Inspirational Quotes
Words to motivate, inspire, and guide you.
Elon Musk Quotes
HumorRetirementSelf-awarenessSenilityTiming I just want to retire before I go senile because if I don't retire before I go senile, then I'll do more damage than good at that point.
DisagreementLeadershipTruth Here in the West, people often don't like listening to their leaders, even if they are right.
BackgroundEconomicsEducationEngineeringPhysics My background educationally is physics and economics, and I grew up in sort of an engineering environment - my father is an electromechanical engineer. And so there were lots of engineery things around me.
Belief SystemsClimate ChangeEnergy PolicyPolitical Debate I think there are more politicians in favor of electric cars than against. There are still some that are against, and I think the reasoning for that varies depending on the person, but in some cases, they just don't believe in climate change - they think oil will last forever.
CommunicationWork Efficiency I do love email. Wherever possible I try to communicate asynchronously. I'm really good at email.
Career DevelopmentCareer PathLeadership The path to the CEO's office should not be through the CFO's office, and it should not be through the marketing department. It needs to be through engineering and design.
HumorInnovationPlayfulnessSpace Exploration On one of the SpaceX flights, we had a secret payload: a wheel of cheese. We flew to orbit and brought it back, so it was the world's first 'space cheese.' It was, in part, a tribute to Monty Python.
AppearancesHappinessIllusionRealitySocial Media Particularly Instagram, people look like they have a much better life than they really do. People basically seem like they are way better-looking than they really are, and they are way happier-seeming than they really are.
CompanionshipLoneliness When I was a child, there's one thing I said: 'I never want to be alone.' That's what I would say. I don't want to be alone.
EcosystemEntrepreneurshipSilicon ValleyStartups Silicon Valley has evolved a critical mass of engineers and venture capitalists and all the support structure - the law firms, the real estate, all that - that are all actually geared toward being accepting of startups.
Clean EnergyCollaborationInnovationProgressSustainability I really do encourage other manufacturers to bring electric cars to market. It's a good thing, and they need to bring it to market and keep iterating and improving and make better and better electric cars, and that's what going to result in humanity achieving a sustainable transport future. I wish it was growing faster than it is.
ChemistryEnergy StorageEngineeringInnovationSafety A battery by definition is a collection of cells. So the cell is a little can of chemicals. And the challenge is taking a very high-energy cell, and a large number of them, and combining them safely into a large battery.
Public GoodRegulationSocial Media I think there should be regulations on social media to the degree that it negatively affects the public good.
FutureImpactInnovationTechnology I'm interested in things that change the world or that affect the future and wondrous, new technology where you see it, and you're like, 'Wow, how did that even happen? How is that possible?'
AmbitionImpactWorld Change When I was in college, I wanted to be involved in things that would change the world.
FutureHumanityInspirationPurposeSpace Exploration There have to be reasons that you get up in the morning and you want to live. Why do you want to live? What's the point? What inspires you? What do you love about the future? If the future does not include being out there among the stars and being a multi-planet species, I find that incredibly depressing.
Technology Threats If you look at our current technology level, something strange has to happen to civilisations, and I mean strange in a bad way. And it could be that there are a whole lot of dead, one-planet civilisations.
AutopilotPartnershipTechnology I think Tesla will most likely develop its own autopilot system for the car, as I think it should be camera-based, not Lidar-based. However, it is also possible that we do something jointly with Google.
BusinessGovernment ContractingSpaceX It is true that SpaceX is partially a government contractor, but it would be unfair to say that SpaceX is entirely a government contractor.
BusinessStartupsStrategy 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.
ChangeInnovationOpportunityRevolutionSustainability Selling an electric sports car creates an opportunity to fundamentally change the way America drives.
FoundationGrowthNurturingPotentialResilience If you want to grow a giant redwood, you need to make sure the seeds are ok, nurture the sapling, and work out what might potentially stop it from growing all the way along. Anything that breaks it at any point stops that growth.
AchievabilityAmbitionSpace Exploration Land on Mars, a round-trip ticket - half a million dollars. It can be done.
CommitmentResilience Starting a business is not for everyone. Starting a business - I'd say, number one is have a high pain threshold.
ComplexityEvolutionIntelligenceKey Moments In HistoryTurning Points 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.