Nuclear energy, in terms of an overall safety record, is better than other energy.
Bill GatesRead
Our modern lifestyle is not a political creation. Before 1700, everybody was poor as hell. Life was short and brutish. It wasn't because we didn't have good politicians; we had some really good politicians. But then we started inventing - electricity, steam engines, microprocessors, understanding genetics and medicine and things like that. Yes, stability and education are important - I'm not taking anything away from that - but innovation is the real driver of progress.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Innovation drives progress more than politics or stability.
Bill Gates emphasizes that the advancements in human civilization stem primarily from innovation and invention. While good governance and education are important, it is the breakthroughs in technology and science, such as electricity and genetics, that have truly transformed society and improved the quality of life for individuals.
Themes
InnovationProgressInventionTechnologySociety
In practice
Example use cases
During a keynote speech on technological advancements, one could quote this to emphasize the importance of innovation.
More from Bill Gates
All quotes →The Internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow.
Bill GatesRead
With the states release today of a set of clear and consistent academic standards, our nation is one step closer to supporting effective teaching in every classroom, charting a path to college and careers for all students, and developing the tools to help all children stay motivated and engaged in their own education. The more states that adopt these college and career based standards, the closer we will be to sharing innovation across state borders and becoming more competitive as a country.
Bill GatesRead
About three million computers get sold every year in China, people don't pay for the software. Someday they will, though. And as long as they're going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade.
Bill GatesRead
Internet TV and the move to the digital approach is quite revolutionary. TV has historically has been a broadcast medium with everybody picking from a very finite number of channels.
Bill GatesRead
These four policy prescriptions - strengthening educational opportunities, revamping immigration rules for highly skilled workers, increasing federal funding for basic scientific research, and providing incentives for private-sector R&D - should in my view be top priorities as Congress and the Administration consider how to maintain the nation's leadership in science, technology, and innovation.
Bill GatesRead
Similar quotes
Never consider whether you are of use; but ever consider that you are not your own but His.
Oswald ChambersRead
If we like a man's dream, we call him a reformer; if we don't like his dream, we call him a crank.
William Dean HowellsRead
See simplicity in the complicated. Achieve greatness in little things
LaoziRead
In vain I have looked for a single man capable of seeing his own faults and bringing the charge home against himself.
ConfuciusRead
There is nothing so good for the human soul as the discovery that there are ancient and flourishing civilized societies which have somehow managed to exist for many centuries and are still in being though they have had no help from the traveler in solving their problems.
Walter LippmannRead
Most fears of rejection rest on the desire for approval from other people. Don't base your self-esteem on their opinions.
Harvey MackayRead