William Henry Gates III (1955 – Present), more popularly known as Bill Gates , is an American entrepreneur, computer scientist and philanthropist, known for being the co-founder with Paul Allen of the arch-rivals software company Microsoft.

Bill Gates is also famous for having led the ranking of the world’s richest men for many years, amassing a fortune of $136 billion. Despite this, Bill Gates’ popularity is also due to his philanthropy.

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Phrases and famous quotes from Bill Gates

As we have mentioned before, in addition to being the richest man in the world, Bill Gates chairs, together with his wife Melinda, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, contributing billions of dollars to the fight against poverty and disease in the most underdeveloped countries.

Below, we review the top 50 quotes from Bill Gates, the Seattle billionaire and philanthropist .

1. Your most dissatisfied customers are your greatest source of learning.

Bill Gates tells us that looking at mistakes you make can be more fruitful than looking at successes.

2. If we look at the next century, it will be the leaders who empower others.

No doubt times are changing and so are the roles of power. Cooperation and horizontality will be key in the companies of the 21st century.

3. To win big, sometimes you need to take big risks.

Always stepping on the safe side doesn’t always lead to success.

4. Be nice to the nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.

Strong line against bullying. Is Bill Gates speaking to us from personal experience?

5. I never took a day off in my 20s. Not one.

Much of Bill Gates’ success came from taking advantage of every day of his youth in his work.

6. I had a lot of dreams when I was a kid, and I think a lot of it grew out of the fact that I had the opportunity to read a lot.

Bill Gates has no doubt that reading stimulates the mind and imagination.

7. Whether it’s Google, Apple or free software, we have fantastic competitors and that keeps our feet on the ground.

Noble phrase from Bill Gates. He doesn’t hesitate to applaud his competition.

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

As a philologist, Bill Gates feels a responsibility to help those most in need

9. Climate change is a terrible problem, and it needs to be solved. It deserves a high priority.

The great problems of the 21st century are not far from Bill Gates’ agenda, and he does not hesitate to raise the alarm about climate change

10. We should all own our own food and do our own waste treatment.

In-house food management and the waste generated by it will be key in the near future

11. Software is a great combination of art and engineering.

Despite the rigidity that the programming projects, it needs creativity to be well executed.

12. Ninety percent of polio cases occur in vulnerable areas.

Bill Gates doesn’t have a pulse when it comes to talking about sensitive subjects like polio.

13. I get more spam than everyone I know.

Bill Gates’ hilarious line. It’s understandable that many people try to contact the millionaire.

14. For Africa to progress, you really must get rid of malaria.

Bill Gates points directly to the disease as one of the biggest blockages Africa has to develop.

15. I have been very fortunate, so I have an obligation to internalize reducing inequalities in the world. It is a form of religious belief.

Bill Gates feels the pressure to help people just because he knows that the randomness of life has smiled on him.

16. By improving health, empowering women, population growth is reduced.

Feminist phrase of Bill Gates where he takes advantage to position himself in favor of women’s empowerment.

17. It’s easier to add things to a PC than it ever was. Just one click and boom, it appears.

In the past, installing a program required time and effort. Technology advances by leaps and bounds.

18. Philanthropy should be voluntary.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was born out of volunteerism, not pressure to become millionaires.

19. Now, in almost any job, people use software and work with information to enable their organization to function more effectively.

Technology has facilitated the movement of information and communication in an overwhelming way.

20. Being inundated with information does not mean that we have the right information or that we are in contact with the right people.

Bill Gates warns that we must be selective about the information we receive.

21. The most amazing philanthropists are the people who are actually making a significant sacrifice.

One of those phrases where Bill Gates applauds philanthropists who actually leave a significant part of their fortunes, not “leftovers”.

22. Private capital can take risks that public capital is not willing to take.

Bill Gates, very cleverly, tells us that public capital walks on safe ground and that private capital can reach places where the former cannot.

23. DNA is like a computer program but much, much more advanced than any software ever created.

Bill Gates tells us how evolution in its billions of years of existence has reached a point where even programming cannot yet be compared.

