--- title: The Best Advice Melinda Gates Received From Her Father description: Read Melinda Gates's reflection on the most important life lesson she learned from her father. canonical: https://time.com/4821462/melinda-gates-advice-from-father/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-16T18:12:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:39:08.329Z og:title: Melinda Gates Shares the Essential Quality She Inherited From Her Father og:description: ‘His need to uncover the world’s mysteries was infectious’ og:url: https://time.com/4821462/melinda-gates-advice-from-father/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltffea1bbe25777b2f/6988d219cf40a842bec482aa/melinda-gates-father-advice.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Experts Meet On Investing In Adolescents At World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Melinda Gates Shares the Essential Quality She Inherited From Her Father twitter:description: ‘His need to uncover the world’s mysteries was infectious’ twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltffea1bbe25777b2f/6988d219cf40a842bec482aa/melinda-gates-father-advice.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Melinda Gates Shares the Essential Quality She Inherited From Her Father by [Melinda French Gates](https://time.com/author/melinda-gates/) ## Melinda French Gates Jun 16, 2017 6:12 PM UTC  WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 20: Gates Foundation Co-Chair Melinda Gates participates in a panel discussion during the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings April 20, 2017 in Washington, DC. The panel discussion, titled 'How Investing in Adolescents Today Can Change the World of Tomorrow,' focused on the the World Bank Group's Generation Now initiative. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 20: Gates Foundation Co-Chair Melinda Gates participates in a panel discussion during the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings April 20, 2017 in Washington, DC. The panel discussion, titled 'How Investing in Adolescents Today Can Change the World of Tomorrow,' focused on the the World Bank Group's Generation Now initiative. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Melinda French Gates](https://time.com/author/melinda-gates/) ## Melinda French Gates Jun 16, 2017 6:12 PM UTC  Gates with her father and siblings at Lake Tahoe, 1976 (Gates Archive) Some of my most treasured memories of Dad are of the nights he let us stay up to watch the [Apollo](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,878097,00.html) launches on TV in the late 1960s. Those were exciting nights for a lot of families — but they were especially exciting when your father was an engineer who contracted with [NASA](http://motto.time.com/4653818/hidden-figures-katherine-johnson-interview/). I still remember the mix of pride and amazement at seeing a rocket shoot into the sky, knowing that he helped make it happen. As I got older, the two of us [bonded over science projects](http://motto.time.com/4786605/how-to-get-kids-excited-about-math/) — both ones assigned by school and ones inspired by whatever questions I was asking at the time. I still think about the day he dismantled the fireplace so we could test how long it took various metals to conduct heat. In hindsight, maybe it wasn’t the safest experiment. But his need to uncover the world’s mysteries was infectious. The best advice Dad ever gave me was to keep asking bold questions and looking for their answers. He knew that curiosity transforms everyday obstacles into exciting challenges to be solved — and that once you have that perspective, possibilities become limitless. You can, quite literally, aim for the stars. [_Melinda Gates_](http://motto.time.com/4781066/melinda-gates-feminist-son-rory-gates/) _is a businesswoman and philanthropist. She is co-chair of the_ [_Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation_](http://www.gatesfoundation.org/)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4821462/melinda-gates-advice-from-father/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4821462/melinda-gates-advice-from-father/"},"headline":"Melinda Gates Shares the Essential Quality She Inherited From Her Father","datePublished":"2017-06-16T18:12:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:39:08.329Z","description":"‘His need to uncover the world’s mysteries was infectious’","url":"https://time.com/4821462/melinda-gates-advice-from-father/","keywords":["motto","Melinda Gates","advice","Father's Day"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltffea1bbe25777b2f/6988d219cf40a842bec482aa/melinda-gates-father-advice.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melinda French Gates","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melinda-gates/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltffea1bbe25777b2f/6988d219cf40a842bec482aa/melinda-gates-father-advice.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Experts Meet On Investing In Adolescents At World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings","caption":"Experts Meet On Investing In Adolescents At World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4821462/melinda-gates-advice-from-father/","name":"Melinda Gates Shares the Essential Quality She Inherited From Her Father"}}]}] ```