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If We Have Optimism Without Empathy Then It Doesn't Matter How Much We Master The Secrets Of Science. We're Not Really Solving Problems, We're Just Working On Puzzles.
-Bill Gates
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If We Have Optimism

Bill Gates
If We Have Optimism Without Empathy Then It Doesn't Matter How Much We Master The Secrets Of Science. We're Not Really Solving Problems, We're Just Working On Puzzles.
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Topic
Optimism
Empathy
Secret
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I Have A Particular Relationship With Vinod Khosla Because He's Got A Lot Of Very Interesting Science-based Energy Startups.
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When You Develop Software, The People Who Write The Software, The Developers Are The Key Group But The Testers Also Play An Absolutely Critical Role. They're The Ones Who Ah, Write Thousands And Thousands Of Examples And Make Sure That It's Going To Work On All The Different Computers And Printers And The Different Amounts Of Memory Or Networks That The Software'11 Be Used In. That's A Very Hard Job.
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Well I Think Any Author Or Musician Is Anxious To Have Legitimate Sales Of Their Products, Partly So They're Rewarded For Their Success, Partly So They Can Go On And Do New Things.
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Www? Nice Toy, But What A Waste Of Time.
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We [us] Are The Biggest Per Person, By A Substantial Amount, Greenhouse Emitters, And We Give The Most Foreign Aid, Not Per Person But In Absolute. This Is Another Issue Where Hopefully We Will Take A Long-term Approach Which, Even Though We Sometimes Have A Hard Time Doing That, It's Easier For Us, As A Rich Country With This Kind Of Scientific Depth, Than It Is For The Poor Countries Who Will Suffer The Problems.
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How We Deal With The Aids Epidemic Should Be One Of The Greatest Ways That The World Gets Measured. The Report Card For This Era.
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People Who Feel The World Is Tilted Against Them Will Spawn The Kind Of Hatred That Is Very Dangerous For All Of Us. I Think It's A Healthy Sign That There Are Demonstrators In The Streets. They Are Raising The Question Of 'is The Rich World Giving Back Enough?'
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America's High Schools Are Obsolete. By Obsolete, I Don't Just Mean That They're Broken, Flawed, Or Underfunded, Though A Case Could Be Made For Every One Of Those Points. By Obsolete, I Mean Our High Schools-even When They're Working As Designed-cannot Teach All Our Students What They Need To Know Today.
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If You're Using First-class Land For Biofuels, Then You're Competing With The Growing Of Food. And So You're Actually Spiking Food Prices By Moving Energy Production Into Agriculture.
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My Guideline Has Always Been To Avoid A Focus On Me Personally. Not Because Of Any Deep, Dark Secrets. Rather Just A Sense Of Privacy.
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People Think About This Idea That There's 122 Million Kids That Are Alive That Would Not Be If That Fatality Rate Had Stayed At The 1990 Level, That's 122 Million Families.
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Great Organizations Demand A High Level Of Commitment By The People Involved. Eliminate Politics, By Giving Everybody The Same Message. Keep A Flat Organization In Which All Issues Are Discussed Openly. Empower Teams To Do Their Own Things.
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The U.s. And Canada Are Two Generous Governments And We Reach Out And Partner With Anyone Who Believes In Foreign Aid.
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The Ability Of A Successful Company To Add Functionality To Its Product Has Long Been Upheld.
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If Geek Means You're Willing To Study Things, And If You Think Science And Engineering Matter, I Plead Guilty. If Your Culture Doesn't Like Geeks, You Are In Real Trouble.
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I Spend A Lot Of Time Reading.
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A Fundamental New Rule For Business Is That The Internet Changes Everything.
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To Get A Big Company Moving Fast, Especially On A Many-headed Opportunity Like The Internet, You Have To Have Hundreds Of People Participating And Coming Up With Ideas.
