steve jobs speech in words

• INSIDER REVIEWS
• TECH BUYING GUIDES

Here's the full text of Steve Jobs' famous Stanford commencement speech

Kif leswing   .

YouTube/Stanford

It's a well-known speech, and one of Jobs' most notable public appearances. It's a short speech, but it still highlights Jobs' considerable strengths as a storyteller and inspirational leader. 

On Wednesday, current Apple CEO Tim Cook and other people close to Apple  memorialized Jobs , who died five years ago. 

Read the speech: 

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And sinceWindows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky - I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation - the Macintosh - a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me - I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story , and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog , which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog , and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

Watch the speech below: 

Now watch: your iphone is disgusting - here are the 3 best ways to clean it, read more articles on, popular right now.

Advertisement

Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech Transcript 2005

Steve Jobs, CEO and co-founder of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, gave a commencement address at Stanford University for the class of 2005. Read the full transcript of the June 12, 2005 commencement speech here.

Transcribe Your Own Content Try Rev and save time transcribing, captioning, and subtitling.

Steve Jobs: ( 00:21 ) Thank you. I’m honored to be with you today for your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. Truth be told, I never graduated from college, and this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation today. I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories. The first story is about connecting the dots. I dropped out of Reed College after the first six months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why’d I drop out? It started before I was born.

Steve Jobs: ( 01:15 ) My biological mother was a young, unwed graduate student and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates. So everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife, except that when I popped out, they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking “We’ve got an unexpected baby boy, do you want him?” They said, “Of course.” My biological mother found out later that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would go to college. This was the start in my life.

Steve Jobs: ( 02:13 ) 17 years later, I did go to college, but I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working class parents savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out, and here I was spending all the money. My parents had saved their entire life, so I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out. Okay. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back, it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out, I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me and begin dropping in on the ones that looked far more interesting.

Steve Jobs: ( 03:04 ) It wasn’t all romantic. I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends rooms. I returned Coke bottles for the 5 cent deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the seven miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hari Krishna temple. I loved it, and much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example, Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country throughout the campus. Every poster, every label on every drawer was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and sanserif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great.

Steve Jobs: ( 04:03 ) It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating. None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But 10 years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me and we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. Since Windows just copied the Mac, it’s likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on that calligraphy class and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do.

Steve Jobs: ( 04:58 ) Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college, but it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever, because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference.

Steve Jobs: ( 05:38 ) My second story is about love and loss. I was lucky. I found what I love to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents’ garage when I was 20, we worked hard and in 10 years, Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage, into a 2 billion company with over 4,000 employees. We just released our finest creation, the Macintosh, a year earlier, and I just turned 30, and then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew, we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so, things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge, and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our board of directors sided with him.

Steve Jobs: ( 06:28 ) So at 30, I was out and very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone and it was devastating. I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down, that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce, and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure and I even thought about running away from the Valley, but something slowly began to dawn on me. I still loved what I did.

Steve Jobs: ( 07:04 ) The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I’d been rejected, but I was still in love. So I decided to start over. I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could’ve ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life. During the next five years, I started a company named Next, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the world’s first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world.

Steve Jobs: ( 07:49 ) In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought Next and I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at Next is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance. Laurene and I have a wonderful family together. I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life’s going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did.

Steve Jobs: ( 08:21 ) You’ve got to find what you love, and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking and don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it and, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking. Don’t settle.

Steve Jobs: ( 09:04 ) My third story is about death. When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like, “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me. Since then, for the past 33 years, I’ve looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, if today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today? Whenever the answer has been no for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything, all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure, these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

Steve Jobs: ( 10:11 ) About a year ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try and tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

Steve Jobs: ( 11:00 ) I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening, I had a biopsy where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach, and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife who was there told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope, the doctor started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and thankfully, I’m fine now

Steve Jobs: ( 11:40 ) This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope it’s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful, but purely intellectual concept. No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. Yet, death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it, and that is as it should be because death is very likely the single best invention of life.

Steve Jobs: ( 12:14 ) It’s life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now, the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it’s quite true. Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others opinions drowned out your own inner voice, and most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Steve Jobs: ( 13:08 ) When I was young, there was an amazing publication called the Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the Bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand, not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 60’s before personal computers and desktop publishing. So it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and Polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form 35 years before Google came along. It was idealistic, overflowing with neat tools, and great notions. Stewart and his team put out several issues of the Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue.

Steve Jobs: ( 13:52 ) It was the mid 1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words, “Stay hungry, stay foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay hungry, stay foolish. I’ve always wished that for myself, and now as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you. Stay hungry, stay foolish. Thank you all very much.

Speaker 1: ( 14:56 ) The preceding program is copyrighted by Stanford University. Please visit us at stanford.edu.

Other Related Transcripts

Stay updated.

Get a weekly digest of the week’s most important transcripts in your inbox. It’s the news, without the news.

Along with Stanford news and stories, show me:

• Student information
• Faculty/Staff information

We want to provide announcements, events, leadership messages and resources that are relevant to you. Your selection is stored in a browser cookie which you can remove at any time using “Clear all personalization” below.

Wearing jeans and sandals under his black robe, Jobs delivered a keynote address that spanned his adoption at birth to his insights into mortality after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer about a year ago. In plainspoken terms, his address struck a balance between the obstacles he has encountered during his notably public life and the lessons he has gleaned—for example, from his high-profile ousting in 1985 from the computer company he helped start.

Go to the web site to view the video.

Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement address

“I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me,” said Jobs, 50. “It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods in my life.”

The 2005 Commencement proceeded with its familiar mix of the goofy and the formal: Graduates attached plush animals to their caps and carried body-length flotation devices onto the field for the Wacky Walk. This traditional kickoff to the ceremony was once again a flurry of wild wigs, rock-star shades, feather boas and a few Speedo swim trunks.

Also seen were a procession of walking iPods, several balloon floats, spray-painted umbrellas and one group that unfurled a volleyball net and spontaneously started to play. The first ones on the field carried boxes of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, while behind them a dance troupe in tutus and ape masks pranced around the track.

But calm was restored once the graduates took their seats and the Rev. Scotty McLennan, dean for religious life, delivered the opening invocation. President John Hennessy then welcomed the estimated 23,000 people in the stadium and, after a presentation of faculty, staff and student awards by Provost John Etchemendy, returned to the podium to introduce the keynote speaker.

Hennessy said Jobs embodied the university’s spirit, its “willingness to be bold and strike out in new directions.” Hennessy also touched on Jobs’ reputation as an innovator, a visionary and an advocate for education who developed partnerships during Apple’s earliest days to get computers into schools and communities.

Jobs began by noting that he dropped out of college, and that Sunday’s ceremony was the closest he had ever gotten to a university graduation. He then launched into the first part of his address, which focused on having faith that the dots of one’s life will connect down the road, even if the journey so far has not followed a clear pattern.

Jobs said his biological mother was an unwed graduate student who wanted him to go to college, so she chose a lawyer and his wife to be the adoptive parents. But because they ultimately wanted a girl, he was adopted by a working-class couple—neither of whom had college degrees, Jobs said.

Jobs said they pledged to send him to college, and when the time came, he chose Reed College in Portland, Ore. Concerned that tuition was draining his parents’ life savings and dissatisfied by his required courses, Jobs said he dropped out and began taking courses that interested him, including a calligraphy course that, a decade later, inspired him to design different fonts for the first Macintosh.

“Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward,” Jobs said. “You can only connect them looking backward, so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”

Jobs also talked about love and loss, and how he discovered what he wanted to do in life at an early age. He was 20 years old when he and Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computer, which in 10 years grew into a $2 billion company with 4,000 employees. After his departure from Apple, Jobs went on to found NeXT Software Inc., which was subsequently bought by Apple in 1997, returning him to the company that got him started.

“I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple,” Jobs said. “I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did.”

The last part of his speech was about death. When he was diagnosed with cancer about a year ago, Jobs said doctors initially gave him up to six months to live. His cancer turned out to be a rare, curable form, and he quickly underwent surgery. He has since recovered, but the experience nonetheless taught him another lesson.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life,” Jobs said. “Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.”

After a standing ovation, Hennessy brought the ceremony to a close with remarks that honored Jane Stanford?this year being the centennial of her death. The graduates of each school were then asked by their deans to stand for the conferral of degrees by Hennessy.

“Stanford is committed to keeping the spirit envisioned by Jane and Leland Stanford alive, and instilling it in the generations of students who pass this way,” Hennessy said. “And so, I hope that you leave this campus with a strong reservoir of the Stanford spirit, a reservoir that will grow over the years.”

