“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.” Widely attributed mindsetperseverance
“Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose.” The Road Ahead, 1995 failuremindset
“It's not manufacturers trying to rip anybody off or anything like that. There's nobody getting rich writing software that I know of.” money
“Instead of buying airplanes and playing around like some of our competitors, we've rolled almost everything back into the company.” startups
“To create a new standard, it takes something that's not just a little bit different; it takes something that's really new and really captures people's imagination — and the Macintosh, of all the machines I've ever seen, is the only one that meets that standard.” leadershipinnovation
“The next generation of interesting software will be done on the Macintosh, not the IBM PC.” execution
“I think it's more like we both had this rich neighbor named Xerox and I broke into his house to steal the TV set and found out that you had already stolen it.” moneymindset
“I believe OS/2 is destined to be the most important operating system, and possibly program, of all time.” mindset
“There's only one trick in software, and that is using a piece of software that's already been written.” mindset
“If people had understood how patents would be granted when most of today's ideas were invented, and had taken out patents, the industry would be at a complete standstill today.... The solution to this is patent exchanges with large companies and patenting as much as we can.” leadershipinnovation
“In terms of doing things I take a fairly scientific approach to why things happen and how they happen. I don't know if there's a god or not, but I think religious principles are quite valid.” executionmindset
“What we're saying to people is that every idea about ease-of-use, we can develop in software, for the PC, without asking them to buy new hardware, without asking them to throw away their old applications.” leadershipinnovation
“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.” execution
“It's possible, you can never know, that the universe exists only for me. If so, it's sure going well for me, I must admit.” mindset
“We've done some good work, but all of these products become obsolete so fast... It will be some finite number of years, and I don't know the number — before our doom comes.” executionproduct
“Microsoft has had clear competitors in the past. It's a good thing we have museums to document that.” execution
“Trustworthy Computing has four pillars: reliability, security, privacy and business integrity.” mindset
“We don't have the user centricity. Until we understand context, which is way beyond presence — presence is the most trivial notion, just am I on this device or not; it doesn't say am I meeting with something, am I focused on writing something.” executioncustomers
“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 irritating.” money
“If you show people the problems and you show people the solutions they will be moved to act.” leadership
“I wish I wasn't ... There's nothing good that comes out of that. You get more visibility as a result of it.” mindset
“I'm a big believer that as much as possible, and there's obviously political limitations, freedom of migration is a good thing.” executionmindset
“It's easier for our software to compete with Linux when there's piracy than when there's not.” competition
“[I]t's not like I sit there and feel the same way I did with iPhone where I say, "Oh my God, Microsoft didn't aim high enough." It's a nice reader, but there's nothing on the iPad I look at and say, "Oh, I wish Microsoft had done it.” execution
“Microsoft's early mobile strategy was clearly a mistake. There's a lot of things like cellphones where we didn't get out in the lead early. We didn't miss cellphones, but the way that we went about it didn't allow us to get the leadership.” executionleadershipfailure
“The only way you can get to the very positive scenario [in the fight against climate change] is by great innovation. Innovation really does bend the curve.” execution
“The greatest mistake ever is the whatever mismanagement I engaged in that caused Microsoft not to be what Android is, meaning Android is the standard non-Apple phone form platform.” leadershipfailure
“It's not manufacturers trying to rip anybody off or anything like that. There's nobody getting rich writing software that I know of.” money
“Instead of buying airplanes and playing around like some of our competitors, we've rolled almost everything back into the company.” startups
“To create a new standard, it takes something that's not just a little bit different; it takes something that's really new and really captures people's imagination — and the Macintosh, of all the machines I've ever seen, is the only one that meets that standard.” leadershipinnovation
“The next generation of interesting software will be done on the Macintosh, not the IBM PC.” execution
“I think it's more like we both had this rich neighbor named Xerox and I broke into his house to steal the TV set and found out that you had already stolen it.” moneymindset
“I believe OS/2 is destined to be the most important operating system, and possibly program, of all time.” mindset
“There's only one trick in software, and that is using a piece of software that's already been written.” mindset
“If people had understood how patents would be granted when most of today's ideas were invented, and had taken out patents, the industry would be at a complete standstill today.... The solution to this is patent exchanges with large companies and patenting as much as we can.” leadershipinnovation
“In terms of doing things I take a fairly scientific approach to why things happen and how they happen. I don't know if there's a god or not, but I think religious principles are quite valid.” executionmindset
“What we're saying to people is that every idea about ease-of-use, we can develop in software, for the PC, without asking them to buy new hardware, without asking them to throw away their old applications.” leadershipinnovation
“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.” execution
“It's possible, you can never know, that the universe exists only for me. If so, it's sure going well for me, I must admit.” mindset