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Going Out In The Field, It's Always Enlightening To See What's Working And What's Not And To Sit Down And Talk - I Was With Young Girls In South Africa - Understanding Why Our Tools For Prevention Aren't Being Adopted, And What Way May Need To Invent To Help Protect Them.
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There Are Websites That Any Government Wants To Block. The Truth About The Internet Is That It's Extremely Hard To Block Anything - Extremely Hard. You'll Never Get Perfect Blocking.
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If I Only Had Two Dollars Left I Would Spend One Dollar On Pr.
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Dollars
Left
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Trying
Rules Broken Today Become Norms Tomorrow.
Broken
Today
Tomorrow
My Mom Was On The United Way Group That Decides How To Allocate The Money And Looks At All The Different Charities And Makes The Very Hard Decisions About Where That Pool Of Funds Is Going To Go.
Mom
Decision
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Any Machine That Can Run A Browser Is Not Thin. The Browser Has To Be The Thickest Application Man Has Ever Invented, And It's Getting Thicker Faster Than Anything Ever Development By Man.
Running
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Machines
Training The Workforce Of Tomorrow With Today's High Schools Is Like Trying To Teach Kids About Today's Computers On A 50-year-old Mainframe.
School
Kids
Years
We'll Have Infinite Bandwidth In A Decade's Time.
Infinite
Bandwidth
Decades
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Zero
Giving Up
Numbers
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Interesting
Generations
Done
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Competition
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Kids
Issues
Quality
It Is Hard To Smash A Computer When You're Laughing.
Positive Thinking
Laughing
Computer
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Numbers
Innovation
Enthusiasm
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Inspiring
Money
Business
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Priorities
Environmental
Needs
The Most Interesting Biofuel Efforts Avoid Using Land That's Expensive And Has High Opportunity Costs. They Do This By Getting Onto Other Types Of Land, Or Taking Advantage Of Byproducts That Aren't Used In The Food Chain Today, Or By Intercropping.
Opportunity
Land
Interesting
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School
People
I Regret Being The Richest Man In The World Because That Position Attracts Undeserved Publicity.
Regret
Men
World
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Information
Sophisticated
Two Years From Now, Spam Will Be Solved.
Stupid
Years
Two
Sometimes, I Think My Most Important Job As A Ceo Is To Listen For Bad News. If You Don't Act On It, Your People Will Eventually Stop Bringing Bad News To Your Attention And That Is The Beginning Of The End.
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Even In Some Of Our Vaccine Areas, Like An Aids Vaccine, Things Have Taken Longer Than We Expected, But We Have The Pipeline Of Tools. The Biological Information That We Have That Gives Us Insights Is Fantastic.
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We Need To Look At Less Obvious Paths, Things Like The Wind In The Jet Stream, Which Is Very High Up. The Material Science Of What Type Of Kite String You Would Need To Connect Up To That. That's Still At The Basic Research Level.
Wind
Needs
Looks
The Human Body Is The Most Complex System Ever Created. The More We Learn About It, The More Appreciation We Have About What A Rich System It Is.
Appreciation
Body
Rich
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Sea
Rivers
A First-generation Fortune Is The Most Likely To Be Given Away, But Once A Fortune Is Inherited It's Less Likely That A Very High Percentage Will Go Back To Society.
Generations
Firsts
Fortune
How Much Further Beyond Basic Research The Role Of The Government Should Be, You Could Have A Really Good Debate About It. Almost Nobody Would Say It's Zero. But That's Where At Least We Need The Private Sector To Play A Big Role.
Zero
Government
Play
I'm Invested In A Lot Of Battery Companies - And There's A Lot That Exists I'm Not In.
Batteries
Company
Ok, I Have A Nickname. My Family Calls Me 'trey' Because I'm William The Third. My Dad Has The Same Name, Which Is Always Confusing Because My Dad Is Well Known, And I'm Also Known.
Dad
Names
Confusing
The Idea Of Explaining Why Free Trade Is Good, Why Immigration Is Good, Why The World Is So Connected, That We Need To Think In Terms Of Humanity And Being Generous To Each Other, You Know, That's Proving To Be A Challenge.
Thinking
Ideas
Challenges
