“I could go and buy one of the islands in theBahamas and turn it into my personal fiefdom, but I am much more interested in trying to build andcreate a new company.”

“It is important to view knowledge as sort of a semantic tree -- make sure you understand the fundamental principles, ie the trunk and big branches, before you get into the leaves/details or there i...”

“I think its important to reason from first principles rather than by analogy. The normal way we conduct our lives is we reason by analogy. [With analogy] we are doing this because its like somethin...”

“I'm not trying to be anyone's savior. I just try to think about the future and not be sad”

“You need to live in a dome initially, but over time you could terraform Mars to look like Earth and eventually walk around outside without anything on... So it's a fixer-upper of a planet.”

“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.”

“The more clearly you understand yourself and your emotions, the more you become a lover of what is.”

“There are only two ways to live your life: as though nothing is a miracle, or as though everything is a miracle.”

“The moral of the tale is, don't live for the approval of others. The real you is here to find out the secret of life, not to satisfy someone else's opinion.”

“When you think you're right, you're most likely wrong.”

“Stand up for what is right even if you're standing alone.”

“If we go to war, it must only be with right on our side.”

“Slowly, with many lost days, I come back to life.”

“Know this: whenever you think of leaving, a part of you has already left. But its never too late to get it back.”

“Do you know what happens when you play a country song backwards? You get your wife back, your dog back and your job back.”