231 Quotes by Melinda Gates

If there is any meaning in life greater than connecting with other human beings, I haven’t found it.

I want them to see that in the universal human desire to be happy, to develop our gifts, to contribute to others, to love and be loved – we’re all the same. Nobody is any better than anybody else, and no one’s happiness or human dignity matters more than anyone else’s.

There is no equality without safety.

Poverty is created by barriers; we have to get around or break down those barriers to deliver solutions. But that’s not all. The more I saw our work in the field, the more I realized that delivery needs to shape strategy. The challenge of delivery reveals the causes of poverty. You learn why people are poor. You don’t have to guess what the barriers are. As soon as you try to deliver help, you run into them.

Opportunities have to be equal before you can know if abilities are equal. And opportunities for women have never been equal.

It’s important to remember that behind every data point is a daughter, a mother, a sister – a person with hopes and dreams.

To bring about a revolution of the heart, you have to let your heart break. Letting your heart break means sinking into the pain that’s underneath the anger... If you don’t accept the suffering, hurt can turn to hatred.

Kids are falling through the cracks and nobody notices it. That to me is what’s wrong with the school system.

Wisdom isn’t about accumulating more facts; it’s about understanding big truths in a deeper way. Year by year, with the support and insights of friends and partners and people who have gone before me, I see more clearly that the primary causes of poverty and illness are the cultural, financial, and legal restrictions that block what women can do – and think they can do – for themselves and their children.