There Were A Lot Of Missteps In The Early Days, But Because We Got In Early We Got To Make More Mistakes Than Other People.
Inspirational
Mistake
People
We Are Always Saying To Ourself.. We Have To Innovate. We Got To Come Up With That Breakthrough... We're Only Paid For Breakthroughs.
Business
Come Up
Breakthrough
I Believe Innovation Is The Most Powerful Force For Change In The World.
Powerful
Believe
Innovation
I Don't Generally Read A Lot Of Fiction.
Fiction
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Epidemics
Would Be
Natural
As We Get Robots Becoming More Sophisticated, I Think We Should Worry Sooner Rather Than Later On How Much They Could Take Over, But I Think It'll Mostly Be A Positive Thing. In Terms Of Deadlines It Won't Be Any Worse Than Nuclear Weapons.
Thinking
Worry
Becoming
The Finest Pieces Of Software Are Those Where One Individual Has A Complete Sense Of Exactly How The Program Works. To Have That, You Have To Really Love The Program And Concentrate On Keeping It Simple, To An Incredible Degree.
Simple
Degrees
Pieces
[we In Microsoft] Are Not The Only Software Company But We Are A Great Software Company Doing Some Unique Work.
Unique
Microsoft
Software
Before You Were Born, Your Parents Weren't As Boring As They Are Now. They Got That Way From Paying Your Bills, Cleaning Your Clothes And Listening To You Talk About How Cool You Thought You Were. So Before You Save The Rain Forest From The Parasites Of Your Parent's Generation, Try Delousing The Closet In Your Own Room.
Life
Success
Education
The Answer Is Simple, And Harsh. The Market Did Not Reward Saving The Lives Of These Children, And Governments Did Not Subsidize It. So The Children Died Because Their Mothers And Their Fathers Had No Power In The Market And No Voice In The System.
Mother
Children
Business
Governments Will Always Play A Huge Part In Solving Big Problems. They Set Public Policy And Are Uniquely Able To Provide The Resources To Make Sure Solutions Reach Everyone Who Needs Them. They Also Fund Basic Research, Which Is A Crucial Component Of The Innovation That Improves Life For Everyone.
Government
Play
Innovation
There Are Ecosystems Like Coral Reefs [at Risk] Through Ocean Acidification. Those Are Valuable Things That We Should Protect.
Ocean
Ecosystems
Risk
We Have Two Other Countries, Pakistan And Afghanistan - Again It's The Instability That Is A Problem There. So Over The Next Several Years, We Expect To Drive The Number Of [polio] Cases Back Down To Zero Because That Is Likely To Be The Second Disease After Smallpox That We Completely Eradicate.
Country
Zero
Years
As For Drugs - Well, Gates Was Certainly Not Unusual There. Marijuana Was The Pharmaceutical Of Choice.
Weed
Marijuana
Choices
I Really Had A Lot Of Dreams When I Was A Kid, And I Think A Great Deal Of That Grew Out Of The Fact That I Had A Chance To Read A Lot.
Life
Education
Dream
You Wish That You Could Move More Rapidly And You Have Setbacks. You Know, The Aids Epidemic Was A Huge Setback For Africa, And It's Only Through Generosity That We've Avoided That Just Completely Crippling An Entire Generation There.
Moving
Epidemics
Aids Epidemic
So Not Only Are We Saving Lives Now, We're Creating The Incentive For The Breakthroughs That Over The Next Generation Will Mean We Can Take Aids, Malaria And Tb And Bring Those Numbers Dramatically Down.
Mean
Creating
Numbers
The Advance Of Technology Is Based On Making It Fit In So That You Don't Really Even Notice It, So It's Part Of Everyday Life.
Technology
Everyday
Fit
Competition Is Always A Fantastic Thing, And The Computer Industry Is Intensely Competitive.
Competition
Computer
Fantastic
The Next Big Invention That Will Change The Way We Live Should Be Things Like Ways Of Generating Energy Like Electricity.
Energy
Way
Next
You Know Capitalism Is This Wonderful Thing That Motivates People, It Causes Wonderful Inventions To Be Done. But In This Area Of Diseases Of The World At Large, It's Really Let Us Down.
Motivational
Success
Leadership
The Competition To Hire The Best Will Increase In The Years Ahead. Companies That Give Extra Flexibility To Their Employees Will Have The Edge In This Area.
Years
Giving
Competition
Expectations Are A Form Of First-class Truth: If People Believe It, It's True.
Inspirational
Leadership
Believe
The Inventory, The Value Of My Company, Walks Out The Door Every Evening.
Doors
Inventory
Evening
I Realized About 10 Years Ago That My Wealth Has To Go Back To Society. A Fortune, The Size Of Which Is Hard To Imagine, Is Best Not Passed On To One's Children. It's Not Constructive For Them.
Life
Inspiring
Education
In The Philanthropy Game, You're Going For Different Outcomes: Saving Childhood Lives, Having Kids Grow Up - Because They Don't Have Malnutrition Or Disease - That They Achieve Their Full Potential. We Take For Warren [buffett] Things That, Because He's Very Intelligent About The World But Doesn't Get To Go Out In Africa And See What We See, We've Taken And Say To Him Where We Stand And It's Basically A Very Positive Report That His Gift Has Made A Phenomenal Difference.
