"If your culture doesn't like geeks, you..." - Quote by Bill Gates

“As for drugs - well, Gates was certainly not unusual there. Marijuana was the pharmaceutical of choice.”

“Giving money effectively is almost as hard as earning it in the first place.”

“The only thing I understand deeply, because in my teens I was thinking about it, and every year of my life, is software. So I'll never be hands-on on anything except software.”

“Appraisals are where you get together with your team leader and agree what an outstanding member of the team you are, how much your contribution has been valued, what massive potential you have and, in recognition of all this, would you mind having your salary halved.”

“Somewhere between the janitor and the CEO, reasons stop mattering.”

“At Microsoft there are lots of brilliant ideas but the image is that they all come from the top - I'm afraid that's not quite right.”

“I could name about a dozen paths, and you'd like to have a whole bunch of research on all those paths, and then, eventually, at least four to five companies with really significant financing try and get to big scale, going down and really trying to prove it out.”

“For a true writer each book should be a new beginning where he tries again for something that is beyond attainment. He should always try for something that has never been done or that others have tried and failed. Then sometimes, with great luck, he will succeed.”

“Microsoft Research has a thing called the Sense Cam that, as you walk around, it's taking photos all the time. And the software will filter and find the ones that are interesting without having to think, 'Let's get out the camera and get that shot.' You just have that, and software helps you pick what you want.”