Paul Allen Quotes & Sayings

What is the best advice, business or otherwise, you've had and from whom?
The best advice I've received came many years ago from my father. He told me that you should love whatever work you do, you should try to find something you truly enjoy. And I've been lucky through the years that the work I've been involved with has been challenging and for the most part, fun. — Paul Allen

Traditionally, Seattle has been a great sports town and great football town. What the Huskies have achieved over the years has been pretty amazing. That's how I got my first taste of football - when I went with my father to Husky Stadium. — Paul Allen

That would be such a life-changing thing, for us all to know that there are other beings out there who we could potentially communicate with, or maybe we are listening to a signal that they transmitted hundreds of millennia ago. — Paul Allen

In global warming, I think everyone is scratching their heads - are there technological things that can be brought to bear that can make a difference? — Paul Allen

In my own work, I've tried to anticipate what's coming over the horizon, to hasten its arrival, and to apply it to people's lives in a meaningful way. — Paul Allen

Give away everything you know, and more will come back to you. — Paul Allen

Even before I helped to co-found Microsoft, I saw a connected future ... I called that future The Wired World. — Paul Allen

The possible is constantly being redefined, and I care deeply about helping humanity move forward. — Paul Allen

As a species, we've always been discoverers and adventurers, and space and the deep ocean are some of the last frontiers. — Paul Allen

We've had some tough times, but we've hung in there. — Paul Allen

In the first eight or so years at Microsoft, we were always chained to our terminals, and after I got sick the first time, I decided that I was going to be more adventurous and explore more of the world. — Paul Allen

I grew up around books. When I first held the book and it was a substantive, tangible thing, and I thought of all the work that went into it, not just my work but everybody else's and the research and so forth, there's a sense of really have done something worthwhile. — Paul Allen

If you're looking to find a career that makes a difference - and work you really love - this book will show you how. — Paul Allen

What should exist? To me, that's the most exciting question imaginable. What do we need that we don't have? How can we realize our potential? — Paul Allen

an architect should not take a position of throw more hardware at it... that will fix all the problems. — Paul Allen

You look at things you enjoy in your life, but much more important is what you can do to make the world a better place. — Paul Allen

You've got to enjoy time with your family and friends, and if you're involved in sports franchises, those peak moments in playoff games. You have to enjoy life. — Paul Allen

With documentary-film projects, you hope you highlight an area of concern people haven't thought about before. A lot of times, I'm asking myself - 'This seems to be a significant problem. What can be done that hasn't been done?' — Paul Allen

In a company where tech decisions were still ultracentralized, the repercussions of a distracted CEO had to be damaging. — Paul Allen

I am very excited to be supporting one of the world's most visionary efforts to seek basic answers to some of the fundamental question about our universe and what other civilisations may exist elsewhere. — Paul Allen

The only regrets I have are rather prosaic - like I wish I went for a swim in the Pacific. — Paul Allen

The best museums and museum exhibits about science or technology give you the feeling that, hey, this is interesting, but maybe I could do something here, too. — Paul Allen

I'm a very private person that prefers a low profile. — Paul Allen

I enjoy creating new ideas, working on new creative projects. — Paul Allen

Any crusade requires optimism and the ambition to aim high — Paul Allen

While I sign off on trades or free agents, I've rarely overruled my basketball people's decisions. But I'm not shy about steering the discussion or pushing deeper if something doesn't make sense to me. — Paul Allen

Once you become an owner of a team, you get so much more into the sport and you can't help it. So I really love NFL football now to the degree of following it much more than I did previously. — Paul Allen

In the computer industry, you've got an interdisciplinary team of people who can come together, attack the problem, and work in a collaborative style. You knock down one problem after another, cobble things together, and then hopefully turn the crank at some point. — Paul Allen

When it comes to helping out, I don't believe in doing it for the media attention. My goal is to support the organizations that need help. — Paul Allen

Sometimes it's very difficult to find fresh fruit on the road. — Paul Allen

I was in a town of about 10,000 people, and a shipping container with a rusty microscope was their medical clinic. — Paul Allen

Here's what the death knell for the personal computer will sound like: Mainly I use my phone/paid, but I still use my PC to write long e-mails and documents. Most people aren't there yet, but that's where we're headed — Paul Allen

I think it's going to be great if people can buy a ticket to fly up and see black sky and the stars. I'd like to do it myself-but probably after it has flown a serious number of times first! — Paul Allen

Technology is notorious for engrossing people so much that they don't always focus on balance and enjoy life at the same time. — Paul Allen

If you think about making a difference in the community, my family has always had a strong interest in the arts. I'm always interested in finding ways to innovate ... It's a blend; it's not a point focus. — Paul Allen

For the most part, the best opportunities now lie where your competitors have yet to establish themselves, not where they're already entrenched. Microsoft is struggling to adapt to that new reality. — Paul Allen