Bre Pettis quotes:

My parents had a software company making children's software for the Apple II+, Commodore 64 and Acorn computers. They hired these teenagers to program the software, and these guys were true hackers, trying to get more colors and sound and animation out of those computers.

I've watched with amazement as Local Motors has pioneered a co-creation and micro-manufacturing model that has democratized the development and production of complex machines, effectively transforming consumer choice from supply-driven to demand-driven.

I feel like I've lived a life of making mistakes and learning from them and doing my best to only make each mistake once.

My personal mission has always been to empower people to be creative. But the Holy Grail of a tinkerer is to make something that makes something.

One of the criticisms we get is, 'Does the world need more plastic crap?' But you have to look beyond the plastic crap, to the design, to the experience, to the empowering nature of the MakerBot and the community.

My father was a ham radio geek, and I remember the glow of the vacuum tubes from a Hammarlund receiver that became a hand-me-down to me.

The self-driving car is coming. And right now, our best supply of organs come from car accidents... Once we have self-driving cars, we can actually reduce the number of accidents, but the next problem then would be organ replacement.

For me, when you put a MakerBot in a school, you add a manufacturing education to the environment where I think we can really empower the next generation to compete in the global economy.

Learn how a 3D printer works. Get inspired. Make your own stuff. It is a wonderful time to be innovative. Connect things together. If you're into electronics, get an Arduino.

What I like on Kickstarter is when I see real innovation and I see people building something new. It makes me sad when I see things that are just the same technology; you aren't passing the technology forward.

I talked to a guy who has old cars, and there are parts that don't exist any more. So he makes radio dial knobs for obscure cars.

One of my psychoses is that I feel like I can do anything. Actually, I believe anybody can do and make anything, even things that don't exist. The making isn't the hard part; it's having faith. If you do only reasonable things, you'll never start your own business.

We have always moved with this approach of sharing and educating people with what they can unlock with 3D printing.

The people who are getting 3-D printers at home are pioneers, kind of like the people who bought Apple IIs in 1981. Adults are usually the last people to get it. The kids are like, 'Get out of my way, I want at this thing.' They immediately start getting creative.

I still have the first bottle opener I made on my MakerBot. Things you fabricate are things you care more about. I think there will always be people who go and buy crap at the dollar store. But I think it is cool when people craft things themselves.

We got involved with the RepRap Project, a community focused on making 3-D printers that could make copies of themselves and help create a world without money. We started making prototypes.

When people have a MakerBot, they have a different mindset from everybody else who grew up as a consumer. Instead of thinking, 'I need to go buy that,' they first think, 'Do I need to go buy that? I could just MakerBot that.'

That's the beauty of living in New York City is that a good chunk of the media is here and willing to drink with you.

If you want to be a person who buys stuff at the dollar store, you can be that person. If you want to make really cool stuff on your desktop and be the manufacturer, that is a lifestyle.

Learn how a 3D printer works. Get inspired. Make your own stuff. It is a wonderful time to be innovative. Connect things together. If youre into electronics, get an Arduino.

We raised $10 million in 2011. Our rule was, we wouldn't accept money from anybody we didn't want to have dinner with.

There was a tangible sense of potential as we packed them up. 'We're giving people 3-D printers that they can afford. What are they gonna make?

We started MakerBot in 2009 and made a conscious decision to educate people with the possibilities they could do with 3D printing and share with people what is possible.

Pretending you know what you're doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you're doing even if you don't and do it.

Our intention is that people use MakerBots to have a positive impact on the world.

We wanted people to 3-D-print anything, not just more 3-D printers.

You learn so much by having customers and figuring out what they want and keeping them satisfied.

We're on the brink of the next industrial revolution. Instead of buying things, you can make them on a printer. When you have a 3D printer, you can iterate more - what used to take months, now takes hours.

You can get really far by putting your ideas out there and letting other people build on them.

It makes me sad when I see things that are just the same technology; you aren't passing the technology forward.

A lot of it is "how do you work with people". How do you get people to work with you and do wonderful things.

I like to make things. Its been part of my identity since I was a kid.

Customized jewelry is one of my targets with Bold Machines.

One of the criticisms we get is, Does the world need more plastic crap? But you have to look beyond the plastic crap, to the design, to the experience, to the empowering nature of the MakerBot and the community.

We already live in the futureit's not like we're waiting for something to happenit's just a matter of doing it.

Done is the engine of more.