick to death of all these fascist lawsuits."
"DOS is ugly and interferes with users' experience."
"Security is, I would say, our top priority because for all the exciting things you will be able to do with computers - organizing your lives, staying in touch with people, being creative - if we don't solve these security problems, then people will hold back."
