Elon Musk Quotes

“Even if producing CO2 was good for the environment, given that we're going to run out of hydrocarbons, we need to find some sustainable means of operating.”

“Boeing just took $20 billion and 10 years to improve the efficiency of their planes by 10 percent. That's pretty lame. I have a design in mind for a vertical liftoff supersonic jet that would be a really big improvement.”

“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.”

“I think you should always be seeking negative feedback.”

“The space shuttle was often used as an example of why you shouldn't even attempt to make something reusable. But one failed experiment does not invalidate the greater goal. If that was the case, we'd never have had the light bulb.”

“I think there are too many smart people pursuing internet stuff, finance, and law. That is part of the reason why we haven't seen as much innovation.”

“People often mistake technology for a static picture. It's less like a picture and more like a movie. It's the velocity of technology innovation that matters. It's the acceleration.”

“I don't create companies for the sake of creating companies, but to get things done.”

“It is a mistake to hire huge numbers of people to get a complicated job done. Numbers will never compensate for talent in getting the right answer (two people who don't know something are no better than one), will tend to slow down progress, and will make the task incredibly expensive.”

“I hate writing about personal stuff. I don't have a Facebook page. I don't use my Twitter account. I am familiar with both, but I don't use them.”

“Constantly seek criticism. A well thought out critique of what you're doing is as valuable as gold”

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

“I always had an existential crisis, trying to figure out ‘what does it all mean?’ I came to the conclusion that if we can advance the knowledge of the world, if we can expand the scope and scale of consciousness, then, we’re better able to ask the right questions and become more enlightened. That’s the only way to move forward.”

“When people really understand it's do or die [and] if we work hard and pull through, it's going to be a great outcome; people will give it everything they've got.”

“If anyone thinks they'd rather be in a different part of history, they're probably not a very good student of history. Life sucked in the old days. People knew very little, and you were likely to die at a young age of some horrible disease. You'd probably have no teeth by now. It would be particularly awful if you were a woman.”

“I don't think it's a good idea to plan to sell a company.”

“Optimism, pessimism, f**k that; we're going to make it happen. As God is my bloody witness, I'm hell-bent on making it work.”

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

“If you think back to the beginning of cell phones, laptops or really any new technology, it's always expensive.”

“I will never be happy without having someone. Going to sleep alone kills me.”

“That's my lesson for taking a vacation: vacation will kill you.”

“I was born in Africa. I came to California because it's really where new technologies can be brought to fruition, and I don't see a viable competitor.”

“The problem is that at a lot of big companies, process becomes a substitute for thinking. You're encouraged to behave like a little gear in a complex machine. Frankly, it allows you to keep people who aren't that smart, who aren't that creative.”

“I'd rather be optimistic and wrong than pessimistic and right.”

“Most people can learn a lot more than they think they can. They sell themselves short without trying.”