Bill Gates Speaks

"Our slogan from the very beginning was 'a computer on every desk and in every home.'

"For me to become gun-shy might require surgery."

An icon more powerful than anything on a Windows screen, Bill Gates today stands atop his fabled Microsoft fortress staring down competitors' threats and injunctions from an annoyed U.S. Justice Department. The kind of success Gates has created rarely escapes criticism. And Bill is getting more than his share.

The story of how this Harvard dropout created the operating system that would become the worldwide standard for millions of computers is legendary. And equally legendary has been the take-no-prisoners tactics of his corporate colossus, Microsoft. We've witnessed Gates's transformation from a geeky wunderkind into a business titan.

Whether admired or detested, glorified or vilified, Gates is a household name and a worldwide curiosity. Bill Gates Speaks discloses what Bill Gates has to say on everything from financing a start-up to running a conglomerate, developing technology to raising a family, and growing his business to expanding his personal wealth. Drawing on quotes culled from speeches, articles, essays, newscasts, and interviews, this unique book weaves all of this information into a compelling and easy-to-read biography.

Here is just a sample of what you'll find inside:

• "My parents weren't all that excited about their son announcing he was dropping out of a fine university to start a business in something almost nobody had heard of called 'microcomputers.'"
• "I think business is very simple. Profit. Loss. Take the sales, subtract the costs, you get this big positive number. The math is quite straightforward."
• "I envy people who thrive on three or four hours of sleep a night. They have so much more time to work, learn, and play."
• "We never waste a lot of time talking about what we're doing well. It just isn't our culture. Every meeting is about 'Sure, we won in seven of the categories, but what about that eighth category?'"
• "The PC industry is the model industry in the entire economy. The rate of innovation, the openness-all of these things are just fantastic. And Microsoft's role in creating this has been absolutely fundamental."

The world listens when Bill Gates speaks

"I'm not competent to judge his technical ability, but I regard his business savvy as extraordinary.

If Bill had started a hot dog stand, he would have become the hot dog king of the world." - Warren Buffett

"It is still possible to be a Vanderbilt, an Astor, a Rockefeller. You can still do that, you can be Bill Gates." - David Geffen

"Everybody is waiting for this guy to slip. He hasn't slipped, and there's very little chance that he will. Everything that he keeps his hands in will work, and he will win." - Alan Kerr, Ogilvy & Mather

"Love him or hate him, but you can't ignore him." - Fortune