Melinda Gates quotes: one of the most prolific philanthropists in the world shares the following gems.
“Make sure you continue to trust what you know now about yourself and stay true to what you believe in.”
“What great changes have not been ambitious?”
“You learn by doing, you learn by trying and making mistakes, and it’s the questions you ask.”
“My mom always told me, ‘Set your own agenda or someone else will set it for you.’ Now I tell my children the same thing.”
“Optimism is a huge asset. We can always use more of it. But optimism isn’t a belief that things will automatically get better; it’s a conviction that we can make things better.”
“We also believe in taking risks, because that’s how you move things along.”
“If you are successful, it is because somewhere, sometime, someone gave you a life or an idea that started you in the right direction. Remember also that you are indebted to life until you help some less fortunate person, just as you were helped.”
“Connect deeply with others. Our humanity is the one thing that we all have in common.”
“Sometimes it’s the people you can’t help who inspire you the most.”
“When we invest in women and girls, we are investing in the people who invest in everyone else.”
“A woman with a voice is by definition a strong woman. But the search to find that voice can be remarkably difficult.”
“I love the idea of elevating women, because we’re still trying to reach equality, but we aren’t there yet. If we can show all these amazing things that women can do, it gives other women and girls role models to look up to and think, ‘I could be like that entertainer or lawyer or entrepreneur or mom who chooses to stay home.’ It changes their aspirations of who they can be.”
“If you’re in tech, you’re creating the future. We know girls lose their confidence in math in middle school, and that’s the time they ought to be bolstered. Surround them with role models who will help them keep their confidence up. Only 18% of computer science graduates are women. We have to get more in tech.”
“When girls are educated and free to pursue their passions, they contribute more to a thriving society. When women have a voice, they raise it to demand a life that is greater than what they’ve been told they have a right to expect. And these demands change the future for everyone.”
“It’s time the world starts recognizing that the next Bill Gates might not look anything like the last one. And that not every great idea comes wrapped in a hoodie. Right now there’s a girl in elementary school whose ideas one day will change the world. It’s time everyone starts seeing it that way.”
“All women, everywhere, have the same hopes: we want to be self-sufficient and create better lives for ourselves and our loved ones.”
“I realized that the only way to get into a good college was to be valedictorian or salutatorian. So that was my goal.”
“I knew coming out of high school that I wanted to make a difference in the world. I really had this belief already, and maybe it had been instilled in me, I think, both by my parents and the nuns, these pretty liberal nuns who taught us in high school.”
“I had this belief that one person could change the world, that any one act actually had a ripple effect. You don’t know how many people you touch. Yes, I was ambitious, and my parents gave me all the hope in the world that I could be anybody I wanted to be. They always said, ‘If you can get into a great college, you can light any dream you have. We see your potential.’”
“I came out and interviewed with Microsoft. And I just thought, ‘Oh my gosh. I have to work at this company. They are changing the world. And if I get an offer, there’s no way I’m not going to take it.’ Marrying the CEO wasn’t part of my life plan!”
“Philanthropy is not about the money. It’s about using whatever resources you have at your fingertips and applying them to improving the world.”
“Some people assume that Bill and I are too rich to make a connection with someone who’s poor, even if our intentions are good. But adjectives like rich and poor don’t define who any of us truly are as human beings. And they don’t make any one individual less human than the next.”
“We started our foundation because we believe we have a real opportunity to help advance equity around the world, to help make sure that, no matter where a person is born, he or she has the chance to live a healthy, productive life.”
“I can bring a perspective that’s different than Bill’s. I can bring these voices forward, and so I started to speak more publicly.”
“Not everybody is going to dedicate their whole life to connecting with the poorest people in the world. But just because you don’t qualify for sainthood doesn’t mean you can’t form deep human connections – or that your connections can’t make a difference in the world.”
“I’m often asked what motivates me to do the work I do. I never hesitate for a moment. It’s the people.”
“I’m wholehearted about whatever I do.”
“So let’s go make some waves. Let’s keep moving this industry forward. For the better. For everyone. And for good.”
“Take your genius and your optimism and your empathy and go change the world in ways that will make millions of others optimistic as well.”
“Over the course of your lives, I promise you, you will have many opportunities to use technology to make your world bigger, to meet more different kinds of people, and to keep in touch with more of the people you meet. I want you to connect because I believe it will inspire you to do something, to make a difference in the world.”
“The most rewarding part of my job is meeting women and girls from all over the world who are striving for the same goal: a good life for themselves and their families. Their courage and ingenuity against long odds is all the evidence I need that equality for women and girls must be my top priority.”
“If you’re in the upper quartile of income in any of these wealthy economies, you ought to give back more than other people. Bill, Warren Buffett and I are quite involved in trying to get people of substantial wealth to commit to giving half back, either in their lifetime or at their death.”
“On the day I die, I want people to think that I was a great mom and a great family member and a great friend. I care about that more than I care about anything else.”
