ON THE RECORD
Sayings
His words, verbatim, with sources. Famous lines he never said are flagged below.
Verified quotations
1. The Master Plan, in full
“So, in short, the master plan is: Build sports car. Use that money to build an affordable car. Use that money to build an even more affordable car. While doing above, also provide zero emission electric power generation options. Don’t tell anyone.” Source: “The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan,” Tesla blog, August 2, 2006.
2. On artificial intelligence
“I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. If I had to guess at what our biggest existential threat is, it’s probably that. So we need to be very careful with artificial intelligence. I’m increasingly inclined to think there should be some regulatory oversight, maybe at the national and international level, just to make sure that we don’t do something very foolish.” Source: MIT AeroAstro Centennial Symposium, October 24, 2014.
3. On why he bought Twitter
“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence.” Source: Open letter to advertisers, October 27, 2022.
4. The “funding secured” tweet
“Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.” Source: Musk on Twitter, August 7, 2018. Led to SEC charges and a September 2018 settlement ($20M fine; Musk stepped down as Tesla chairman for three years).
5. On doing the important thing anyway
“When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.” Source: attributed to the 60 Minutes interview, March 18, 2012. Widely quoted; the phrasing above is the standard reported version.
6. On making Mars feel possible
“I want to make Mars seem possible — make it seem as though it is something that we can do in our lifetime. That there is a way.” Source: reported from the “Making Life Multiplanetary” presentation, International Astronautical Congress, September 29, 2017. Standard reported phrasing.
7. On failure and innovation
“Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.” Source: widely attributed to Musk as a SpaceX operating principle; the line is most commonly sourced to a 2005-era SpaceX interview. Attribution: widely reported, exact original venue uncertain.
8. On the traffic jam that started a company
“Traffic is driving me nuts. Am going to build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging…” Source: Musk on Twitter, December 17, 2016. The Boring Company followed days later.
9. On where the money went
“My proceeds from the PayPal acquisition were $180 million. I put $100 million in SpaceX, $70 million in Tesla, and $10 million in Solar City. I had to borrow money for rent.” Source: reported from Musk interviews, circa 2012–2014 (repeated in multiple interviews). The allocation is consistent across retellings; the exact interview of first utterance is not pinned down.
10. On optimism
“I think life on Earth must be about more than just solving problems… Even as we’re dealing with these day-to-day issues, we have to have something that inspires and uplifts people.” Source: reported from the “Making Life Multiplanetary” presentation, September 29, 2017. Standard reported phrasing.
Commonly misattributed or unverifiable
These lines circulate online with Musk’s name attached, but the record does not support a verified utterance. Do not attribute them without a source.
A. “I think it’s possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary.”
Status: Unverified; do not attribute. Widely shared as a Musk quote; no documented interview, speech, or post has been found carrying it.
B. “The first step is to establish that something is possible; then probability will occur.”
Status: Unverified; do not attribute. Attributed to Musk in motivational compilations; no primary source identified.
C. “If you get up in the morning and think the future is going to be better, it is a bright day.”
Status: Unverified; do not attribute. Circulates widely; no documented source.
D. “I don’t ever give up. I’d have to be dead or completely incapacitated.”
Status: Unverified as phrased; do not attribute. Close to sentiments he has expressed, but this exact wording has no documented source.
E. “We are the first species capable of self-extinction.”
Status: Unverified as phrased; do not attribute. He has spoken about existential risk (see quotation 2 above); this exact line has no documented source.
F. “Being an entrepreneur is like eating glass and staring into the abyss.”
Status: Close variant verified. He told the story of an entrepreneur friend who said startups are “like eating glass and staring into the abyss of death” (reported in interviews, e.g., 2013–2014). Musk was quoting his friend, not coining it himself.
Source notes
Verified quotes come from primary sources: the Tesla blog, published interview transcripts and videos, Musk’s own posts, and SEC filings. “Standard reported phrasing” means the line is widely and consistently reported with minor wording variations across outlets; where the exact original venue is uncertain, that is flagged.