On Sunday, 1,782 bachelor’s degrees were awarded, along with 2,026 master’s degrees and 904 doctoral degrees, according to Paddy McGowan, associate registrar and director of institutional research. Of the 1,732 undergraduates, 844 were female and 888 were male. Departmental honors were awarded to 388 undergraduates, 294 graduated with university distinction, 118 graduated with multiple majors, 477 completed minors, 70 graduated with dual bachelor’s degrees and 133 graduated with combined bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Among international students, there were 95 undergraduates from 40 different countries and 948 graduate students from 70 different nations, according to McGowan.

“I just can’t believe that I got here,” said Farah Giga of the Southern California suburb of LaVerne, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree with honors in computer science. “This makes five all-nighters in a row totally worth it.”

Kateri Jones sat among family members who came from all over California and Colorado for her daughter, Dyani Jones, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in human biology. One of the biggest achievements, her mother said, was just getting to this point.

“I just think it’s a remarkable accomplishment to get through this school,” she said. “Just the challenge of being here.”

The Best Commencement Speeches, Ever

Stanford University, June 12, 2005

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.

• Share this quote image
• Read the speech at news.stanford.edu
• Tagged: Inner voice Don't give up

Next “Inner voice” speech 

Sue monk kidd.

Scripps College, 2010

Next “Don't give up” speech 

Sumner redstone.

Northwestern University, 2002

NPR thanks our sponsors

Become an NPR sponsor

Fact check: Commentary on wealth is falsely labeled as Steve Jobs' last words

The claim: steve jobs' last words were a commentary on wealth.

Steve Jobs’ last words were about his admiration of his family, not a critique of wealth, as a viral post claims.

A post that has been circulating in different forms since 2015 claims the Apple founder and billionaire died disillusioned with his wealth. 

“In other eyes, my life is the essence of success, but aside from work, I have a little joy. And in the end, wealth is just a fact of life to which I am accustomed,” the post claims Jobs said.

“At this moment, lying on the bed, sick and remembering all my life, I realize that all my recognition and wealth that I have is meaningless in the face of imminent death,” it goes on to say. “You can hire someone to drive a car for you, make money for you — but you can not rent someone to carry the disease for you. One can find material things, but there is one thing that can not be found when it is lost — life.

“Your true inner happiness does not come from the material things of this world. Whether you’re flying first class, or economy class — if the plane crashes, you crash with it.”

The post, made by Sergio Cardenas, then goes on to talk about the importance of seeking happiness, health and love in how you live your life over material possessions. The post has over 36,000 shares.

USA TODAY reached out to Cardenas for comment.

Fact check: Camping World CEO is misquoted in viral meme

What did Steve Jobs say on his death bed?

When Jobs died in 2011 from pancreatic cancer, his sister Mona Simpson spoke about his last words as part of her eulogy . 

She said, “With that will, that work ethic, that strength, there was also sweet Steve’s capacity for wonderment, the artist’s belief in the ideal, the still more beautiful later.

Jobs' final words, hours earlier, were monosyllables, repeated three times.

“Before embarking, he’d looked at his sister Patty, then for a long time at his children, then at his life’s partner, Laurene, and then over their shoulders past them,” she continued.

“Steve’s final words were: 'Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow.'”

Fact check: Ernest Hemingway quote falsely attributed to Joe Biden

Where did the other speech come from? 

No one who was close to Jobs has ever said the often-circulated essay was ever written or said by Jobs, according to a fact check by Snopes .

Snopes found the speech didn’t start circulating until 2015, four years after his death. 

The version being fact-checked in this article contains slightly different language than the one Snopes checked, but there are enough similarities that there is a clear thread between them. 

Fact check: NBA legend Larry Bird did not tell players to 'shut up and play the damn game'

Our rating: False

We rate this claim FALSE, because it is not supported by our research. There is no evidence Steve Jobs used his final moments to deliver a speech against materialism. Instead, a relative has recounted that he looked at those he loved for a long moment before saying “Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow.” 

Our fact-check sources:

• Facebook post
• Snopes, Nov. 8, 2015,  "Steve Jobs Deathbed Speech"
• New York Times, Oct. 30, 2011, "A Sister’s Eulogy for Steve Jobs"

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.

Our fact check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

• Paired Texts
• Related Media
• Teacher Guide

For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your web browser.

• CommonLit is a nonprofit that has everything teachers and schools need for top-notch literacy instruction: a full-year ELA curriculum, benchmark assessments, and formative data. Browse Content Who We Are About

Book Summaries

Book Collections

Articles: Wisdom Collected from Interviews, Books, and More

This page shares my best articles to read on topics like creativity, decision making, strategy, and more. The central questions I explore are, “How can we learn the best of what others have mastered? And how can we become the best possible version of ourselves?”

Humankind progresses by adding to our shared body of knowledge. We all benefit from the insights of our ancestors. I like the idea of leaving a great “intellectual inheritance” and I’m trying to add a little bit of knowledge to the pile by curating the best ideas throughout history.

Ready to dive in? You can use the categories below to browse my best articles.

Self-improvement tips based on proven scientific research . No spam. Just the highest quality ideas you'll find on the web.

Thanks for subscribing! You’re all set.

You’ll be notified every time I share a new post.

Craftsmanship

Decision making, life lessons, money & investing, peak performance, self mastery, 30 days to better traction & results: a simple step-by-step guide for achieving more each day..

• Take the guesswork out of achieving more . 11 email lessons walk you through the first 30 days of peak performance practices step-by-step, so you know  exactly what to do.
• Get the tools and strategies you need to take action . The course includes a 20-page PDF workbook (including templates and cheatsheets), plus new examples and applications that you won’t find elsewhere.
• Learn a framework that works for any goal . You can use this course to help you achieve any goal — from getting fit to daily meditation. Everything I share is time tested and science backed.

Enroll in the free email course. Get your first lesson today.

You will get one short email every three days for a month. You can unsubscribe any time.

Steve Jobs' Stanford Commencement Speech in 2005

This speech was delivered as the commencement address to the graduates of Stanford University on June 12, 2005.

Speech Transcript

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: “We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?” They said: “Of course.” My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents’ savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn’t all romantic. I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned Coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and sans serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But 10 years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it’s likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backward 10 years later.

Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents’ garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4,000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down — that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the world’s first computer animated feature film, Toy Story , and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.

This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope it’s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog , which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors and Polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: It was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog , and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

Browse more of history's greatest speeches →

The speech was originally published on the Stanford University website .

Find more from Steve Jobs and others related to this lecture:

• Who was Steve Jobs? Wisdom From The Man Who Built Apple and Pixar.
• Steve Job's "The Lost Interview from 1995"
• Jony Ive's "CCA Commencement Address and Advice for the Graduating Class"
• Steve Jobs “Stanford Commencement Address“ in 2005
• I, Steve: Steve Jobs In His Own Words
• Make Something Wonderful: Steve Jobs In His Own Words
• Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple's Success
• Designed by Apple in California

About the author

‍ Daniel Scrivner is an award-winner designer and angel investor. He's led design work at Apple, Square, and now ClassDojo. He's an early investor in Notion, Public.com, and Anduril. He founded Ligature: The Design VC and Outlier Academy . Daniel has interviewed the world’s leading founders and investors including Scott Belsky, Luke Gromen, Kevin Kelly, Gokul Rajaram, and Brian Scudamore.

Thanks for reading. You can get more actionable ideas in my popular email newsletter. Each week, I share 5 ideas, quotes, questions, and more to ponder this weekend. Over 25,000 people subscribe . Enter your email now and join us.

Friday 5 Newsletter

Get weekly wisdom that you can read in 5 minutes. Add remarkable ideas and actionable insights to your inbox. Enter your email and try my free newsletter.

• Family & Parenting
• Health & Wellness
• Life & Relationships

Steve Jobs: How to Live Before You Die 2005 Speech (Full Transcript)

• February 16, 2019 7:58 am August 16, 2023 2:14 am
• by Pangambam S
• Inspiration

Here is the audio, transcript, and summary of the then Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs’ inspiring speech “How to Live Before You Die” at Stanford University 2005 commencement address.

Listen to the MP3 audio of this speech :

TRANSCRIPT: 

I am honored to be with you today for your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world.

Truth be told, I never graduated from college. And this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation.

Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots. I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit.

So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife.

Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl.

So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: “We’ve got an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?”

Pages: First | 1 | ... | Next → | Last | View Full Transcript

• Skip to main content
• Skip to header right navigation
• Skip to site footer

tech news, reviews & how to's

This article may contain affiliate links.

Full Transcript Of The Steve Jobs Commencement Speech At Stanford University: An Uplifting Message For All

The 2005 Steve Jobs commencement speech from Stanford University is a testament to his remarkable storytelling abilities and a reminder of the power of words.

