“When we better understand the realities of these women’s lives, we are able to design and deliver solutions that are more useful to them.”

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.

With economic opportunity, sometimes it’s making sure that if they’re not in a place where they can have good jobs, that when they have economic opportunity, they have digital tools to use.

Around the world we have girls in primary school at about the same rate now as boys, but keeping them in quality secondary schools is where the world is lagging. I’m seeing a lot of countries look at this now.

Now, as smartphones are coming up, there are all kinds of apps that will start to be developed that will help women.

Government funding that’s coming from the United States is making a huge difference on the ground in the developing world. It’s really palpable – it’s making a huge difference saving lives.

What great changes have not been ambitious?

Women and girls should be able to determine their own future, no matter where they’re born.

A woman with a voice is by definition a strong woman. But the search to find that voice can be remarkably difficult.

The premise of this foundation is one life on this planet is no more valuable than the next.

If you want to lift up an economy in Africa, you basically start with the women.

If you invest in a girl or a woman, you are investing in everybody else.

If I really believe all lives have equal value, and if I use contraceptives, which I do, and if I’m counselling my son and my two daughters to use them, how am I not serving the women who don’t have access to the contraceptives they need?

One life is worth no more or less than any other.

My undergraduate work was in computer science and economics. It just happened to be at that time when 34 percent of computer-science majors were women. We didn’t realize it was at the peak at the time.

That’s universal – we all want to bring every good thing to our children. But what’s not universal is our ability to provide every good thing.

Make sure you continue to trust what you know now about yourself and stay true to what you believe in.

It’s better to understand something than to memorize something.

I strongly believe in the separation of church and state. But freedom of religion does not mean freedom from religion, there is a better way.

Better to be an optimist who gets disappointed than a pessimist who has no hope.

I can definitely say the older I’ve got the better I’ve become at being a dad and a husband.

Remember, conflict doesn’t always mean we have to fight against something and tear it apart. Conflict can also mean we’re fighting for something to make it even better and stronger than it’s ever been.

Love is so much better when you are not married.

After all these years, I am still involved in the process of self-discovery. It’s better to explore life and make mistakes than to play it safe. Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life.

Everybody counts, everybody deserves a chance, everybody has a responsible role to play and we all do better when we work together.