Melinda Gates
My background was computer science and business school, so eventually I worked my way up where I was running product groups - development, testing, marketing, user education.Collection: Science
After a number of years dating, we decided we were good partners.Collection: Dating
But we also believe in taking risks, because that's how you move things along.Collection: Chance
We talk a lot in our home together about where we're going, what I'm doing.Collection: Home
Government funding that's coming from the United States is making a huge difference on the ground in the developing world. It's really palpable - it's making a huge difference saving lives.Collection: Government
If you are successful, it is because somewhere, sometime, someone gave you a life or an idea that started you in the right direction. Remember also that you are indebted to life until you help some less fortunate person, just as you were helped.
Having children made us look differently at all these things that we take for granted, like taking your child to get a vaccine against measles or polio.
I think it's very important that we instill in our kids that it has nothing to do with their name or their situation that they're growing up in; it has to do with who they are as an individual.
We would be driving down the street in a place like Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, and started to see, my gosh, the only people that have shoes are men. Why does that woman have a baby in her belly and one on her back, and she's carrying a huge load of bananas? You start to ask these questions.
You can have the best vaccines for a woman or her child, but if you can't get her to come and get them then they won't work.
Kids are falling through the cracks and nobody notices it. That to me is what's wrong with the school system.
We have to be careful in how we use this light shined on us.
It is still just unbelievable to us that diarrhea is one of the leading causes of child deaths in the world.
There's a false perception that women in Africa somehow don't love their babies they way we do, don't grieve their loss the way we would. That is simply not true.
All lives have an equal value.
In the developing world, it's about time that women are on the agenda. For instance, 80 percent of small-subsistence farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are women, and yet all the programs in the past were predominantly focused on men.
I'm constantly saying to myself, 'I'm lucky I was born in the United States.'
The premise of this foundation is one life on this planet is no more valuable than the next.
Women around the world should have a tool that helps them plan their pregnancies.
I realized that the only way to get into a good college was to be valedictorian or salutatorian. So that was my goal.
We started this mostly from an intellectual place.
I care much more about saving the lives of mothers and babies than I do about a fancy museum somewhere.
Microsoft certainly makes products for the Macintosh.
I'm wholehearted about whatever I do.
I think the Americans need to understand that a lot of times the children are bored in school, and that is why they are not staying in.
I learn in a different way. I learn experientially.
There are absolutely lots of teachers who are trying to come into the profession, but they are not attracted enough to say, 'I'm going to switch careers to do it,' or they are often not retained... because the salaries and the compensation aren't there to make it happen.
You can't save kids just with vaccines.
I want to live as private a life as I can because of our children.
When we invest in women and girls, we are investing in the people who invest in everyone else.Collection: Girl
Philanthropy is not about the money. It's about using whatever resources you have at your fingertips and applying them to improving the world.Collection: World
Connect deeply with others. Our humanity is the one thing that we all have in common.Collection: Humanity
A woman with a voice is by definition a strong woman. But the search to find that voice can be remarkably difficult.Collection: Inspirational
I've travelled extensively in the last 16 years - to slums in Bangladesh, to townships in South Africa, to all kinds of places in India, etc. When I would go and talk to villagers about something like vaccines, if I stayed long enough, the women would bring the conversation around and say: "What about this family planning tool? We can't keep having the number of children we're having."Collection: Children
Women speaking up for themselves and for those around them is the strongest force we have to change the world.Collection: Life
All women, everywhere, have the same hopes: we want to be self-sufficient and create better lives for ourselves and our loved ones.Collection: Self
I am inspired by the women I meet everywhere I go. They have to work so hard just to make sure their families survive, but somehow they stay optimistic and do everything in their power to make the future better than the past.Collection: Optimistic
The world is full of what seem like intractable problems. Often we let that paralyze us. Instead, let is spur you to action. There are some people in the world that we can't help, but there are so many more that we can. So when you see a mother and her children suffering in another part of the world, don't look away. Look right at them. Let them break your heart, then let your empathy and your talents help you make a difference in the lives of others. Whether you volunteer every week or just a few times a year, your time and unique skills are invaluable.Collection: Mother
Make sure you continue to trust what you know now about yourself and stay true to what you believe inCollection: Believe
We started our foundation because we believe we have a real opportunity to help advance equity around the world, to help make sure that, no matter where a person is born, he or she has the chance to live a healthy, productive life.Collection: Life
When we invest in women, we invest in a powerful source of global developmentCollection: Powerful
I am Catholic, I was raised Catholic, I am a practicing Catholic. But I say we need to agree to disagree. We have a shared mission around poverty, and I focus on that, because we do a lot with the Catholic Church around poverty alleviation. I'm always looking for: what is the common thread? What do we care about? What do we believe in? We believe in women around the world. We believe in all lives have equal value.Collection: Believe
Deep human connection is ... the purpose and the result of a meaningful life - and it will inspire the most amazing acts of love, generosity, and humanity.Collection: Meaningful
If we don't empower women, we don't allow them to unlock the potential of themselves and their children.Collection: Children
Take time to learn about the lives of women around the world-and try to play a small part in their fight to create the future they deserve.Collection: Fighting
When were you born, who are your parents, where did you grow up? None of us earns these things. These things were given to us. So when we strip away all of our luck and our privilege, and we consider where we'd be without them, it becomes much easier to see someone who's poor and say, "That could be me." And that's empathy.Collection: Growing Up
Our desire to bring every good thing to our children is a force for good throughout the world. It’s what propels societies forward.Collection: Inspirational
Women and girls should be able to determine their own future, no matter where they're born.Collection: Girl
You are indebted to life until you help some less fortunate person, just as you were helped.Collection: Helping
Sanitation issues in the developing world affect women more than they affect men.Collection: Men