In 2005, former Apple CEO Steve Jobs delivered the commencement speech at Stanford University . A powerful orator, Jobs’ brief address is a testament to his exceptional storytelling and motivational abilities. This speech is widely regarded as one of his most memorable public appearances.

Steve Jobs Commencement Speech Transcript

Steve jobs commencement speech.

For the structure of Jobs’ speech, he decided to share three short stories from his life. Here’s the full transcript of the Steve Jobs commencement speech at Stanford University.

Here’s the full transcript of the famous Steve Jobs Stanford commencement speech.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories. The first story is about connecting the dots. I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out? It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: “We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?” They said: “Of course.” My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college. And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents’ savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting. It wasn’t all romantic. I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example: Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating. None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer , it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it’s likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future . You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life. My second story is about love and loss. I was lucky – I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4,000 employees. We had just released our finest creation – the Macintosh – a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating. I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down – that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me – I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over. I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life. During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT , another company named Pixar , and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film,  Toy Story , and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together. I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle. My third story is about death. When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes. I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now. This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope it’s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept: No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share . No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true. Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life . Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. When I was young, there was an amazing publication called  The Whole Earth Catalog ($50+ via Amazon) , which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960’s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions. Stewart and his team put out several issues of  The Whole Earth Catalog , and then when it had run its course, they put out a( Amazon link) final issue . It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. Thank you all very much. Steve Jobs commencement speech at Stanford University (2005)

With its short but powerful words, Steve Jobs showcased his powerful strengths as both a leader and a storyteller. Several lines from his speech, including “ Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life ,” are frequently quoted to this day.

For anyone else giving a commencement speech, Jobs set the bar pretty high. If you’re even trying to come close, good luck!

10 Famous Business Cards From Tech Leaders

Classic Video Of Steve Jobs Wearing Shorts While Presenting His New Vision For Apple

Apple-1 Computer Prototype Used By Steve Jobs Sells At Auction For Nearly $700,000

Fake Steve Jobs Deathbed Speech Inspires, But Confuses Internet Users

5 Famous Software Innovations That Were Built Using The NeXT Computer Operating System

10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Beth Comstock

Celebrate Atari Breakout’s 40th Anniversary With A Google Search Easter Egg

Apple Sells 10M+ iPhone 6 Devices in First 3 Days

53 of the FUNNIEST Steve Jobs Moments on Stage

10 Steve Wozniak Quotes That Criticize Apple

“Your Time Is Limited. Don’t Waste It.” – Steve Jobs

Frank Wilson is a retired teacher with over 30 years of combined experience in the education, small business technology, and real estate business. He now blogs as a hobby and spends most days tinkering with old computers. Wilson is passionate about tech, enjoys fishing, and loves drinking beer.

You’ll also enjoy these posts

MOST POPULAR posts

7 Pictures Of Naked People Captured By Google’s Cameras

Top 200 Nielsen DMA Rankings (2024) – Full List

How To Change The Default LG TV Home Screen To Live TV

Dating Acronyms: The Ultimate List Of Useful Dating Abbreviations

Is Your Hatch Restore Already Registered? Here’s How To Fix It And Unregister A Hatch Restore.

35 Famous Caddyshack Quotes That’ll Make You Laugh

MORE LIKE THIS

The Origin of the Popular Phrase ‘Leopards Ate My Face’

The 6 Best USB Data Blockers To Prevent Hackers From Juice Jacking Your Phone

75 Funny Out Of Office Messages (That Will Make Your Coworkers Smile)

500 Useless Facts And Trivia Questions That You Totally Need To Know

How To Easily Create A PayPal Shipping Label Without Invoice

10 Insulting Klingon Language Phrases That Will Probably Get You Killed

check out these trending posts

The 28 Most Memorable Quotes From The Godfather Trilogy

How To Erase iPod Tutorial — The Super Fix for Most iPod Problems

5 Compelling Reasons To Turn Your House Into A Smart Home

12 Famous Casablanca Quotes That We’ll Never Forget

10 Naked Sunbathers Busted By Google Earth

25 Of The Best Pulp Fiction Quotes From Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 Film

The 14 Best National Anthem Performances Of All Time

How The Movie ‘Idiocracy’ Accidentally Predicted The Future Popularity Of Crocs

Reader Interactions

Leave a reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Full Text of Jobs Stanford Speech: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish"

First reported by The Mac Observer Monday , Stanford University has posted online video excerpts and the full text of last Sundayis commencement speech Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs.

Here are some other interesting comments by the Apple co-founder:

Jobs on a college education

"...I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parentsi savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldnit see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made..."

Jobs on calligraphy

"...If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later..."

Jobs on "connecting the dots" in life

"...you canit connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life..."

Jobs on being fired from Apple

"...We had just released our finest creation - the Macintosh - a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started?...So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating...I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me...I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me – I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over. I didnit see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life..."

Jobs on faith and starting over

"...(being fired from Apple) was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Donit lose faith. Iim convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. Youive got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you havenit found it yet, keep looking. Donit settle. As with all matters of the heart, youill know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Donit settle..."

Jobs on death and dying

"...When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday youill most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that Iill be dead soon is the most important tool Iive ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that your are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart...No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven donit want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Lifeis change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true. Your time is limited, so donit waste it living someone elseis life. Donit be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other peopleis thinking. Donit let the noise of otheris opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary..."

Jobs on cancer

"...About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didnit even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctoris code for prepare to die...I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and Iim fine now..."

Jobs: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish"

"...When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation...It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions...(publisher) Stewart (Brand) and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off...And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."

• tmo-article

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Steve Jobs' Speech At Stanford University

Steve Jobs said in a 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University that "no one wants to die." Yet, "no one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life." Apple's co-founder died Wednesday at the age of 56.

Copyright © 2011 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech

Learn words with flashcards and other activities, other learning activities, teaching tools, full list of words from this list:.

