A Facebook post credits Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates with saying, “I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.”

Verdict: False

There is no evidence that Gates ever said or wrote this expression.

Fact Check:

Gates, a billionaire entrepreneur with an estimated net worth of $106 billion, co-founded the software firm Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975. Gates and his wife Melinda chair the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a private charitable organization that works to improve global health and promote equal opportunity around the world. (RELATED: Is J.K. Rowling The First Person To Fall Off The Forbes Billionaires List For Charitable Giving?)

While Gates has given tips on business strategies in the past, there is no record of him ever saying or writing the expression attributed to him in the Facebook post. An internet search reveals no credible sources ascribing it to him.

The Daily Caller also searched his books, “The Road Ahead” and “Business @ The Speed of Thought,” as well as his personal blog, but found no similar statements.

In 1947, automobile executive Clarence Bleicher testified before the Senate that one should “put a lazy man on it” to make a difficult job easier. Bleicher’s testimony may have been abbreviated over the years into the statement falsely attributed to Gates, according to the website Quote Investigator.

However, thematically-related sayings have appeared in print since at least 1920, according to the website Quote Investigator.