If you show people the problems and you show people the solutions they will be moved to act.
— Bill GatesAt Live8 (2 July 2005) as reported in BBC News (4 July 2005)
Use itGS4/Essay on behaviour change: show problems and solutions and people act.
Quotes / Thinkers / Bill Gates
Thinker · 11 quotes
Bill Gates quotes for UPSC
11 sourced quotes by Bill Gates on governance & administration, science, technology & innovation, environment & sustainability, work, excellence & success, leadership, with a use case for each in GS4, Essay and interviews.
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Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.
— Bill GatesBusiness @ The Speed of Thought (1999)
Use itGS2 on grievance redressal: most unhappy citizens/customers are the greatest source of learning.
Halting funding for the World Health Organization during a world health crisis is as dangerous as it sounds.
— Bill Gateson Twitter , Apr 14, 2020
Use itGS2 on global health governance: defunding WHO mid-crisis is dangerous.
So the idea of being able to explain something in a succinct form is such a cool thing, and it requires you to know a field so well.
— Bill Gates"Bill Gates Returns", on Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, found on DeepCast (14 March 2024)
Use itInterview/answer writing: explaining succinctly requires deep mastery.
Most governments take advantage of their scientists and listen to them. They don't undermine them and attack them.
— Bill GatesAs quoted in "Bill Gates slams U.S. on Covid: Most governments listen to their scientists, not attack them" (14 October 2020)
Use itGS3 on evidence-based policy: governments should heed, not undermine, scientists.
One of the wonderful things about the information highway is that virtual equity is far easier to achieve than real-world equity...We are all created equal in the virtual world and we can use this equality to help address some of the sociological problems that society has yet to solve in the physical world,
— Bill GatesThe Road Ahead (1995)
Use itEssay on digital inclusion: the virtual world can deliver equity the physical world hasn't.
One of the best things I read was an 1889 essay by Andrew Carnegie called The Gospel of Wealth. It makes the case that the wealthy have a responsibility to return their resources to society, a radical idea at the time that laid the groundwork for philanthropy as we know it today.
Use itGS4 on philanthropy/CSR: wealthy have a duty to return resources to society.
When it comes to climate change, I know innovation isn’t the only thing we need. But we cannot keep the earth livable without it. Techno-fixes are not sufficient, but they are necessary.
— Bill GatesFrom "Introduction: 51 Billion to Zero," page 14
Use itGS3 on climate action: techno-fixes are not sufficient, but necessary.
It helps to set ambitious goals and commit to meeting them, the way countries around the world did with the 2015 Paris Agreement. It’s easy to mock international agreements, but they’re part of how progress happens: If you like having an ozone layer, you can thank an international agreement called the Montreal Protocol.
— Bill GatesFrom "Chapter 11: A Plan for Getting to Zero," page 215
Use itGS3 on climate diplomacy: ambitious international agreements work — cite Montreal Protocol, Paris.
Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose.
— Bill GatesThe Road Ahead (1995)
Use itLife/Interview: success is a lousy teacher; it breeds complacency.
You've got to be willing to read other people's code, and then write your own, then have other people review your code. You've got to want to be in this incredible feedback loop where you get the world-class people to tell you what you're doing wrong...
— Bill GatesInterview from Programmers at Work (1986)
Use itLife: seek a feedback loop where the best tell you what you're doing wrong.