• calligraph write beautifully and ornamentally Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed .
• endoscope a long slender medical instrument for examining the interior of a bodily organ or performing minor surgery Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor.
• serif a short line at the end of the main strokes of a character I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great.
• typeface a specific size and style of type within a type family I learned about serif and san serif typefaces , about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great.
• desktop publishing (computer science) the use of microcomputers with graphics capacity to produce printed materials This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing , so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras.
• Hare Krishna a chant to the Hindu god Krishna I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.
• hitchhike travel by getting free rides from motorists On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous.
• calligraphy beautiful handwriting Let me give you one example: Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country.
• personal computer a small digital computer based on a microprocessor and designed to be used by one person at a time And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them.
• drop out give up in the face of defeat of lacking hope; admit defeat I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit.
• pancreas a large gland that secretes insulin and digestive enzymes I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas .
• typography the craft of composing type and printing from it I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great.
• button up refuse to talk or stop talking; fall silent It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family.
• dorm room a large sleeping room containing several beds I didn't have a dorm room , so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.
• scissor cut with or as if with scissors This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors , and polaroid cameras.
• turn of events an unforeseen development The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit.
• biopsy the removal and examination of tissue from a living body Later that evening I had a biopsy , where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor.
• drown out make imperceptible Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice.
• sign off cease broadcasting; get off the air; as of radio stations It was their farewell message as they signed off .
• macintosh a waterproof raincoat made of rubberized fabric But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me.
• pancreatic cancer cancer of the pancreas I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery.
• screw up make a mess of, destroy or ruin I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly.
• feature film the main full-length movie shown in a theater Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film , Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world.
• unwed of someone who has not been married My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption.
• someday some unspecified time in the future She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
• pop out appear suddenly Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl.
• dot a very small circular shape The first story is about connecting the dots .
• waiting list a roster of those waiting to obtain something So my parents, who were on a waiting list , got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?"
• devastate cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating .
• curable able to be treated and healed I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery.
• buy food purchase prepared food to be eaten at home I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.
• bible a book regarded as authoritative in its field When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation.
• pancreatic of or involving the pancreas I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery.
• dorm a building containing living quarters for students I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.
• graduate student a student who continues studies after graduation My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student , and she decided to put me up for adoption.
• amaze affect with wonder During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife.
• paperback (of books) having a flexible binding It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
• diagnose subject to a medical analysis About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer.
• coke carbon fuel produced by distillation of coal I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.
• tumor an abnormal new mass of tissue that serves no purpose I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas.
• catalog a complete list of things, usually arranged systematically When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog , which was one of the bibles of my generation.
• graduate receive an academic degree upon completion of one's studies I never graduated from college.
• practical application the act of bringing something to bear None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life.
• proportionally to a proportionate degree If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts.
• connect fasten or put together two or more pieces The first story is about connecting the dots.
• naively in a naive manner But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition.
• fall away diminish in size or intensity Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.
• diverge move or draw apart But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out.
• spaced spaced apart If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts.
• desktop the top of a desk This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras.
• fascinate attract; cause to be enamored It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating .
• screwing slang for sexual intercourse I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly.
• karma effects of one's actions that determine his or her destiny You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma , whatever.
• falling out a personal or social separation But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out .
• apple a tree widely cultivated for its firm rounded edible fruits Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20.
• relent give in, as to influence or pressure She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
• big deal anything of great importance or consequence No big deal .
• drop in visit informally and spontaneously The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
• graduated marked with or divided into degrees I never graduated from college.
• Reed United States journalist who reported on the October Revolution from Petrograd in 1917; founded the Communist Labor Party in America in 1919; is buried in the Kremlin in Moscow (1887-1920) I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit.
• computer a machine for performing calculations automatically But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer , it all came back to me.
• closest within the shortest distance Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation.
• idealistic motivated by noble or moral beliefs rather than practicality It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic , and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
• working-class working for hourly wages rather than fixed salaries But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition.
• garage an outbuilding for housing automobiles Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20.
• drop let fall to the ground I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit.
• biological pertaining to life and living things My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption.
• clear away remove from sight Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away .
• college an institution of higher education I never graduated from college .
• intestine the part of the alimentary canal between the stomach and the anus Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines , put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor.
• artistically in an artistic manner It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
• parent a father or mother So my parents , who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?"
• heaviness the property of being comparatively great in weight The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything.
• mac a waterproof raincoat made of rubberized fabric And we designed it all into the Mac .
• intuition instinctive knowing, without the use of rational processes And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.
• scary provoking fear or terror It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made.
• look forward expect or hope for Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college.
• beginner someone new to a field or activity The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything.
• sedate characterized by dignity and propriety I was sedated , but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery.
• cancer a malignant growth caused by uncontrolled cell division About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer .
• last minute the latest possible moment Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl.
• turn out be shown or be found to be And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.
• fall out come off But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out .
• Windows an operating system with a graphical user interface And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them.
• board of directors a group of persons chosen to govern the affairs of a corporation or other large institution When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him.
• clear out empty completely It clears out the old to make way for the new.
• typewriter hand-operated character printer for printing written messages one character at a time This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters , scissors, and polaroid cameras.
• entrepreneur someone who organizes a business venture I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me.
• make way get out of the way It clears out the old to make way for the new.
• tasting a kind of sensing It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it.
• font a bowl for baptismal water If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts .
• baton a metal rod wielded or twirled by a drum major or majorette I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me.
• poster a sign posted in a public place as an advertisement Throughout the campus every poster , every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed.
• animate make lively Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world.
• buttoned furnished or closed with buttons or something buttonlike It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family.
• Earth the 3rd planet from the sun; the planet we live on When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation.
• graduation the successful completion of a program of study Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation .
• incurable incapable of being remedied The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable , and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months.
• gut the part of the alimentary canal between the stomach and the anus You have to trust in something — your gut , destiny, life, karma, whatever.
• in on participating in or knowledgeable out The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
• Krishna 8th and most important avatar of Vishnu I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.
• decide reach, make, or come to a conclusion about something My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption.
• backwards in a manner or order or direction the reverse of normal But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.
• scan examine minutely or intensely I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas.
• overflow flow or run over (a limit or brim) It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
• goodbye a farewell remark It means to say your goodbyes .
• fall in love begin to experience feelings of love towards During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife.
• stumble miss a step and fall or nearly fall And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.
• adoption proceeding creating a parent-child relation between persons My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption .
• designing the act of working out the form of something But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me.
• microscope magnifier of the image of small objects I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery.
• lightness the property of being comparatively small in weight The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything.
• live with tolerate or accommodate oneself to I lived with that diagnosis all day.
• call in summon to enter So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?"
• diagnosis identifying the nature or cause of some phenomenon I lived with that diagnosis all day.
• scissors an edge tool having two crossed pivoting blades This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors , and polaroid cameras.
• priceless of incalculable monetary, intellectual, or spiritual worth And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.
• tuition a fee paid for instruction, especially for higher education But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition .
• dogma a doctrine or code of beliefs accepted as authoritative Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking.
• running away the act of leaving the place you are expected to be I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley.
• devastating wreaking or capable of wreaking complete destruction What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating .
• turned out dressed well or smartly And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.
• apologize acknowledge faults or shortcomings or failing I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly.
• surgery science treating disease or injury by operative procedures I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery .
• 1970s the decade from 1970 to 1979 It was the mid- 1970s , and I was your age.
• Google a widely used search engine that uses text-matching techniques to find web pages that are important and relevant to a user's search It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
• be born come into existence through birth It started before I was born .
• remembering the cognitive processes whereby past experience is remembered Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.
• Stewart United States film actor who portrayed incorruptible but modest heros (1908-1997) It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch.
• amazing inspiring awe or admiration or wonder During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife.
• overflowing covered with water It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
• talented endowed with talent or talents Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well.
• fired having lost your job And then I got fired .
• trapped forced to turn and face attackers Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking.
• adopt take into one's family She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife.
• tool an implement used to perform a task or job Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.
• adventurous willing to undertake new and daring enterprises On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous .
• Truth United States abolitionist and feminist who was freed from slavery and became a leading advocate of the abolition of slavery and for the rights of women (1797-1883) Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation.
• put out thrust or extend out Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue.
• Stanford a university in California But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford , and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition.
• trap a device in which something can be caught and penned Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.
• drown kill by submerging in water Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice.
• screw a simple machine with a threaded cylindrical rod and hole I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly.
• hungry feeling a need or desire to eat food Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry .
• animation quality of being active or spirited or alive and vigorous Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world.
• label a brief description given for purposes of identification Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed.
• work out find the solution to or understand the meaning of So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK.
• stay continue in a place, position, or situation I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit.
• foolish lacking good sense or judgment Stay Foolish ."
• month one of the twelve divisions of the calendar year I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months , but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit.
• concept an abstract or general idea inferred from specific instances Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept : No one wants to die.
• employee a worker who is hired to perform a job We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees .
• campus a field on which the buildings of a university are situated Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed.
• look back look towards one's back It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made.
• start take the first step or steps in carrying out an action It started before I was born.
• cell the basic structural and functional unit of all organisms Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor.
• drawer a boxlike container in a piece of furniture Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer , was beautifully hand calligraphed.
• mid used in combination to denote the middle It was the mid -1970s, and I was your age.
• late at or toward an end or late period or stage of development My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school.
• multiple having or involving more than one part or entity If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts.
• decided recognizable; marked My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption.
• kid young goat It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months.
• get to arrive at the point of Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation.
• toy an artifact designed to be played with Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world.
• class a collection of things sharing a common attribute But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working- class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition.
• reject refuse to accept or acknowledge I had been rejected , but I was still in love.
• but then (contrastive) from another point of view I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit.
• anew again, but in a new or different way And now, as you graduate to begin anew , I wish that for you.
• deposit the act of putting something somewhere I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.
• doctor a person who holds Ph.D. degree from an academic institution The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months.
• begin set in motion, cause to start The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
• hare swift long-eared mammal larger than a rabbit I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.
• go to be present at (meetings, church services, university), etc. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
• or so (of quantities) imprecise but fairly close to correct I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit.
