Elon Musk Quotes

Your Will is the most accurate way to predict the future.

By creating your future, you are an active player in the events as they unfold. By knowing what you want, and what you are willing to do to get them, you can help to shape what the future holds. So, someone who failed in business, and early on in professional politics, still believed that you could predict the future by creating it.

Don't confuse schooling with education. I didn't go to Harvard but the people that work for me did.

In this quote, Elon Musk tells us not to confuse schooling with education — meaning that just because you go to school does not mean you necessarily got an education. Education is the acquisition of knowledge. Schooling is the acquisition of knowledge in an establishment. Education can be achieved outside of school.

Failure is a good option. If you are not failing, you are not trying hard enough.

Success is good but failure is better. Musk believes failure is necessary on the path to success. He says, “A failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.” It’s something Elon Musk accepts and embraces. Failure is an opportunity. It's a chance to reevaluate and come back stronger with better reasoning.

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.

There is more competition in the Business industry now, and constant changes in the digital and technological landscape have demanded more of our offerings and in turn our people. Therefore, we’ve had to continue innovating to improve and expand the products and solutions in our portfolio. Use all proper materials to build momentum in your company, but recognize that as you grow, your business model may change.

Starting and growing a company is more about building a determined team than creating products or services.

To succeed in business today, you need to be flexible and have good planning and organizational skills. You can avoid this in your business ventures by taking your time and planning out all the necessary steps you need to achieve success. Focus more on building a determined team than creating products or services.

When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.

If doing or accomplishing something is very important to you, you’ll do it no matter what. Even if the odds are against you, you’ll give it your all and the only thing on your mind would be accomplishing that goal. If we start considering everything as important as that goal, nothing and no one will be able to stop us.

The first step is to establish that something is possible; then probability will occur.

If you want to establish something, create something then the first step is to believe that Everything is Possible. It is about dreaming big, embracing creativity, thinking positively, and expecting great things. With this mindset, we are no longer limited by what has happened in the past, our own limiting beliefs, or our present reality.

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.

Having goals for things we want to do and working towards them is an important part of being human. Taking the time to think about what you want in life gives you a sense of purpose. A goal helps to see the bigger picture. It gives you greater control of your future. It’s the first step toward taking control of your future.

You must be willing to lose it all, but be willing to keep going into the future.

It is every person's life goal to be successful at what they do. Elon Musk has invested in a range of projects which have turned out successful. Despite most of his projects' challenges, such as PayPal, he believed in success and went for it. His rejection by several companies did not also deter him from accomplishing his goals.

It is possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary.

Strive for Excellence and achieve greatness. If you want to work on something, you should always do your very best. You should expect nothing less than extraordinary from yourself. People who set themselves to changing the world and making the most of their talents are not different than you -- they just cancel ordinary thoughts. Extraordinary living starts with a simple shift in mindset.

Don’t delude yourself into thinking something’s working when it’s not, or you’re gonna get fixated on a bad solution.

Suppose you are preparing for an exam. Now if you think you can crack it within a month’s preparation when you actually know you need much more time than that, it simply is bad planning. You are living in a delusion. You need to get out of it and set practical goals that you can achieve in a certain period of time.

People should pursue what they're passionate about. That will make them happier than pretty much anything else.

Passion” can be simply defined as an intense desire or enthusiasm for something. The path to happiness is to do what you are passionate about. If you are passionate about your work, it doesn’t feel like work anymore. Find your passion. Success is defined by what you believe and as long as you believe in your goals then you are sure to have a successful life.

There's a tremendous bias against taking risks. Everyone is trying to optimize their ass-covering.

This simply can be related to the career choices we make in life. As Elon’s quote implies, a lack of failure isn’t a success. It’s just optimizing the wrong thing. Rather than protect against failure, you should count on it and know what you will do to recover from it. Getting comfortable with failure is a key step in becoming a better risk-taker and successful leader.

I'd rather be optimistic and wrong than pessimistic and right.

Logic and reason show you how bad things really are. Maybe that's why so few people think logically. The need for comfort trumps any willingness to acknowledge the truth. Because as it turns out, the truth is pretty dark. I'd rather be optimistic and wrong than pessimistic and right.

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.

You would be very lucky if you can make your very first venture achieve the success you desired but that rarely happens. Isn’t it? You practice, and fail but do not give up and that’s how you learn to build a company that creates value.