24. I agree with people like Richard Dawkins that humanity felt the need to create myths. Before we started to really understand diseases, climate and things like that, we looked for false explanations.

Bill Gates’ wink to the British science communicator. You have to leave mysticism aside to get to the truth.

25. Selling in a shop, working in a restaurant, making hamburgers… none of that takes away from your dignity. The name for that is “opportunity”

Bill Gates doesn’t drop his rings when he talks about humble jobs. These can be bridges to a better future.

26. When you have money in your hand, only you forget who you are. But when you don’t have money in your hand, everyone forgets who you are. That’s life.

Sad phrase that talks about people’s interest.

27. I don’t know if there is a God or not…

Here we can see how Bill Gates admits he’s agnostic.

28. Some people might call me a nerd. I claim the label with pride.

Another one of those Bill Gates phrases where he praises nerds and their passion for knowledge.

29. Business is a money game with few rules and a lot of risk.

Despite having made millions in business, Bill Gates tells us that business itself is not that complicated.

30. This is a fantastic time to enter the business world, because business is going to change more in the next 10 years than in the last 50.

Technology is advancing faster and faster and Bill Gates sees a world of opportunity in this.

31. Yes, you can learn anything.

Bill Gates’ motivating sentence where he invites to know new things.

32. I think business is very simple.

The philanthropist downplays the importance of business by saying that it is accessible to everyone.

33. Patience is a key element of success.

Simple but powerful phrase from the American.

34. Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces intelligent people even though they can’t lose.

Bill Gates is not a friend of the overconfident.

35. ‘I don’t know’ has become ‘I don’t know yet’.

Great phrase that invites self-improvement.

36. Life isn’t fair, get used to it.

Accepting this fact may be sad, but it is necessary.

37. If geek means you’re willing to study things, and if you think science and engineering are important, I plead guilty. If your culture doesn’t like geeks, you have a real problem.

Bill Gates puts the love of knowledge on a pedestal and does not tremble when he says that any culture that denies it is destined to fail.

38. The key to success in business is to detect where the world is going and get there first.

Bill Gates invites us to think “outside the box” and to be ahead of our time.

39. If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you have a boss.

I warn young people to value their teachers’ interest in them, as this will not always be the case.

40. If you mess up something, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t complain about your mistakes, learn from them.

You are responsible for your mistakes and no one else.

41. There will be two types of businesses in the 21st century: those that are on the Internet and those that no longer exist.

Conspicuous phrase from Seattle where he tells us that business will either be online, or it won’t be.

42. Of my mental cycles, I dedicate perhaps 10% to business reflection. Business is not that complicated.

Another one of those phrases where Bill Gates emphasizes that business is not the most crucial part of his thought processes.

43. Keep in mind that “Information is power”.

An archaic phrase that also does not escape the mouth of the millionaire.

44. You will not earn 5000 euros per month right after leaving college, and you will not be a vice president of anything until, with your effort, you have earned both achievements.

Bill Gates invites us to overcome and tells us that everything is achieved with effort.

45. The Internet provides the right information, at the right time, for the right purpose.

The ease of information these days is overwhelming.

46. I failed some tests, but my partner passed everything. Now he’s a Microsoft engineer and I own Microsoft.

It’s not all about getting good grades.

47. Legacy is a stupid thing. I don’t want a legacy.

Carpe Diem? Bill Gates knows that legacy is something intangible and of no real value.

48. If you can’t beat the enemy… Buy it!

Jocular phrase of the Seattle one where he paraphrases Sun Tzu in his book The Art of War, updating it to the capitalist world in which we live.

49. This social networking stuff takes you to some pretty crazy places.

What websites has the American philanthropist reached?

50. People often ask me to explain Microsoft’s success. They want to know the secret of how you go from an activity that employs two people and requires very little money to a company that has more than 21 000 employees and a turnover of more than 8 billion dollars a year. Of course, there is no single answer and luck has played a part, but I think the most important element was our original vision.

It is not the first time we see Bill Gates emphasize that being ahead of his time and having original ideas were key to Microsoft’s success.