• publish prepare and issue for public distribution or sale This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing , so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras.
• vary become different in some particular way I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great.
• today on this day as distinct from yesterday or tomorrow I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world.
• honored having an illustrious reputation; respected I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world.
• button a round fastener sewn to shirts and coats It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family.
• commencement the act of starting something I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world.
• settle become resolved, fixed, established, or quiet Don't settle .
• come along come into being or existence, or appear on the scene It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along : it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
• fascinating capable of arousing and holding the attention It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating .
• truly in accordance with fact or reality Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.
• embarrassment the shame felt when inadequacy or guilt is made public Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.
• fall in break down, literally or metaphorically During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife.
• publishing the business of issuing printed matter for sale or distribution This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing , so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras.
• needle a sharp pointed implement Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor.
• later on happening at a time subsequent to a reference time And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on .
• destination the place designated as the end, as of a race or journey And yet death is the destination we all share.
• varying marked by diversity or difference I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great.
• adult a fully developed person from maturity onward What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.
• year the period of time that it takes for a planet (as, e.g., Earth or Mars) to make a complete revolution around the sun And 17 years later I did go to college.
• create bring into existence Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world.
• quote repeat a passage from When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right."
• secondary being of second rank or importance or value Everything else is secondary .
• life the organic phenomenon that distinguishes living organisms Today I want to tell you three stories from my life .
• poetic of or relating to verse, or literature in metrical form It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch.
• camera equipment for taking photographs This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras .
• issue some situation or event that is thought about Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue.
• looking appearing to be as specified It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made.
• creative having the ability or power to invent or make something It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
• hire engage or hire for work Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well.
• in love marked by foolish or unreasoning fondness I had been rejected, but I was still in love .
• later happening at a time subsequent to a reference time My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school.
• replace put something back where it belongs The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything.
• savings a fund of money put aside as a reserve But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition.
• loved held dear I loved it.
• animated having life or vigor or spirit Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world.
• think about have on one's mind, think about actively I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley.
• generation group of genetically related organisms in a line of descent I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me.
• death the permanent end of all life functions in an organism My third story is about death .
• make sure make a point of doing something It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family.
• want the state of needing something that is absent or unavailable Today I want to tell you three stories from my life.
• run away flee; take to one's heels; cut and run I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley.
• beautifully in a beautiful manner Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed.
• turn move around an axis or a center And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.
• live have life, be alive When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right."
• convince make realize the truth or validity of something I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did.
• somehow in some unspecified way or manner So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.
• die lose all bodily functions necessary to sustain life Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.
• failure an act that does not succeed I was a very public failure , and I even thought about running away from the valley.
• someone a human being Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well.
• have possess, either in a concrete or an abstract sense So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?"
• adopted purposefully chosen or acquired She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife.
• high school a public secondary school usually including grades 9 through 12 My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school .
• story a record or narrative description of past events Today I want to tell you three stories from my life.
• studio workplace for the teaching or practice of an art Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world.
• final an exam administered at the end of an academic term She refused to sign the final adoption papers.
• in a way from some points of view It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
• get come into the possession of something concrete or abstract Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation.
• advise give advice to My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die.
• expectation belief about the future Because almost everything — all external expectations , all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.
• publicly in a manner accessible to or observable by the public And very publicly out.
• creation the act of starting something for the first time We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30.
• in for certain to get or have I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop- in for another 18 months or so before I really quit.
• go home return home My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die.
• brick rectangular block of clay baked by the sun or in a kiln Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick .
• neat clean or organized It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
• pop make a sharp explosive noise Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl.
• design the act of working out the form of something But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me.
• trust belief in the honesty and reliability of others So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK.
• Death the personification of death And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life.
• subtle difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
• look perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made.
• invention the act of making something new And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life.
• love a strong positive emotion of regard and affection I loved it.
• dropping coming down freely under the influence of gravity The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
• decade a period of 10 years This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades .
• encounter come together Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.
• focus the concentration of attention or energy on something What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.
• Park Scottish explorer in Africa (1771-1806) It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park , and he brought it to life with his poetic touch.
• purely restricted to something Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept: No one wants to die.
• destiny the ultimate agency predetermining the course of events You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny , life, karma, whatever.
• certainty the state of being certain Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept: No one wants to die.
• find discover or determine the existence, presence, or fact of My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school.
• brand a name given to a product or service It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch.
• expensive high in price or charging high prices But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition.
• successful having succeeded or being marked by a favorable outcome The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything.
• hired having services engaged for a fee Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well.
• mirror polished surface that forms images by reflecting light It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?"
• stomach enlarged and muscular saclike organ of the alimentary canal Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor.
• event something that happens at a given place and time The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit.
• relationship a mutual connection between people And, like any great relationship , it just gets better and better as the years roll on.
• satisfy meet the requirements or expectations of Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.
• advised having received information My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die.
• fall descend freely under the influence of gravity But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out.
• saving recovery or preservation from loss or danger But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition.
• happen come to pass I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me.
• rejected rebuffed (by a lover) without warning I had been rejected , but I was still in love.
• develop progress or evolve through a process of natural growth In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance.
• lucky having or bringing good fortune I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life.
• follow travel behind, go after, or come after And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.
• photograph a representation of a person or scene in the form of a print On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous.
• out moving or appearing to move away from a place, especially one that is enclosed or hidden I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit.
• code a set of rules or principles or laws My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die.
• romantic expressive of or exciting love It wasn't all romantic .
• personal concerning an individual or his or her private life And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them.
• instruction activities that impart knowledge or skill Let me give you one example: Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country.
• combination the act of bringing things together to form a new whole I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations , about what makes great typography great.
• publication the act of issuing printed materials When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation.
• capture seize as if by hunting, snaring, or trapping It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture , and I found it fascinating.
• quit put an end to a state or an activity I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit .
• company an institution created to conduct business We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees.
• be on appear in a show, on T.V. or radio So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?"
• facing an ornamental coating to a building This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades.
• limit as far as something can go Your time is limited , so don't waste it living someone else's life.
• stuck caught or fixed Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor.
• naked completely unclothed You are already naked .
• external happening or arising outside some limits or surface Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.
• entire constituting the full quantity or extent; complete And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life.
• unexpected not anticipated or planned for So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?"
• dramatic characteristic of a stage performance Sorry to be so dramatic , but it is quite true.
• lose fail to keep or to maintain Don't lose faith.
• cleared rid of objects or obstructions such as e.g. trees and brush Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away.
• feature a prominent attribute or aspect of something Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world.
• tell narrate or give a detailed account of Truth be told , this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation.
• wonderful extraordinarily good or great If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do.
• years a prolonged period of time And 17 years later I did go to college.
• eventually after an unspecified period of time or a long delay But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out.
• farewell an acknowledgment or expression of goodwill at parting It was their farewell message as they signed off.
• buy obtain by purchase I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.
• application the action of putting something into operation None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life.
• normal being approximately average or within certain limits Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this.
• important significant in effect or meaning Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.
• best having the most positive qualities It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made.
• prepare make ready or suitable or equip in advance My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die.
• bottle a vessel used for storing drinks or other liquids I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.
• badly to a severe or serious degree I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly .
• crying the process of shedding tears I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery.
• inner located inward Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice.
• designed done or made or performed with purpose and intent And we designed it all into the Mac.
• sign a visible clue that something has happened or is present She refused to sign the final adoption papers.
• notion a general inclusive concept It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions .
• a few more than one but indefinitely small in number She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
• find out find out, learn, or determine with certainty, usually by making an inquiry or other effort My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school.
• release grant freedom to; free from confinement We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30.
• technology the practical application of science to commerce or industry In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance.
• medicine the profession devoted to alleviating diseases and injuries It was awful tasting medicine , but I guess the patient needed it.
• minute a unit of time equal to 60 seconds or 1/60th of an hour Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl.
• fire the process of combustion of inflammable materials And then I got fired .
• roll move by turning over or rotating And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on.
• historical of or relating to the study of recorded time It was beautiful, historical , artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
• learn gain knowledge or skills Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this.
• work activity directed toward making or doing something But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working -class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition.
• space the unlimited expanse in which everything is located I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great.
• clear readily apparent to the mind But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.
• agent a representative who acts on behalf of others It is Life's change agent .
• refuse show unwillingness towards She refused to sign the final adoption papers.
• change become different in some particular way The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit.
• spending the act of spending or distributing money And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life.
• fine free from impurities I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world.
• out to fixed in your purpose And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.
• just and nothing more Just three stories.
• make perform or carry out It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made .
• next immediately following in time or order During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife.
• dawn the first light of day But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did.
• heaven any place of complete bliss and delight and peace Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there.
• meal any of the occasions for eating food that occur by custom or habit at more or less fixed times I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.
• strongly with power She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife.
• run move fast by using one's feet Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well.
• curiosity a state in which you want to learn more about something And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.
• intellectual of or associated with or requiring the use of the mind Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept: No one wants to die.
• student a learner who is enrolled in an educational institution My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student , and she decided to put me up for adoption.
• row an arrangement of objects or people side by side in a line And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row , I know I need to change something.
• waste use inefficiently or inappropriately Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.
• bit a small piece or quantity of something The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit .
• throat the passage to the stomach and lungs Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat , through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor.
• never not ever; at no time in the past or future I never graduated from college.
• mean denote or connote It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months.
• likely having a good chance of being the case or of coming about And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them.
• lawyer a professional person authorized for legal practice She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife.
• convinced having a strong belief or conviction I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did.
• require have need of The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
• turned moved around an axis or center And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.
• signed having a handwritten signature It was their farewell message as they signed off.
• bob move up and down repeatedly I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly.
• come back go back to something earlier But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me.
• thinking endowed with the capacity to reason Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.
• limited subject to restrictions or constraints Your time is limited , so don't waste it living someone else's life.
