The overarching goal of Tesla is to help reduce carbon emissions and that means low cost and high volume. We will also serve as an example to the auto industry, proving that the technology really works and customers want to buy electric vehicles.
My mentality is that of a samurai. I would rather commit seppuku than fail.
Don’t just follow the trend. You may have heard me say that it’s good to think in terms of the physics approach of first principles. Which is, rather than reasoning by analogy, you boil things down to the most fundamental truths you can imagine and you reason up from there.
We have a strict ‘no a-hole policy’ at SpaceX. And we fire people if they are. I mean, we give them a little bit of warning. But if they continue to be an a-hole, then they’re fired.
Engineering is the closest thing to magic that exists in the world.
If you get up in the morning and think the future is going to be better, it is a bright day. Otherwise, it’s not.
To make an embarrassing admission, I like video games. That’s what got me into software engineering when I was a kid. I wanted to make money so I could buy a better computer to play better video games. Nothing like saving the world.
People often mistake technology for a static picture. It’s less like a picture and more like a movie. It’s the velocity of technology innovation that matters. It’s the acceleration.
I started SpaceX with the expectation of failure.
You want to do things you’re passionate about but also are useful to other people.
It was obvious to me that we could never colonize Mars without reusability, any more than America would have been colonized if they had to burn the ships after every trip.
It’s just mind-blowingly awesome. I apologize, and I wish I was more articulate, but it’s hard to be articulate when your mind’s blown-but in a very good way.
My family fears that the Russians will assassinate me.
I think you should always be seeking negative feedback.
The extension of life beyond Earth is the most important thing we can do as a species.
To our knowledge, life exists on only one planet, Earth. If something bad happens, it’s gone. I think we should establish life on another planet – Mars in particular – but we ’re not making very good progress. SpaceX is intended to make that happen.
It’s really incumbent upon us as life’s agents to extend life to another planet. I think that being a multi-planet species will significantly increase the richness and scope of the human experience.
I realized that a methane-oxygen rocket engine could achieve a specific impulse greater than 380.
You should be innovating so fast that you’re invalidating your prior patents.
For all the supporters of Tesla over the years, and it’s been several years now and there have been some very tough times, I’d just like to say thank you very much. I deeply appreciate the support, particularly through the darkest times.