Growing Up
Taken
Kids
I Understand How Every Healthy Child, Every New Road, Puts A Country On A Better Path, But Instability And War Will Arise From Time To Time, And I'm Not An Expert On How You Get Out Of Those Things.
Country
Children
War
You Will Not Make $60,000 A Year Right Out Of High School. You Won't Be A Vice-president With A Car Phone Until You Earn Both.
Life
Education
School
Unfortunately, The Highly Curious Student Is A Small Percentage Of The Kids.
Kids
Students
Curious
American Dependence On Oil Has Only Gone Up As We've Gone Through Various Crises And Not Invested In R&d.
Oil
Gone
Crisis
Take Agriculture, Where We Haven't Done Much, Or Sanitation; Saying, "okay, We Will Be Able To Make A Really Huge Effort There." It Really Energized The Foundation And Half Of What We've Gotten Done In This Last Decade Is Because Warren [buffett] Trusted Us.
Agriculture
Effort
Foundation
I Am Not Topper In My University But All Toppers Are Working In My Microsoft Company.
Microsoft
Toppers
Company
We're Focused On Providing Innovations In Software, Driving The Continuous Improvement For A Much Better Experience, And There's A Lot Going On Here That Speaks To This Decade And What's Going To Happen In This Decade. We Can Kind Of Sum It Up In Terms Of Saying, "yes, You Can."
Yes You Can
Innovation
Saying Yes
When You Are Failing, You Are Forced To Be Creative, To Dig Deep And Think, Night And Day.
Night
Thinking
Creative
My Experience Of Malaria Was Just Taking Anti-malarials, Which Give You Strange Dreams, Because I Don't Want To Get Malaria.
Dream
Giving
Disease
There Was A Magical Breakthrough When The Computer Became Cheap And We Could See That Everyone Could Afford A Computer.
Computer
Breakthrough
If You've Found Some Way To Educate Yourself About Engineering, Stocks, Or Whatever It Is, Good Employers Will Have Some Type Of Exam Or Interview And See A Sample Of Your Work.
Engineering
Way
Interviews
The Tool That's Most Associated With The Recent Progress Against Malaria Is The Long-lasting Bed Net. Bed Nets Are A Fantastic Innovation. But We Can Do Even Better. We Can Invent New Ways To Control The Mosquitoes That Carry The Malaria Parasite.
Long
Innovation
Progress
Billionaires Should Never Be Responsible For Solving Problems, Because They're Not The Government.
Government
Problem
Responsible
It's Pretty Amazing To Go From A World Where Computers Were Unheard Of And Very Complex To Where They're A Tool Of Everyday Life.
Everyday
Tools
World
I Hope You Will Judge Yourselves Not On Your Professional Accomplishments Alone, But Also On How Well You Have Addressed The World's Deepest Inequities...on How Well You Treated People A World Away Who Have Nothing In Common With You But Your Humanity.
Judging
People
Accomplishment
It's Pretty Incredible To Look Back 30 Years To When Microsoft Was Starting And Realize How Work Has Been Transformed. We're Finally Getting Close To What I Call The Digital Workstyle.
Change
Success
Business
The Trick Generally Is To Break Programs Into Pieces And Have Those Pieces Be Individually Testable And So Then When You Move On To The Other Pieces You Treat It As A Black Box Knowing That It Either Works Or Doesn't Work.
Moving
Knowing
Black
The Impact Of Improving Health Is That The Population Growth Goes Down, And So You Can Educate More Kids, Feed More Kids.
Kids
Impact
Growth
There Are People Who Don't Like Capitalism, And People Who Don't Like Pcs. But There's No-one Who Likes The Pc Who Doesn't Like Microsoft.
Inspirational
Funny
People
I Think It Makes Sense To Believe In God, But Exactly What Decision In Your Life You Make Differently Because Of It, I Don't Know.
Believe
Thinking
Decision
Certainly, The Windows Share Of Servers Is Strong.
Strong
Window
Share
Learn From Your Unhappy Customers.
Unhappy
Customers
I Was Lucky To Be In The Right Place At The Right Time. But Many Others Were Also In The Same Place. The Difference Was That I Took Action.
Differences
Lucky
Action
If I Think Something's A Waste Of Time Or Inappropriate I Don't Wait To Point It Out. I Say It Right Away. It's Real Time. So You Might Hear Me Say 'that's The Dumbest Idea I Have Ever Heard' Many Times During A Meeting.
Inspirational
Leadership
Real
Kenya’s M-pesa Proves That When People Are Empowered, They Will Use Digital Tech To Innovate On Their Own Behalf.
People
Kenya
Use
The Current Information Revolution Is A Cultural Revolution, A Social Revolution, A Thoroughgoing Technological Revolution That Involves Not Just Information, But Labor, Leisure, Entertainment, Communication, Education, Culture And Thus Is Part Of A Major Cultural And Social Shift.