• let actively cause something to happen Let me give you one example: Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country.
• awful exceptionally bad or displeasing It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it.
• lover a person who loves someone or is loved by someone And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers .
• as it is in the actual state of affairs and often contrary to expectations And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers.
• escaped having escaped, especially from confinement No one has ever escaped it.
• early at or near the beginning of a period of time or course of events or before the usual or expected time I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life.
• single existing alone or consisting of one entity or part or aspect or individual If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts.
• developed being changed over time, as to be stronger or more complete In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance.
• good having desirable or positive qualities It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made.
• thank you a conversational expression of gratitude Thank you all very much.
• close at or within a short distance in space or time Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation.
• film a series of moving pictures that tells a story Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film , Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world.
• fill make full, also in a metaphorical sense Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.
• few a small but indefinite number She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
• choose pick out from a number of alternatives But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition.
• vision the ability to see But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out.
• copy a thing made to be similar or identical to another thing And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them.
• ever at all times; all the time and on every occasion Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation.
• asking the verbal act of requesting So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking : "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?"
• become come into existence During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife.
• spend pass time in a specific way And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life.
• save bring into safety But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition.
• useful having a helpful function Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept: No one wants to die.
• course a connected series of events or actions or developments They said: "Of course ."
• really in actual fact I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit.
• rare especially good, remarkable, or superlative I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery.
• about (of quantities) imprecise but fairly close to correct The first story is about connecting the dots.
• patient enduring trying circumstances with even temper It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it.
• means how a result is obtained or an end is achieved It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months.
• rooms apartment consisting of a series of connected rooms used as a living unit (as in a hotel) I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms , I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.
• mile a unit of length equal to 1,760 yards or 5,280 feet I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.
• impression a vague idea in which some confidence is placed It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?"
• future the time yet to come So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future .
• noise sound of any kind Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice.
• practical guided by experience and observation rather than theory None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life.
• avoid stay away from Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.
• gradually in a gradual manner Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away.
• try make an effort or attempt I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly.
• sure having or feeling no doubt or uncertainty The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything.
• affair a vaguely specified social event My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die.
• very being the exact same one; not any other: She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife.
• heart the hollow muscular organ located behind the sternum In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance.
• falling coming down freely under the influence of gravity But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out.
• remember recall knowledge; have a recollection Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.
• thing a separate and self-contained entity Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well.
• temple a place of worship I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple .
• baby a very young mammal So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?"
• approach move towards This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
• wife a married woman; a partner in marriage She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife .
• satisfied filled with contentment Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.
• pretty pleasing by delicacy or grace; not imposing It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made.
• choice the act of selecting Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.
• will the capability of conscious choice and decision She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
• type a subdivision of a particular kind of thing The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months.
• wanted desired or wished for or sought Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl.
• certainly definitely or positively When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right."
• all to a complete degree or to the full or entire extent She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife.
• director someone who manages an organization When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him.
• keep continue a certain state, condition, or activity I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did.
• living pertaining to living persons Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.
• forward at or to or toward the front Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college.
• birth the time when something begins (especially life) She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife.
• go on move forward, also in the metaphorical sense Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world.
• saved rescued; especially from the power and consequences of sin And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life.
• remarkable unusual or striking In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance.
• grown (of animals) fully developed We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees.
• none not at all or in no way None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life.
• going the act of departing I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out.
• message a communication that is written or spoken or signaled It was their farewell message as they signed off.
• list a database containing an ordered array of items So my parents, who were on a waiting list , got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?"
• decision a position or opinion reached after consideration It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made.
• cover provide with a covering or cause to be covered On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous.
• morning the time period between dawn and noon It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?"
• on that on that If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts.
• day time for Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right."
• clearly without doubt or question I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas.
• put cause to be in a certain state My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption.
• think judge or regard; look upon; judge Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well.
• ask make a request or demand for something to somebody So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking : "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?"
• guess expect, believe, or suppose It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it.
• very much to a very great degree or extent Thank you all very much .
• a bit to a small degree; somewhat Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept: No one wants to die.
• beautiful pleasing to the senses It was beautiful , historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
• idea the content of cognition I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out.
• previous just preceding something else in time or order I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me.
• taste the faculty or act of tasting It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it.
• wish an expression of some desire or inclination And I have always wished that for myself.
• interest a sense of concern with and curiosity about something The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
• know be cognizant or aware of a fact or a piece of information I really didn't know what to do for a few months.
• hope the general feeling that some desire will be fulfilled None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life.
• ten the cardinal number that is the sum of nine and one But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me.
• every (used of count nouns) each and all of the members of a group considered singly and without exception I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.
• grow increase in size by natural process Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well.
• courage a quality of spirit that enables you to face danger or pain And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
• papers writing that provides information She refused to sign the final adoption papers .
• throughout from first to last Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed.
• earlier more early than; most early We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier , and I had just turned 30.
• current occurring in or belonging to the present time In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance.
• pride a feeling of self-respect and personal worth Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride , all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.
• six the cardinal number that is the sum of five and one After six months, I couldn't see the value in it.
• honor a tangible symbol signifying approval or distinction I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world.
• call utter a sudden loud cry So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?"
• sorry feeling or expressing regret Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
• valley a long depression in the surface of the land I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley .
• almost slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition.
• hit deal a blow to, either with the hand or with an instrument Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick.
• great a person who has achieved distinction in some field I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great.
• difference the quality of being unlike or dissimilar This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
• interesting catching or holding your attention The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting .
• amount how much there is of something that you can quantify I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great.
• needed necessary for relief or supply It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it.
• mother a woman who has given birth to a child My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption.
• required necessary by rule The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
• found set up My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school.
• promise a verbal commitment agreeing to do something in the future She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
• night the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?"
• way how something is done or how it happens It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
• first preceding all others in time or space or degree The first story is about connecting the dots.
• thank express gratitude or show appreciation to Thank you all very much.
• name a language unit by which a person or thing is known During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife.
• need require or want It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it.
• born brought into existence It started before I was born .
• expect regard something as probable or likely The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months.
• touch make physical contact with, come in contact with It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch .
• affairs transactions of professional or public interest My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die.
• Sunday first day of the week I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.
• of course as might be expected They said: " Of course ."
• return go or come back to place, condition, or activity where one has been before I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.
• big above average in size or number or quantity No big deal.
• beneath in or to a place that is lower Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry.
• escape run away from confinement No one has ever escaped it.
• science a branch of study or knowledge involving the observation, investigation, and discovery of general laws or truths that can be tested systematically It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
• cry shed tears because of sadness, rage, or pain I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery.
• form a perceptual structure I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery.
• offer present for acceptance or rejection Let me give you one example: Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country.
• loss the act of losing someone or something My second story is about love and loss .
• most quantifier meaning the greatest in number It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
• family a group of people related to one another And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.
• university an institution of higher learning that grants degrees I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world.
• enter to come or go into It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
• David the 2nd king of the Israelites I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly.
• billion one thousand million items or units in the United States We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees.
• changed made or become different in nature or form The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit.
• spent depleted of energy, force, or strength But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition.
• example an item of information that is typical of a class or group Let me give you one example : Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country.
• only without any others being included or involved She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
• floor the inside lower horizontal surface I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.
• help give assistance; be of service I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out.
• share assets belonging to an individual person or group And yet death is the destination we all share .
• already prior to a specified or implied time You are already naked.
• one smallest whole number or a numeral representing this number I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world.
• no longer not now The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months.
• being the state or fact of existing But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition.
• team a cooperative unit Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue.
• waiting the act of waiting So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?"
• working a mine or quarry that is being or has been worked But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working -class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition.
• value the quality that renders something desirable After six months, I couldn't see the value in it.
• true consistent with fact or reality; not false And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers.
• but and nothing more I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit.
• walk use one's feet to advance; advance by steps I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.
• leaving the act of departing Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.
• running the act of running; traveling on foot at a fast pace I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley.
• stop have an end, in a temporal, spatial, or quantitative sense The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
• middle an area that is approximately central within some larger region So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?"
• felt a fabric made of compressed matted animal fibers She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife.
• impossible not capable of happening or being done or dealt with Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college.
• even being level or straight or regular and without variation None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life.
• wait stay in one place and anticipate or expect something So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?"
• learned having or showing profound knowledge I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great.
• now at the present moment Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world.
• can airtight sealed metal container for food or drink, etc. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
• slowly without speed But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did.
• easy posing no difficulty; requiring little effort It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family.
• then at that time I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit.
• figure alternate name for the body of a human being I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out.
• sleep a natural and periodic state of rest I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.
• three the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one and one Today I want to tell you three stories from my life.
• thought the content of cognition Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well.
• board a stout length of sawn timber When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him.
• period an amount of time It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
• away at a distance in space or time I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley.
• town an urban area with a fixed boundary that is smaller than a city I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.
• room an area within a building enclosed by walls and floor and ceiling I didn't have a dorm room , so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.
• in order in a state of proper readiness or preparation or arrangement My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order , which is doctor's code for prepare to die.
• sort of to some (great or small) extent It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
• world the 3rd planet from the sun; the planet we live on I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world .
• result something that follows as a consequence Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking.
• whatever one or some or every or all without specification You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever .

