From the book Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire:

Although Gates may not have known what he was going to do with his life during high school, he seemed confident that whatever he did would make him a lot of money. He made just such a prediction about his future on several occasions to other students and teachers at Lakeside. In the 11th grade, Gates told his friend Paul Carlson that he would be a millionaire by the time he was 30 years old.

“That is something that might sound like arrogance,” said Carlson. “Some might just say it to brag. Some might say it as if they had the measure of themselves. Bill was in that second category.”

A lot of people think that super genius billionaires like Bill Gates are motivated by their intellectual passion, and money is just a byproduct, but this seems to show that actually Bill Gates’s primary goal in life really was money.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

A lot of people who think they’re smart, eschew such blatant avarice as unseemly, preferring instead to pursue “higher” goals that bring meaning to their life.

However Bill Gates, whose IQ of 170 makes him one of the smartest people in the entire country, is smart enough to realize that whatever you want in life, chance are money can buy it for you.

There’s virtually nothing you could possibly want that money can’t help you buy.  You want love?  Money can buy you better looks and better clothes, and lavish parties to meet women, and romantic vacations when you find the girl of your dreams.

Want intellectual stimulation?  Money can buy you your own research lab, and the ability to hire thousands of people to participate in your studies

Want justice?  Money can help you buy media to expose the corrupt and charities to help the poor

Want to pass on your genes?  Money allows you to pay countless women to carry your child, and allows you to fund charities devoted to people who look like you.

Want more time?  Money allows you to retire early and hire staff to do all your cooking and cleaning

Want beauty and spiritual connection?  Money allows a home overlooking the ocean.


There’s a saying that money manages to signify intelligence in even the most unlikely of cases.  Someone could have an 8th grade education, and not even be able to string together a sentence, but if they have money, they will come across as shrewd.  Meanwhile someone can have a Nobel prize in physics, but if they are poor, people will say “if you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich?”

People intuitively understand that intelligence is ultimately the mental ability to adapt: To take whatever situation you’re in, and turn it around to your advantage.

And what’s more advantageous than money?

I’m now in my 30s, but when I was a teenager, I had a genetically superior Oriental friend, and when his mother found out I had a part time job, she was impressed I was making money.  Yet when my friend asked if he should get a partime job, his mother felt he was better off studying in school.

“Money now, mean nothing,” she said.  “Money later, mean… EVERYTHING!”