Communication
Culture
Information
I Am Not In Competition With Anyone But Myself. My Goal Is To Improve Myself Continuously.
Goal
Competition
Prove Myself
K To 12 Is Partly About Babysitting The Kids So The Parents Can Do Other Things.
Kids
Parent
Babysitting
Microsoft Does Not Dominate The Software Industry By Any Stretch Of The Imagination. We Have Lots Of Very Able Competitors Who Keep Us Constantly Vigilant, And Sometimes They Beat Us To The Punch. Microsoft's Success To Date Is Based Solely On The Fact That People Like Microsoft Software.
People
Imagination
Able
China And The U.s. Need Each Other Very Badly. Yes, We Should Argue About Some Things, But It's Not An 'us Versus Them,' It's An 'us And Them' Type Scenario.
Needs
Arguing
Should
You Can Be A Business Thinker.
Thinker
In 1990, One In 10 Children Died Before The Age Of Five. That's Now Down To One In 20, And Vaccines Were The Single Biggest Factor In That. Had It Stayed At 10 Percent, 122 Million More Children Would Have Died.
Children
Vaccines
Age
(talking About His First Computer) Like All Kids We Not Only Fooled Around With Our Toys, We Changed Them. If You've Ever Watched A Child With A Cardboard Carton And A Box Of Crayons Create A Spaceship With Cool Control Panels, Or Listened To Their Improvised Rules, Such As "red Cars Can Jump All Others," Then You Know That This Impulse To Make A Toy Do More Is At The Heart Of Innovative Childhood Play. It Is Also The Essence Of Creativity.
Children
Fun
Heart
There Is No Doubt Pc Prices Will Be Coming Down.
Doubt
No Doubt
50 Years From Now We Won't Need As Much Human Labour To Do What Manual Workers Do, So We Should Be Able To Take That Extra Productivity And Put It To Better Use.
Years
Able
Needs
There Are More People Dying Of Malaria Than Any Specific Cancer.
Cancer
People
Dying
The 'billionaire' Song Is What My Kids Tease Me With. They Sing It To Me. It's Funny.
Song
Kids
Tease
There's Always Been A Lot Of Information About Your Activities. Every Phone Number You Dial, Every Credit-card Charge You Make. It's Long Since Passed That A Typical Person Doesn't Leave Footprints.
Phones
Numbers
Long
If You Believe That Every Life Has Equal Value, It’s Revolting To Learn That Some Lives Are Seen As Worth Saving And Others Are Not. We Said To Ourselves: “this Can’t Be True. But If It Is True, It Deserves To Be The Priority Of Our Giving.”
Business
Believe
Giving
People Everywhere Love Windows.
Love
People
Window
In Three Years, Every Product My Company Makes Will Be Obsolete. The Only Question Is Whether We Will Make Them Obsolete Or Somebody Else Will.
Money
Business
Years
There's Always A Tricky Issue When You Get Into Stolen Material Or Pornography. The Laws For Online Publishing The Same As For Print-based Publishing, Where If You're Hosting Certain Types Of Things And Somebody Notifies You About That.
Issues
Law
Online
In Most Of These Things Our Foundation Is A Co-funder, So I Can Say That A Polio Or An Hiv Vaccine, That I'm Putting Our Resources Behind It In A Very Big Way And The U.s. Government Would Be The Best Partner For Those Efforts.
Vaccines
Government
Effort
We Win Because We Hire The Smartest People. We Improve Our Products Based On Feedback, Until They're The Best. We Have Retreats Each Year Where We Think About Where The World Is Heading.
Winning
Thinking
Years
[africa] Is The One Continent Where You Still Have A Lot More Young People Than Old People. So Making Sure They're Healthy, Good Nutrition, Good Education. That'll Be Important For The World.
People
Healthy
Important
I Have To Admit That Business-type Thoughts Do Sneak Into My Head: I Hope Our Customers Pay Us, I Hope This Stuff Is Decent, I Hope We Get It Done On Time. The Little Additions And Subtractions That One Has To Do. Take Sales, Take Costs And Try To Get That Big Positive Number At The Bottom.
Numbers
Trying
Done
Life Is Not A Continuous Process, There's Some Sort Of Finite Number Of Achievements That Defines Your Life.
Finite Number
Numbers
Achievement
If I Will Start All Over Again I Would Chose Network Marketing.
Success
Marketing
Network Marketing
Oh, I Think There Are A Lot Of People Who Would Be Buying And Selling Online Today That Go Up There And They Get The Information, But Then When It Comes Time To Type In Their Credit Card They Think Twice Because They're Not Sure About How That Might Get Out And What That Might Mean For Them.
Mean
Thinking
People
Rich Countries Can Afford To Overpay For Things.
Country
Rich Countries
Rich
The Phenomenal Generosity Of The United States In Its Aid Budget Towards Health Issues Is The Best In The World. You Can Look At That Broadly, You Can Look At It In Terms Of Hiv, The Pepfar Money Which Came Together In A Republican Administration With Bipartisan Support.
Generosity
Support
Together
