Elon Musk
A visionary engineer and entrepreneur who founded SpaceX, co-founded Tesla, Inc., and has made significant contributions to electric vehicles and space exploration.
Most quoted
"If you go back a few hundred years, what we take for granted today would be considered magic—being able to talk to people instantly across vast distances, to see pictures and hear sounds from anywhere, to fly, to access immense amounts of information from a small device. These are things that would have been considered magic a short time ago."
— from TED Talk, 2017
"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."
— from TED Talk
"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. I think that's the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself."
— from Interview with Kevin Rose, 2013
All quotes by Elon Musk (280)
I think it's important to have a feedback loop, where you're constantly thinking about what you've done and how you could be doing it better.
I think the internet is the most important thing that's happened in the last 20 years. It's the most important thing that's happened since electricity.
I'm interested in things that change the world or that affect the future and wondrous new technology, and if I can be involved in that, then I'm excited.
It's very important to like the people you work with, otherwise life and your job is gonna be quite miserable.
Starting a company is like eating glass and staring into the abyss of death.
You want to be extra rigorous about making the best possible thing you can imagine.
I'm a big believer in a multi-planetary species.
The value of a company is the sum of the cash flows from now until the end of time, discounted to the present.
I don't ever give up. I'd have to be dead or completely incapacitated.
I think it's very important to have a mission that you believe in.
I'm not afraid of dying. I'm afraid of not living.
We're going to make electric cars that are so compelling that people will want to buy them even if they don't care about the environment.
I think the biggest risk is not taking any risk. In a world that's changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.
I've actually not read that many books. I read a lot of articles and papers.
I think it's important to be as little wrong as possible.
I'm trying to do my part to make the future better.
The future of humanity is fundamentally going to diverge in one of two directions: either we're going to become a multi-planet species and a spacefaring civilization, or we're going to be stuck on one planet until some extinction event occurs.
It's not about the money. It's about the mission.
I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. If I had to guess at what our biggest existential threat is, it's probably that.
I'm not a big fan of vacations. I think they're a distraction.