When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.

I’d rather be optimistic and wrong than pessimistic and right.

Life’s brutal

The tough thing is figuring out what questions to ask, but […] once you do that, the rest is really easy.

I think we have a duty to maintain the light of consciousness to make sure it continues into the future.

And we need things in life that are exciting and inspiring. It can’t just be about solving some awful problem. There have to be reasons to get up in the morning.

You have to say, ‘Well, why did it succeed where others did not?

My mentality is that of a samurai. I would rather commit seppuku than fail.

I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better.

If something’s important enough, you should try. Even if the probable outcome is failure.

I say something, and then it usually happens. Maybe not on schedule, but it usually happens.

When you struggle with a problem, that’s when you understand it.

I would just question things… It would infuriate my parents… That I wouldn’t just believe them when they said something ’cause I’d ask them why. And then I’d consider whether that response made sense given everything else I knew.

As much as possible, avoid hiring MBAs. MBA programs don’t teach people how to create companies.

I could either watch it happen or be a part of it.

Don’t be afraid of new arenas.

I think that’s the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.

You want to have a future where you’re expecting things to be better, not one where you’re expecting things to be worse.

If you go back a few hundred years, what we take for granted today would seem like magic – being able to talk to people over long distances, to transmit images, flying, accessing vast amounts of data like an oracle. These are all things that would have been considered magic a few hundred years ago.

There’s a tremendous bias against taking risks. Everyone is trying to optimize their ass-covering.

Some people don’t like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is disaster.

Don’t delude yourself into thinking something’s working when it’s not, or you’re gonna get fixated on a bad solution.

I always have optimism, but I’m realistic. It was not with the expectation of great success that I started Tesla or SpaceX…. It’s just that I thought they were important enough to do anyway.

If you get up in the morning and think the future is going to be better, it is a bright day. Otherwise, it’s not.

Why do you want to live? What’s the point? What inspires you? What do you love about the future? And if the future’s not including being out there among the stars and being a multi-planet species, it’s incredibly depressing if that’s not the future we’re going to have.

I’m interested in things that change the world or that affect the future and wondrous, new technology where you see it, and you’re like, ‘Wow, how did that even happen? How is that possible?

Going from PayPal, I thought: ‘Well, what are some of the other problems that are likely to most affect the future of humanity?’ Not from the perspective, ‘What’s the best way to make money?

The idea of lying on a beach as my main thing just sounds like the worst. It sounds horrible to me. I would go bonkers. I would have to be on serious drugs. I’d be super-duper bored. I like high intensity.

I think life on Earth must be about more than just solving problems… It’s got to be something inspiring, even if it is vicarious.

You shouldn’t do things differently just because they’re different. They need to be… better

My biggest mistake is probably weighing too much on someone’s talent and not someone’s personality. I think it matters whether someone has a good heart.

My motivation for all my companies has been to be involved in something that I thought would have a significant impact on the world.

I wouldn’t say I have a lack of fear. In fact, I’d like my fear emotion to be less because it’s very distracting and fries my nervous system.

If you’re trying to create a company, it’s like baking a cake. You have to have all the ingredients in the right proportion.

When I was in college, I wanted to be involved in things that would change the world. Now I am.

You want to be extra rigorous about making the best possible thing you can. Find everything that’s wrong with it and fix it. Seek negative feedback, particularly from friends.

Brand is just a perception, and perception will match reality over time. Sometimes it will be ahead, other times it will be behind. But brand is simply a collective impression some have about a product.

Starting and growing a business is as much about the innovation, drive and determination of the people who do it as it is about the product they sell.

I came to the conclusion that we should aspire to increase the scope and scale of human consciousness in order to better understand what questions to ask. Really, the only thing that makes sense is to strive for greater collective enlightenment.

Physics is a good framework for thinking. … Boil things down to their fundamental truths and reason up from there.

People work better when they know what the goal is and why. It is important that people look forward to coming to work in the morning and enjoy working.

You have to be pretty driven to make it happen. Otherwise, you will just make yourself miserable.

I think it is possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary.

Life is too short for long-term grudges.

Persistence is very important. You should not give up unless you are forced to give up.

It’s OK to have your eggs in one basket as long as you control what happens to that basket.

For me it was never about money, but solving problems for the future of humanity.

The first step is to establish that something is possible; then – probability will occur.

Really, the only thing that makes sense is to strive for greater collective enlightenment.

Patience is a virtue, and I’m learning patience. It’s a tough lesson.

If something is important enough, even if the odds are against you, you should still do it.

Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.

More permanent and genuine happiness is to be found in the sequestered walks of connubial life than in the giddy rounds of promiscuous pleasure.

One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor.

Keep in mind, the news media are not independent; they are a sort of bulletin board and public relations firm for the ruling class-the people who run things. Those who decide what news you will or will not hear are paid by, and tolerated purely at the whim of, those who hold economic power. If the parent corporation doesn’t want you to know something, it won’t be on the news. Period. Or, at the very least, it will be slanted to suit them, and then rarely followed up.

Work like hell. I mean you just have to put in 80 to 100-hour weeks every week

Great companies are built on great products

Great companies are built on great products