Elon Musk was born in Pretoria, Africa in 1971. As a child, Musk had so many daydreams about inventing things that he often became lost in his daydreams. Aside from being a dreamer, he displayed talents in entrepreneurship and technology. Elon Musk actually created a video game at the age of 12 and sold to a computer magazine.
Elon left his birthplace because he believed that there would be greater economic opportunities for him in the United States. He attended a university in Canada for a while but then transferred to the University of Pennsylvania in 1992, there he received his bachelor’s in economics and physics. In the 1990s, Musk founded companies online such as Zip2 and X.com. Zip2 provided maps to online newspapers and X.com later became PayPal.
In the early 2000s, Elon Musk founded Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) so that he could make more affordable rockets. SpaceX actually developed the Dragon spacecraft, this spacecraft is used to deliver to the International Space Station (ISS). In 2004, Musk became one of the founders of Tesla Motors alongside Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.
In 2013, Elon proposed a faster way of transportation that he called the Hyperloop. He claimed the Hyperloop would only cost around six million and would travel at 760 miles per hour. Between managing SpaceX and Tesla, Musk said he had no time for the development of the Hyperloop.
Elon has made stunning contributions to society already and he’s still in his 40’s so he has much left to share with the world. Here are some of the most inspiring quotes from him to inspire your week!
Elon Musk Quotes
- “I think it is possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary” – Elon Musk
- “When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.” – Elon Musk
- “My proceeds from the PayPal acquisition were $180 million. I put $100 million in SpaceX, $70m in Tesla, and $10m in Solar City. I had to borrow money for rent.” – Elon Musk
- “What makes innovative thinking happen?… I think it’s really a mindset. You have to decide.” – Elon Musk
- “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.” – Elon Musk
- “Over time I think we will probably see a closer merger of biological intelligence and digital intelligence.” – Elon Musk
- “If something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor” – Elon Musk
- If you get up in the morning and think the future is going to be better, it is a bright day. Otherwise, it’s not.” – Elon Musk
- “You should take the approach that you’re wrong. Your goal is to be less wrong.” – Elon Musk
- “I’ve actually not read any books on time management.” – Elon Musk
- “There’s a tremendous bias against taking risks. Everyone is trying to optimize their *ss-covering.” – Elon Musk
- “I’m a Silicon Valley guy. I just think people from Silicon Valley can do anything.” – Elon Musk
- “Patience is virtue, and I’m learning patience. It’s a tough lesson” – Elon Musks
- “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.” – Elon Musk
- “You get paid in direct proportion to the difficulty of problems you solve” – Elon Musk
- “I would just question things… It would infuriate my parents… That I wouldn’t just believe them when they said something ’cause I’d ask them why. And then I’d consider whether that response made sense given everything else I knew.” – Elon Musk
- “I don’t think it’s a good idea to plan to sell a company.” – Elon Musk
- “If you had to buy a new plane every time you flew somewhere, it would be incredibly expensive.” – Elon Musk
- “Trying to build a company is like baking a cake, you have to have all the ingredients in the right proportion” – Elon Musk
- “I would like to die on Mars. Just not on impact.” – Elon Musk
- “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.” – Elon Musk
- “The first step is to establish that something is possible; then probability will occur.” – Elon Musk
- “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.” – Elon Musk
- “There are some important differences between me and Tony Stark, like I have five kids, so I spend more time going to Disneyland than parties.” – Elon Musk
- “Brand is just a perception, and perception will match reality over time” – Elon Musk
- “It’s OK to have your eggs in one basket as long as you control what happens to that basket.” – Elon Musk
- “I think it would be great to be born on Earth and die on Mars. Just hopefully not at the point of impact.” – Elon Musk
- “My biggest mistake is probably weighing too much on someone’s talent and not someone’s personality. I think it matters whether someone has a good heart.” – Elon Musk
- “If you’re co-founder or CEO, you have to do all kinds of tasks you might not want to do… If you don’t do your chores, the company won’t succeed… No task is too menial.” – Elon Musk
- “I had so many people try to talk me out of starting a rocket company, it was crazy.” – Elon Musk
