Elon Musk Quotes

“When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favour.”

“If something's important enough, you should try. Even if the probable outcome is failure.”

“There's a silly notion that failure's not an option at NASA. Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.”

“I tend to approach things from a physics framework. And physics teaches you to reason from first principles rather than by analogy.”

“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.”

“I think that's the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.”

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

“Patience is a virtue, and I'm learning patience. It's a tough lesson.”

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

“If you get up in the morning and think the future is going to be better, it is a bright day. Otherwise, it's not.”

“Life is too short for long-term grudges.”

“People should pursue what they're passionate about. That will make them happier than pretty much anything else.”

“When I was in college, I wanted to be involved in things that would change the world.”

“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?"

“I usually describe myself as an engineer; that's basically what I've been doing since I was a kid.”

“To make an embarrassing admission, I like video games. That's what got me into software engineering when I was a kid.”

“Great companies are built on great products.”

“Any product that needs a manual to work is broken.”

“If you're entering anything where there's an existing marketplace, against large, entrenched competitors, then your product or service needs to be much better than theirs. It can't be a little bit better.”

“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.”

“Starting a business is not for everyone. Number one is have a high pain threshold.”

“It's OK to have your eggs in one basket as long as you control what happens to that basket.”

“I always invest my own money in the companies that I create. I'm not going to ask other people to invest in something if I'm not prepared to do so myself.”

“People work better when they know what the goal is and why. It is important that people look forward to coming to work in the morning and enjoy working.”

“The factory is the machine that builds the machine.”