VALUES

I would rather Ethereum die than see it become something that sacrifices its values.

People first, then money, then things.

Money is not the goal. Money is the tool that lets you live the life you want.

We want to be one of the most valuable companies in the world and also one of the most generous. Those shouldn't be contradictions.

If you're not comfortable building weapons, don't apply. We don't pretend we're doing something else. We build tools for people who defend freedom.

We still ride our bicycles to work. My wife and I live in a modest apartment in Mainz. The vaccine made us billionaires on paper. It didn't change who we are.

When I became CEO, people said Etsy was a charity pretending to be a company. We proved you can have values and margins. They're not mutually exclusive.

Customers first, employees second, shareholders third. If your customers are happy, your employees are happy, the shareholders will be happy. Do it the other way and nobody is happy.

Technology should be accessible to everyone. The idea that great products are only for rich people is the biggest lie in the tech industry.

The chaebol system taught me what I didn't want to be. Korea doesn't need more inherited empires. It needs more people who build from nothing.

Technology should reduce inequality, not increase it. If your platform makes rich people's lives easier and poor people's lives harder, you've built the wrong thing.

Wealth is not about how much you accumulate but about how much you distribute. I have never met a happy hoarder.

Privacy is a fundamental human right. We will not build our business on selling your data, even if it costs us revenue.

Leaving Facebook cost me billions in unvested stock. Staying would have cost me something more important.

Business, as I have seen it, places one great demand on you: it asks for your honesty.

We can do well and do good at the same time. Those two things are not in conflict.

Sustainability shouldn't be a luxury. It should be the default.

Technology in healthcare should serve patients, not administrators. We built Devoted around that principle.

Delivery drivers are the backbone of our business. We're investing in their wellbeing because it's right and because it's smart.

We gave AlphaFold away for free because some discoveries are too important to monetize.

I walked away from $850 million in unvested stock because I couldn't watch them put ads in WhatsApp.

No ads. No games. No gimmicks. Just messaging.

I fly economy sometimes. People think that's weird for a billionaire. I think it's weird to pay ten times more for the same destination.

Wildlife conservation is the most important investment I'll ever make. No financial return. Just a moral one.

YFI went from $3 to $40,000 in two months. I didn't keep any. I wanted to prove that a fair launch could work.

I took a $1 salary because I wanted to prove that a CEO can lead from purpose, not from a paycheck.

Impact investing is not philanthropy with lower returns. It is capitalism with a conscience. The returns can be just as good.

I chose Athleta over the bigger offer because they understood what I was building. Money that conflicts with your mission is just a slow way to ruin your brand.

I chose Athleta because they see me as a whole person, not just a medal count. Any brand that sees you as only your wins is a brand that will disappear when you have a loss.

People ask me why I stayed in Milwaukee. Because Milwaukee believed in me when I was nobody. You do not leave a city that believed in you.

Privacy is not about hiding. It is about focusing on what matters instead of performing for strangers.

Your bank uses your deposits to fund oil pipelines. We don't. That's not a slogan. It's a legal commitment.

I am not a hard woman. I simply know the value of a dollar.

Constitutional AI is about building systems that are helpful, harmless, and honest. In that order.

My father taught me that the customer's wallet is not bottomless. Respect it.

Giving back is not something you do after you have made your money. It is something you do while you are making it.

We do not need an IPO. We need independence. You cannot price vaccines for shareholders and for patients at the same time.

My grandfather taught me that a gentleman is someone who is brave. Everything else flows from that.

Education is the only inheritance worth leaving a child. Everything else can be taken away.

Open source is not just a development model. It is a values system about who gets to participate in building the future.

The principles my father established — respect for the individual, service to the customer, striving for excellence, acting with integrity — those aren't just posters on the wall. They have to be lived every day.

I went to school to study the environment, not business. That was not an accident.

John believed in people more than most. That is the inheritance that matters most to me.

Growth means nothing if it costs you the thing that made you great in the first place.

My father worked hard so I could study. I studied hard so my children could build. That is how it works in families that succeed over generations.

Ukraine deserves our full support in stopping Putin's aggression. They are also fighting for us.

Ukraine's fight is ours.

For me personally, this brings great joy and satisfaction, because I understand that the Earth's gifts are finite, and we are entrusted with the responsibility to use them wisely.

What was supposed to be altruism is just common egotism. We can be satisfied, but our satisfaction should be produced not by our actions but rather by the benefits accruing to those we help.

Never forget the source of the water you drink from.

Not everything is for sale. Not everything is about money.

For me, it is very important that Hermès remain independent, not for the family, but to be the custodian of the values of Hermès.

I reject as venomous and ignorant any discrimination based on race, gender, creed, ethnicity or sexual orientation.

I believe in a kind and generous United States, where the hungry are fed, the sick are cared for, and the homeless are sheltered.

I believe that genuine scientific discovery flourishes only in an atmosphere of dispassionate, open-minded inquiry, with research evaluated according to neutral, evidence-based criteria.

This country was founded on the principle of open discourse. Intellectual diversity and vigorous, reasoned debate have been fundamental to America's success.

There are two things of real value we can give our children. One is roots. The other is wings.

Doing well while doing good.

The point is not just returns. It is founders solving health, food, and education.

Money you cannot share is not really wealth. I want ours to reach young creators.

I think one always appreciates most the things that are difficult to get, those things that once seemed impossible to attain.

If the family cannot have harmony, the business cannot have harmony, and society cannot have harmony.