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I think people like Bill Gates, who have given away enormous sums of money, are shining examples for all of us to follow.

If Jeff Bezos and I had started Amazon.com in a poverty-stricken corner of Africa, there would have been no job creation because there would be no people to buy the stuff from Amazon.com. The difference here is the American middle class, which is by every measure the most extraordinary economic achievement in the history of the world.

The richest people in the world look for and build networks; everyone else looks for work.

Generous people can become more generous as they become richer, giving away vast fortunes to worthwhile causes as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are doing.

The competition between me and Bill Gates, probably: Who can spend money more effectively that can do better philanthropy.

The rich don't work for money - the rich invent money.

The richest people are those who have life arranged so they have food for the family and the rent or mortgage paid. After that, at least in my case, it can become a pretty boring existence if wealth is the only objective.

It's an irony that growing inequality could mean more money for philanthropy. In the U.S., quite a few of the ultra-rich have taken to heart the 19th century industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie's comment that it's a disgrace to die wealthy.

I prefer to take the view of businesspeople who are actually generating jobs and creating wealth.