“I had to work my way up to be where I am now. All these companies could have done the same.”

If my name were John D Smith IV I wouldn’t have been elected to anything.

Never lose interest in life and the world. Never allow yourself to become annoyed.

How much money does it take to make a man happy? Just one more dollar.

The ability to deal with people is as purchasable a commodity as sugar or coffee and I will pay more for that ability than for any other under the sun.

After it is all over, the religion of man is his most important possession.

I can think of nothing less pleasurable than a life devoted to pleasure.

If my name were John D Smith IV I wouldn’t have been elected to anything.

The best business in the world is a well run oil company. The second best business in the world is a badly run oil company.

I never would have been able to tithe the first million dollars I ever made if I had not tithed my first salary, which was $1.50 per week.

The day of combination is here to stay. Individualism has gone, never to return.

Don’t blame the marketing department. The buck stops with the chief executive.

I believe it is a religious duty to get all the money you can, fairly and honestly; to keep all you can, and to give away all you can.

And we are never too old to study the Bible. Each time the lessons are studied comes some new meaning, some new thought which will make us better.

If your only goal is to become rich, you will never achieve it.

I wanted the best for my company, I had to do what I did to succeed. Everyone was lowering their prices to beat there competition so I did the same I eventually beat my competition.

My mother was given to a typical question: “We have always done this. Why should we do anything else?” But my wife’s typical question was “We have always done this. Why don’t we do it another way or, better still, why not do something else?”

Take our 20 best people away, and I will tell you that Microsoft will become an unimportant company.

We chose it because we deal with huge amounts of data. Besides, it sounds really cool.

The best innovation is sometimes the company, the way you organize the company.

I do think there is an important artistic component in what we do. As a technology company I’ve tried to really stress that.

You don’t need to have a 100 person company to develop that idea.

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.

I’m going to go do this crazy thing. I’m going to start this company selling books online.

Don’t live to please everyone. Embrace those who enjoy your company and to hell with the haters.