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.

The Truth About Steve Jobs' Last Words Before He Died

There's no doubt that Steve Jobs was one of the most influential figures of his time. The products that he helped pioneer at Apple , from the Macintosh computer to the iPhone, changed the shape of society. His vision for the future of technology has, in many regards, become the look of the 21st century as we know it. 

While Jobs' name and legacy have been immortalized, though, the man himself was all too mortal. As made clear by Walter Isaacson's posthumous biography , Jobs was a harsh, demanding figure, prone to anger and depression, who couldn't help but be a complicated figure in the public imagination: as much as Jobs could be petulant, shortsighted, and childish, he was also an honest visionary, whose blunt attitude led to an unprecedented volume of earth-shaking products. As a flawed, real human being, Jobs was also prone to the weaknesses of the human body, and so he spent his last decade of life battling pancreatic cancer, according to Biography , and died in 2011. 

Since then, there has often been speculation — and outright fabrications — regarding what Jobs said on his deathbed. 

The meme-worthy 'deathbed speech' of Steve Jobs isn't real

Steve Jobs was an important figure in technology history, but he wasn't always a person who others looked upon favorably. He was a complex figure with many flaws , to put it mildly. However, back in 2015, an essay circulated across social media, claiming to be Jobs' final deathbed speech, whereupon he apologized for all of his past behavior, and cautioned others to not follow his example. In the speech, Jobs allegedly told anyone reading it to treasure their family and friends, and that, "Now I know, when we have accumulated sufficient wealth to last our lifetime, we should pursue other matters that are unrelated to wealth ... should be something that is more important: Perhaps relationships, perhaps art, perhaps a dream from younger days. Non-stop pursuing of wealth will only turn a person into a twisted being, just like me." The essay finishes with a sentimental treatise on how the only book that matters is the so-called Book of Healthy Life ... which, no, you won't find in stores. Duh.

It's all a bit soap opera-ish, to put it bluntly. Seriously, can you picture Steve Jobs saying this? Maybe at the end of a Disney movie, but certainly not in real life. Sure enough, Snopes debunked the whole thing soon after it arrived. That said, there should have never been a need to cook up a phony final speech for Jobs, because his actual final words are well-documented. 

Steve Jobs' final words were far more mysterious

When you're wondering what a famous person's last thoughts on life might've been, it pays to know who was in the actual room. As it happens, Jobs' sister Mona Simpson was there by his side, and she discussed the Apple titan's last statement when she was giving his eulogy, according to the New York Times . As she tells it, in Jobs' final moments of consciousness, he looked at his family, then stared past their shoulders into the great beyond behind them, and uttered the repeated phrase: "Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow."

What did this mean? Honestly, there's no way to know. Depending on one's spiritual beliefs regarding the afterlife, there are many ways to read into these words. Nonetheless, it's fascinating to ponder the mystery.

The great beyond

Now, if one wants to prove what Steve's final words meant, you'd first have to prove what really happens after death. Good luck with that. Humankind has been trying to figure that puzzle out for the past, oh, 200,000 years or so, and cooked up plenty of fun theories.

That said, Jobs' final words do hint toward something wonderfully ethereal and fascinating, which can't help but get the mind buzzing. In that regard, understanding Jobs' own spiritual views may be helpful: looking back on his life, he once said that his experimentation with psychedelic drugs were a transformative experience, and according to CNN , his travels through India led to him eventually converting to Buddhism. His wedding to Laurene Powell was presided over by a monk, Kobun Chino. While his overall belief system was complex, it was perhaps best summarized when, in an interview with Time Magazine , he stated that, "I believe life is an intelligent thing, that things aren't random." He also once stated that his big goal in life was to "put a dent in the universe." Now, to be clear, there are many details about Jobs' life that didn't particularly line up with his philosophies, most notably his oft-stated lack of philanthropic giving. Nonetheless, his beliefs were a huge, guiding force in his life, and one can only assume whatever he saw at the end — whatever it was that made him repeat "Oh wow" three times — it was somehow connected to all this.

Here is the video clip of Jobs' speech:

It follows the "prepared text" transcript of the commencement address delivered by Steve Jobs on June 12, 2005, at Stanford University.

I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories. The first story is about connecting the dots. I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out? It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college. And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting. It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example: Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating. None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later. Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life. My second story is about love and loss. I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating. I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over. I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life. During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together. I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle. My third story is about death. When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes. I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now. This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept: No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions. Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. Thank you all very much.  

More History

Mason's Corner: J237 Blog

Life-changing Lessons from Steve Jobs Commencement Speech

In an inspiring commencement address today, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs gave a lot of wisdom and inspiration to Stanford University’s graduating class of 2005. Speaking to a packed stadium of eager graduates and proud families, Jobs shared personal stories and life lessons that left a lasting impact on all in attendance.

Addressing the audience with his trademark charisma, Jobs reflected on his own life experiences, including his journey with Apple and the lessons he learned along the way. He recounted his early days, dropping out of college and finding Apple with Steve Wozniak in his parents’ garage, a decision that has ultimately changed the course of technology.

Jobs openly shared one of the pivotal moments of his life, his departure from Apple after being fired from the company he co-founded. “I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me,” Jobs stated. “The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.”

Throughout his address, Jobs emphasized the importance of embracing failure and setbacks as opportunities for growth and reinvention. “Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life,” he declared. “Because almost everything, all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure, these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

Jobs urged the graduating class to pursue their passions fearlessly, to embrace uncertainty, and to never settle. Drawing from his own experiences, he encouraged them to chase their dreams relentlessly and to never be afraid to take risks.

His message resonated deeply with the graduating class, many of who found relief and inspiration in his words as they prepared to embark on the next chapter of their lives.

As the ceremony drew to a close, Jobs left the graduates with a final piece of advice: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

With thunderous applause, the graduating class of 2005 gave a farewell to Steve Jobs, their hearts and minds filled with inspiration and determination to make their mark on the world. Today, Stanford University not only celebrated the achievements of its graduates but also welcomed them into a future filled with unlimited possibilities, guided by the wisdom of one of the greatest visionaries of our time.

Mason Raeck

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Steve Jobs’ Stanford Commencement Speech Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Steve Jobs was invited to speak at Stanford University’s commencement exercise. He delivered a powerful speech that connected with the audience. There were many reasons why Steve Jobs succeeded and delivered a memorable speech. He came prepared and talked about a topic that was very interesting.

He analysed his audience and utilized what he knew about campus culture using his experience as a former college student. He was mindful of the elements required for an introduction. But more importantly Steve Jobs spoke about something that can help future graduates navigate the real world.

The introduction only contained three out of four parts discussed in class (Jaffe 90). The speaker did not provide a clear preview of the major points. But this omission did not weaken the speech because there was a good reason why he did not provide an overview of the topic.

The modification was made to adjust to the core message of the speech. The core message talked about the inability to see the future and yet there is no need to worry. Although he omitted the last part, Steve Jobs was able to draw the attention of the audience to the topic. He was also able to relate the topic to the concerns of the graduates and finally he was able to link himself to the subject.

The strength of the speech can be explained through the careful disclosure of the proposition. Steve Jobs was able to connect to the audience by letting them know that he was in their shoes when he was young. The second reason for the powerful delivery was that the overall organization was clear and well thought out. Steve Jobs knew the anxious thoughts in the minds of the graduates. He also knew the struggle that they went through to get their diploma.

Another important feature of the speech was the use of transitions. Jobs demonstrated his skill as communicator by providing transitions from one sub-topic to the next. He was able to accomplish this by dividing the speech into three short stories. But even if the stories were different there was a unifying thread.

He talked about the uncertainty of life. He talked about setbacks and problems. He encouraged the graduates that more often than not they will experience failure. But he told them that even failures can be used as stepping stones towards success.

The effectiveness of the speech was enhanced further when the speaker delivered a definitive ending. He clarified the correct mindset needed to succeed in the real world. There is only one minor weakness. Steve Jobs was dependent on his notes all throughout the delivery. He was actually reading the speech and was unable to add words in an extemporaneous fashion.

The effectiveness of Steve Jobs’ speech can be explained through the proper use of audience analysis and selection of topic. The speaker knew that he was tasked to speak in the presence of graduates. Thus, he developed the speech to cater to the needs of the audience.