Only Through Focus Can You Do World-class Things, No Matter How Capable You Are.
Class
Focus
World
The Barrier To Change Is Not Too Little Caring; It Is Too Much Complexity. To Turn Caring Into Action, We Need To See A Problem, See A Solution, And See The Impact. But Complexity Blocks All Three Steps.
Block
Caring
Impact
People Cannot Become Truly Knowledgeable Without Being Excellent Readers.
People
Excellent
Knowledgeable
In The Us In The 1900's 60 % Of People Were Employed On The Farms. Today It's Less Than 1%. If You Told People Back Then That This Would Happen They Wouldn't Have Believed It. If You Told Them We Would Have Therapy, Massages And Spas That Played Important Parts In Our Lives They Would've Have Believed Us.
People
Important
Today
The Most Important Work I Got A Chance To Be Involved In, No Matter What I Do, Is The Personal Computer... I Even Knew Not To Get Married Until Later Because I Was So Obsessed With It. That's My Life's Work.
Important
Matter
Chance
Vaccination Is Pretty Special Because You Can Do A Vaccination Campaign Anywhere In The World. All You Are Doing Is Gathering Women From The Villages, Getting Them The Vaccines And Asking Them To Go Around And Find The Children.
Children
Vaccines
Special
Investing In Tomorrow's Technology Today Is More Critical Than Ever.
Technology
Investing
Today
The Vision Is That People Should Have The Ultimate In Convenience. Being Able To Get The Things They Care About On The Appropriate Device.
Should Have
People
Vision
Like Many Others, I Have Deep Misgivings About The State Of Education In The United States. Too Many Of Our Students Fail To Graduate From High School With The Basic Skills They Will Need To Succeed In The 21st Century Economy, Much Less Prepared For The Rigors Of College And Career. Although Our Top Universities Continue To Rank Among The Best In The World, Too Few American Students Are Pursuing Degrees In Science And Technology. Compounding This Problem Is Our Failure To Provide Sufficient Training For Those Already In The Workforce.
Business
School
College
The Fight Against Aids In China Is Already Well Underway. The Chinese Government And Other Funders Are Providing Major Support, And They'll Continue To Bear Primary Responsibility For Delivering Prevention And Treatment.
Responsibility
Fighting
Government
My Grade Point Average Went From A 2.2 To A 4.0 Over The Summer. I Wanted To Get Straight A's. I Decided To Get Straight A's. I Didn't Want People To Think I Was Dumb. And When You Get Straight A's Once, Its Easier.
Summer
Thinking
Average
Part Of The Magic Of Economic Growth Is How You Educate People, And The Leading Economies Have To Stay In Front Of That. From An Economic Point Of View, It Affects Competitiveness And Creates Jobs. Or From A Social Justice Point Of View, You Can Take Someone In The Bottom Tier Of Income And Let Him Compete To Be A Doctor Or Lawyer. The Education System Is The Only Reason The Dream Of Equal Opportunity Has A Chance Of Being Delivered - And We're Not Running A Good Education System.
Running
Dream
Opportunity
If You Say To People That There's Less Violence Today Than In The Past, They Would Be Stunned To Hear That. But It's The Truth, Even Though We Have Awful Things Happening In Syria Or Sudan.
Past
People
Awful
Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.


2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.


2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.


2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.


3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.


3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.


3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.



4. Proper Usage of Quotes


4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.


4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.


4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).


5. Common Mistakes to Avoid


5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.


5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.


5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.



6. Quotes in Different Contexts


6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.


6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.


6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.



7. Punctuation and Formatting


Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:


Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.


Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.


Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.



8. Ethical Considerations


Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes


Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.



Conclusion


Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.


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