Quotes from Larry Ellison

I have had all of the disadvantages required for success.

When I was a kid a long time ago, when the sun rose, I was outside on my bike. If my parents were lucky - poor parents! - I would be home before it got dark.

A corporation's primary goal is to make money. Government's primary role is to take a big chunk of that money and give it to others.

Once open source gets good enough, competing with it would be insane.

Really great blogs do not take the place of great microprocessors. Great blogs do not replace great software. Lots and lots of blogs does not replace lots and lots of sales.

The things that caused problems for me in school are the same things that help me succeed in the world.

If you do everything that everyone else does in business, you're going to lose. The only way to really be ahead, is to 'be different'.

When you innovate, you've got to be prepared for everyone telling you you're nuts.

You can't spend as much money as I have, even if you try. I've been trying.

I believe people have to follow their dreams-I did.

To model yourself after Steve Jobs is like, 'I'd like to paint like Picasso, what should I do? Should I use more red?'

Bill Gates is the pope of the personal computer industry. He decides who is going to build.

If an innovative piece of software comes along, Microsoft copies it and makes it part of Windows. This is not innovation; this is the end of innovation.

Microsoft is already the most powerful company on earth but you ain't seen nothing yet.

We will still be enormously profitable and by far the most profitable enterprise software company.

In order to grow at this pace, there will have to be a couple of acquisitions along the way. The tricky thing is to grow at this rate and maintain a 40 percent operating margin.

It's Microsoft versus mankind, with Microsoft having only a slight lead.

Those that believe this is merely a downturn are mad. Our industry is going to mature and as something matures, the rate of innovation does slow.

Our goal is simply to become the desktop for e-businesses.

You realize that life is short and fragile; and when you are facing walls of water, you understand your own mortality can change and how quickly things could change.

So what makes me happy? I was really happy to build this house. That's it; building things. The trouble with software is that it's very hard to show your aunt in Florida what you've done.

Being first is more important to me [than earning money]. I have so much money. Whatever money is, it's just a method of keeping score now. I mean, I certainly don't need more money.

I think after a certain amount, I'm going to give almost everything I have to charity. What else can you do with it? You can't spend it, even if you try. I've been trying.

Building Oracle is like doing math puzzles as a kid.