- “When Henry Ford made cheap, reliable cars people said: ‘Nah, what’s wrong with a horse?’ That was a huge bet he made, and it worked out” – Elon Musk
- “Patience is a virtue, and I’m learning patience. It’s a tough lesson.” – Elon Musk
- “Constantly seek criticism. A well thought out critique of whatever you’re doing is as valuable as gold.” – Elon Musk
- “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.” – Elon Musk
- “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.” – Elon Musk
- “You have to be pretty driven to make it happen. Otherwise, you will just make yourself miserable.” – Elon Musk
- “I think life on earth must be about more than just solving problems. It’s got to be inspiring, even if it is vicarious” – Elon Musk
- “I think that’s the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.” – Elon Musk
- “I’m not trying to be anyone’s savior. I’m just trying to think about the future and not be sad.” – Elon Musk
- “I say something, and then it usually happens. Maybe not on schedule, but it usually happens.” – Elon Musk
- “Starting and growing a business is as much about the innovation, drive, and determination of the people behind it as the product they sell.” – Elon Musk
- “You want to have a future where you’re expecting things to be better, not one where you’re expecting things to be worse.” – Elon Musk
- “If the rules are such that you can’t make progress, then you have to fight the rules” – Elon Musk
- “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.” – Elon Musk
- “It is possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary.” – Elon Musk
- “Some people don’t like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is disaster.” – Elon Musk
- “There are really two things that have to occur in order for a new technology to be affordable to the mass market. One is you need economies of scale. The other is you need to iterate on the design. You need to go through a few versions.” – Elon Musk
- “Persistence is very important. You should not give up unless you are forced to give up.” – Elon Musk
- “I think that’s the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you can do things better and question yourself” – Elon Musk
- “Self-driving cars are the natural extension of active safety and obviously something we should do.” – Elon Musk
- “If you need inspiration, don’t do it.” – Elon Musk
- “I don’t spend my time pontificating about high-concept things; I spend my time solving engineering and manufacturing problems.” – Elon Musk
- “Talent is extremely important. It’s like a sports team, the team that has the best individual player will often win, but then there’s a multiplier from how those players work together and the strategy they employ.” – Elon Musk
- “Some people doesn’t like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is disaster” – Elon Musk
- “Any product that needs a manual to work is broken.” – Elon Musk
- “The idea of lying on a beach as my main thing just sounds like the worst. It sounds horrible to me. I would go bonkers. I would have to be on serious drugs. I’d be super-duper bored. I like high intensity.” – Elon Musk
- “As much as possible, avoid hiring MBAs. MBA programs don’t teach people how to create companies.” – Elon Musk
- “We knew it could be done. It was a question of how hard it would be and how long it would take us to sort it out” – Elon Musk
Another fascinating deep thinker is Naval Ravikant – be sure to check out our post about him.
Elon Musk Video – Joe Rogan Experience #1169
If you want to see how Elon’s brain works, this extended interview is quite a treat. Elon discusses many topics with Joe Rogan including electric vehicles, the future of civilization and SpaceX.
As of this writing, this video has been viewed nearly 40 million times – it’s definitely worth a watch!
Our amazing collection of Joe Rogan Quotes is worth a read too!
Summary
Besides being one of the richest people on Earth, Elon Musk has also used his money and resources to aid the human race in survival. What he is trying to accomplish with SpaceX is to eventually entertain the possibility of the human race being a multi-planet species. He believes that in order for human life to survive, we need to become a multi-planet species.
Elon Musk is without a doubt smart, inspirational and motivational to people all over the world. Some of these quotes may provide you with the inspiration you need to become a daydreamer like Elon Musk himself.
Related: Jeff Bezos Quotes
Image Credit: The Royal Society, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
I’m Alice Judy and AnQuotes is a fun hobby for me. We know that everyone loves a great quote and our mission here is simple – to be the best and most interesting quote site in the world! If you have quotes you would like us to cover, please contact us.
