If somebody comes and makes a better electric car than Tesla, and it's so much better than ours that we can't sell our cars and we go bankrupt, I still think that's a good thing for the world. Elon Musk More Quotes by Elon Musk More Quotes From Elon Musk To make an embarrassing admission, I like video games. That's what got me into software engineering when I was a kid. I wanted to make money so I could buy a better computer to play better video games. Nothing like saving the world. Elon Musk engineeringinspirationalkids Weighing too much on someone's talent and not someone's personality. I think it matters whether someone has a good heart. Elon Musk heartinspirationalthinking 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. Elon Musk spacelightgoal Let's think beyond the normal stuff and have an environment where that sort of thinking is encouraged and rewarded and where it's okay to fail as well. Because when you try new things, you try this idea, that idea... well a large number of them are not gonna work, and that has to be okay. If every time somebody comes up with an idea it has to be successful, you're not gonna get people coming up with ideas. Elon Musk successfulinspirationalthinking When I was in college, I wanted to be involved in things that would change the world. Elon Musk collegeinspirationalworld We're running the most dangerous experiment in history right now, which is to see how much carbon dioxide the atmosphere can handle before there is an environmental catastrophe. Elon Musk environmentalatmosphererunning There have only been about a half dozen genuinely important events in the four-billion-year saga of life on Earth: single-celled life, multicelled life, differentiation into plants and animals, movement of animals from water to land, and the advent of mammals and consciousness. Elon Musk important-eventsanimalyears 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. Elon Musk enlightenmentinspirationalorder Even if there's a zombie apocalypse, you'll still be able to travel using the Tesla Supercharging system. Elon Musk teslazombieable It's really incumbent upon us as life's agents to extend life to another planet. I think that being a multi-planet species will significantly increase the richness and scope of the human experience. Elon Musk agentsmoonthinking Patience is a virtue, and I'm learning patience. It's a tough lesson. Elon Musk lessonsmotivationalinspirational I've always wanted to be part of something that would radically change the world. . . . People forget the power of inspiration. All of humanity went to the moon with the Apollo missions. The issue was cost. There was no chance to build a base and create frequent flights. That's the problem I would like to solve. Elon Musk issuesmooninspiration The fuel cell is just a fundamentally inferior way of delivering electrical energy to an electric motor than batteries. Elon Musk electric-motorscellsenergy I don't think it's a good idea to plan to sell a company. Elon Musk plansideasthinking I tend to approach things from a physics framework. And physics teaches you to reason from first principles rather than by analogy. Elon Musk analogiesprinciplesfirsts 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. Elon Musk emotioninspirationalfacts Biofuels such as ethanol require enormous amounts of cropland and end up displacing either food crops or natural wilderness, neither of which is good. Elon Musk biofuelswildernessnatural Automotive franchise laws were put in place decades ago to prevent a manufacturer from unfairly opening stores in direct competition with an existing franchise dealer that had already invested time, money and effort to open and promote their business. Elon Musk competitioneffortlaw The first step is to establish that something is possible; then probability will occur. Elon Musk stepsinspirationalfirsts 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. Elon Musk importantdonethinking
