Everything Quotes

The future of humanity is going to bifurcate in two directions: Either it's going to become multiplanetary, or it's going to remain confined to one planet and eventually there's going to be an extinction event.

I wouldn't say I have a lack of fear. In fact, I'd like my fear emotion to be less because it's very distracting and fries my nervous system.

We can't have, like, willy-nilly proliferation of fake news. That's crazy. You can't have more types of fake news than real news. That's allowing public deception to go unchecked. That's crazy.

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

If you go back a few hundred years, what we take for granted today would seem like magic - being able to talk to people over long distances, to transmit images, flying, accessing vast amounts of data like an oracle. These are all things that would have been considered magic a few hundred years ago.

Life is too short for long-term grudges.

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.

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

Self-driving cars are the natural extension of active safety and obviously something we should do.

I would like to die on Mars. Just not on impact.

We're running the most dangerous experiment in history right now, which is to see how much carbon dioxide the atmosphere... can handle before there is an environmental catastrophe.

Any product that needs a manual to work is broken.

Tesla is here to stay and keep fighting for the electric car revolution.

I will never be happy without having someone. Going to sleep alone kills me.

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.

I do think there should be some regulations on AI.

I don't create companies for the sake of creating companies, but to get things done.

If we could do high-speed rail in California just half a notch above what they've done on the Shanghai line in China, and if we had a straight path from L.A. to San Francisco, as well as the milk run, at least that would be progress.

I always invest my own money in the companies that I create. I don't believe in the whole thing of just using other people's money. I don't think that's right. I'm not going to ask other people to invest in something if I'm not prepared to do so myself.

I don't spend my time pontificating about high-concept things; I spend my time solving engineering and manufacturing problems.

Really, the only thing that makes sense is to strive for greater collective enlightenment.

It's important that we attempt to extend life beyond Earth now. It is the first time in the four billion-year history of Earth that it's been possible, and that window could be open for a long time - hopefully it is - or it could be open for a short time. We should err on the side of caution and do something now.

I say something, and then it usually happens. Maybe not on schedule, but it usually happens.

The lessons of history would suggest that civilisations move in cycles. You can track that back quite far - the Babylonians, the Sumerians, followed by the Egyptians, the Romans, China. We're obviously in a very upward cycle right now, and hopefully that remains the case. But it may not.

I've actually not read any books on time management.

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

I think there should be regulations on social media to the degree that it negatively affects the public good.

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

I think it matters whether someone has a good heart.

I think we are at the dawn of a new era in commercial space exploration.

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.

Rockets are cool. There's no getting around that.

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

If humanity doesn't land on Mars in my lifetime, I would be very disappointed.

We're already cyborgs. Your phone and your computer are extensions of you, but the interface is through finger movements or speech, which are very slow.

Brand is just a perception, and perception will match reality over time. Sometimes it will be ahead, other times it will be behind. But brand is simply a collective impression some have about a product.

To make an embarrassing admission, I like video games. That's what got me into software engineering when I was a kid. I wanted to make money so I could buy a better computer to play better video games - nothing like saving the world.

I think we have a duty to maintain the light of consciousness to make sure it continues into the future.

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

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.

My opinion is it's a bridge too far to go to fully autonomous cars.

A company is a group organized to create a product or service, and it is only as good as its people and how excited they are about creating. I do want to recognize a ton of super-talented people. I just happen to be the face of the companies.

If we drive down the cost of transportation in space, we can do great things.

Mars is the only place in the solar system where it's possible for life to become multi-planetarian.

The path to the CEO's office should not be through the CFO's office, and it should not be through the marketing department. It needs to be through engineering and design.

The United States is definitely ahead in culture of innovation. If someone wants to accomplish great things, there is no better place than the U.S.

The value of beauty and inspiration is very much underrated, no question. But I want to be clear: I'm not trying to be anyone's savior. I'm just trying to think about the future and not be sad.

Nature is often hidden, sometimes overcome, seldom extinguished.

Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; adversity not without many comforts and hopes.

This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well.