“I just was non-political and didn’t see myself as a person who could push people around, make their decision, you know, and tell them how lousy their work was.”

Some great people are leaders and others are more lucky, in the right place at the right time. I’d put myself in the latter category. But I’d never call myself a normal designer of anything.

A lot of things seem to be worth almost no money. but if you do them very well, and they help people fill a need, there’s a great business you can build around that.

Neither one of us could be sure we’d get our money back on this investment, but we just wanted to have company of our own for once because we were best friends.

My goal wasn’t to make a ton of money. It was to build good computers.

A lot of hacking is playing with other people, you know, getting them to do strange things.

If I designed a computer with 200 chips, I tried to design it with 150. And then I would try to design it with 100. I just tried to find every trick I could in life to design things real tiny.

I wish to God that Apple and Google were partners in the future.

When you’re providing a service to somebody, you’re the guy they always call when something’s wrong.

To give of yourself is much more important than giving a gift you can buy.

I just believe in whatever you’re going to do, even if it’s work, have a little bit of fun attitude about it. You can be happy.

I absolutely do not need a salary or a job, that’s the last thing I need.

Wherever smart people work, doors are unlocked.

The best things that capture your imagination are ones you hadn’t thought of before and that aren’t talked about in the news all the time.

Even if you do something that others might consider wrong, you should at least be willing to talk about it and tell your parents what you’re doing because you believe it’s right.

In the end, I hope there’s a little note somewhere that says I designed a good computer.

If you try to make such projects, unseen by others, as perfect as any human could, you’ll develop skills that other professionals don’t have.