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18 Elon Musk quotes that will make you believe in the future

Elon Musk has a lot of opinions ... including a very interesting one about fearless people
By Chris Hayner, Contributor
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1 of 18 Image: Elon Musk via Instagram

Yep, that's young Elon Musk

"When I was in college, I wanted to be involved in things that would change the world. Now I am."

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2 of 18 SpaceX

On fearless people

"It's normal to feel fear, like, you'd have to have something mentally wrong if you didn't feel fear."

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3 of 18 SpaceX

On how he picks projects

"Going from PayPal, I thought: 'Well, what are some of the other problems that are likely to most affect the future of humanity?' Not from the perspective, 'What's the best way to make money?'"

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4 of 18 Elon Musk via Instagram

On his kids

"I'm hopeful they will do things like engineering, or write books, or just, in some way, add more than they take from the world."

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5 of 18 SpaceX

On just not worrying about it

"The thing that's worth doing is trying to improve our understanding of the world, and gain a better appreciation of the universe, and not to worry too much about there being no meaning."

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6 of 18 Elon Musk via Instagram

On curating the future

"You want to have a future where you're expecting things to be better, not one where you're expecting things to be worse."

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7 of 18 Tesla

On feedback

"You want to be extra rigorous about making the best possible thing you can. Find everything that's wrong with it and fix it. Seek negative feedback, particularly from friends."

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8 of 18 NASA/Bill Ingalls

On whether the glass is half empty

"You know, try and enjoy yourself. Because, actually, life's pretty good. It really is."

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9 of 18 James Leynse/ZDNet

On fear

"People shouldn't think, 'I feel fear about this and therefore shouldn't do it'."

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10 of 18 SpaceX

On timing

"Given that this is the first time in 4.5 billion years where it's been possible for humanity to extend life beyond Earth, it seems like we'd be wise to act while the window was open, and not count on the fact it will be open a long time."

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11 of 18 Via ZDNet

On never giving up

"If something is important enough, even if the odds are against you, you should still do it."

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12 of 18 SpaceX

On his version of squad goals

"Really, the only thing that makes sense is to strive for greater collective enlightenment."

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13 of 18 Image: NASA

On why we learn

"We should aspire to increase the scope and scale of human consciousness in order to better understand what questions to ask."

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14 of 18 Image: ZDNet

On the best science for problem solving

"[Physics is] a good framework for thinking. ... Boil things down to their fundamental truths and reason up from there."

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15 of 18 Bob Daemmrich/Corbis

On exactly when to give up

"Persistence is very important. You should not give up unless you are forced to give up."

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16 of 18 Getty Images via ZDNet

On shopping for dreams

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

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17 of 18 Getty Images via ZDNet

On failure

"Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough."

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18 of 18 SpaceX

On how we're going to save mankind

"There's a fundamental difference, if you look into the future, between a humanity that is a space-faring civilization, that's out there exploring the stars ... compared with one where we are forever confined to Earth until some eventual extinction event."

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