Although organization and careful development of the speech was made evident during the delivery, it can be said that the main reason for its effectiveness is the content. Steve Jobs did not talk about a topic that was boring. In fact, Steve Jobs talked about something that was important for the listeners. As a result they listened attentively and they learned so much from the speech delivered

Works Cited

Jaffe, Clella. Public Speaking: Concepts and Skills for a Diverse Society . CA: Thomson Learning, 2007. Print.

• Argument Analyis of Racist Speech
• Rhetoric in American Politics
• Michelle Obama’s Tuskegee University Commencement Speech
• Communication Techniques in Public Speaking
• Steve Jobs’ Stanford Speech Rhetorical Strategies
• “I Have a Dream” Speech Analysis – Essay
• Education Leads to Individuals’ Liberation
• The Negative Effects of Wealth in Society: Rhetorical Analysis
• Assessment of “Innovative Minds Don’t Think Alike” by Janet Rae-Dupree
• Rhetorical Analysis of the Communist Manifesto
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2018, October 31). Steve Jobs’ Stanford Commencement Speech. https://ivypanda.com/essays/steve-jobs-stanford-commencement-speech/

"Steve Jobs’ Stanford Commencement Speech." IvyPanda , 31 Oct. 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/steve-jobs-stanford-commencement-speech/.

IvyPanda . (2018) 'Steve Jobs’ Stanford Commencement Speech'. 31 October.

IvyPanda . 2018. "Steve Jobs’ Stanford Commencement Speech." October 31, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/steve-jobs-stanford-commencement-speech/.

1. IvyPanda . "Steve Jobs’ Stanford Commencement Speech." October 31, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/steve-jobs-stanford-commencement-speech/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Steve Jobs’ Stanford Commencement Speech." October 31, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/steve-jobs-stanford-commencement-speech/.

This Steve Jobs Quote Will Make You View Life Differently

Steve Jobs, the visionary founder of Apple ( NASDAQ: AAPL ), left behind a legacy of inspiring quotes that continue to resonate with people of all ages. Some of these quotes are particularly inspiring for those in their 40s, who may be starting to reflect on their life.

We’ll explore a  lot  of different topics in this article, from personal autonomy to the power of innovation. These quotes apply to your career and professional life as well as personal decision-making.

Here are some of the most powerful things we learned:

• Midlife is a prime time for reflection and reinvention. Jobs’ quotes inspire a pursuit of fulfilling work and personal passions.
• Overcoming the fear of failure is essential for those in their 40s. It’s time to embrace challenges and innovation, not stagnate.
• Learn to say “no” to distractions and concentrate on what’s truly important.
• Your 40s aren’t too late to take risks! For instance, it’s not too late to invest in growth stocks if you do so carefully. Our free report, “ The Next NVIDIA ,” can help you with this.

Why We’re Covering This

Steve Jobs was a very successful person. Apple is one of America’s most valuable companies , and, as you might guess, we cover it a lot. It only makes sense that we’d take an interest in the company’s founder, too.

1. Your Time is Limited, So Don’t Waste It Living Someone Else’s Life

This statement by Steve Jobs emphasizes personal autonomy and self-discovery. It’s a call to live authentically and make choices in life that emphasize you . Making choices to make others happy will only get you so far, especially as your life trudges forward.

Avoiding Familiarity

In your 40s, it’s very easy to give into the comfort of the familiar. You’ve been around the block a few times and probably have an established career and routine. However, these can obscure your true desires. You don’t just need to keep doing something because it is what you’ve  always  done.

Midlife is a great time to reflect and consider what you really want in life. For instance, if you have a long-held dream, it’s time to make sure you’re still heading in the right direction. Or perhaps your career path was once familiar but now stagnates.

This quote is a reminder that life is short, and you need to make sure you’re living it for you!

2. Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

This iconic phrase is from a speech Steve Jobs gave at Stanford in 2005. It’s been viewed over 30 million times on YouTube, so it’s no surprise that the quote has become popular.

This phrase is often interpreted as “never stop learning.” It means to keep going even when you’ve already become comfortable. Everyone needs to stay a little foolish, even in your 40s.

Complacency

The midlife period often brings a sense of stability and accomplishment, which can sometimes lead to complacency. However, “stay hungry, stay foolish” serves as a powerful antidote to this potential stagnation.

Even though you’re comfortable, you should avoid becoming  too  comfortable. Complacency is a slow, easy death.

Instead, you should seek new challenges , expand your horizons  constantly, and maintain  your sense of wonder as much as possible.

In a world that often values experience and expertise, there’s a risk of becoming overly cautious. This quote reminds us that innovation, creativity, and personal growth often come from taking calculated risks and stepping outside of our comfort zones.

3. The Only Way to Do Great Work is to Love What You Do

When he said this line, Steve Jobs understood the importance of passion in achieving fulfillment. If you don’t love what you do, being the  best  at it is very hard . It takes a lot more self-discipline to make yourself do something you want than doing something you do  want.

In your 40s, you probably already have an established career. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t learn something from this quote. In fact, it may be even  more  important to truly understand this quote now.

Introspection and Reassessment

Your 40s can be both inspiring and absolutely boring all at the same time. By this age, many individuals have established careers and may find themselves in roles that, while comfortable, lack the spark of genuine passion. That said, it’s never too late to pursue work that ignites a sense of purpose!

Perhaps you have a dream that has been put on hold or a career path you  once  loved (but don’t care much for anymore). It’s easy for things to start feeling mundane, and that’s not where big changes come from.

You should always reassess your life and consider whether your work really aligns with what you want to be doing. After all, while it’s completely possible to make big changes in your 40s, the impact that has decreases the closer you get to retirement.

Of course, going after yoru passion often involves risk and may require you to make significant life changes. This quote encourages you to take the challenge seriously and embrace the path you really care about.

4. Innovation Distinguishes Between a Leader and a Follower

How do you tell the difference between a leader and a follower? Leaders create  new  things and innovate, while followers just do what everyone else is doing. Steve Jobs knew this better than anyone else!

Reinvention

In your 40s, you’ve probably already established your career. With this experience comes knowledge that is often necessary to innovate. That said, comfort and predictability can get in your way of thinking outside the box. It’s important to remember that even seasoned professionals must continue innovating to stay ahead.

Luckily, after establishing yoru career, innovation is often easier. You likely have more freedom both professionally and personally, which gives you room to try new things.

The important thing is that you actually  do  try new things, instead of just sitting back and letting life go by.

Innovation does bring with it a level of risk that you may not be used to. You must be willing to fail and learn from mistakes, after all. Otherwise, you’ll be too scared to do  anything  new. This quote helps us bridge that gap.

5. Design is Not Just What it Looks Like and Feels Like. Design is How It Works.

Most people may not connect much with Steve Jobs’s quote about design. However, this quote actually speaks a lot about function. It isn’t just the superficial outside of something that matters. It’s also how well it works.

A truly great design  does  look and feel good, but it is also intuitive and efficient. Otherwise, the design feels a bit like a lie.

Many of us have purchased a sleek product only to get it home and realize that it really  doesn’t work as well as we thought. But this quote goes far beyond just making good purchasing decisions (or designing good products to sell to others).

Practicality and Experience

For those in their 40s, this quote encourages you to focus on practical solutions and experience. Yes, appearance is important, but it’s important not to get wrapped up in how something (or someone) looks. You need to focus more on efficiency and productivity.

It’s important to take a more intentional approach to problem-solving, both in the workplace and at home. Whether it’s designing a home, organizing a family schedule, or managing personal finances, focusing on how something works can lead to more effective and satisfying outcomes.

6. The Only Way to be Truly Satisfied is to do What You Believe is Great Work

Your career takes up a lot  of your time. It isn’t just something you do for cash. It is a huge chunk of your life. It’s important that you feel yoru work is fulfilling and meaningful. Otherwise, you’re wasting a bunch of your time doing something that you don’t  really  believe in.

It’s a bit like  enjoying  yoru work, which we’ve already dove into. However, even if you enjoy something, if you don’t feel like your job is contributing to anything, you probably aren’t going to enjoy it very much!

The Value of Work

Work has value. Anyone who has worked on a project that changed the lives of others can tell you that. However, there are also lots of jobs that  don’t  feel like they contribute much. Sometimes, companies have positions that really don’t mean much. You may be doing what feels like worthless labor in the grand scheme of things.

At the same time, the company’s goal as a whole may also feel pointless. Perhaps the company is barely staying afloat or just involved in a service or product you don’t really believe in.

Both of these situations can leave you feeling unhappy and make a big chunk of your life pointless! It’s important not to get into the trap of comfort. Just because you are comfortable in your job doesn’t mean it’s the best job for you.

It’s important to regularly reflect on your life. Perhaps a once-promising career path has lost its luster, or a new passion has emerged. Your 40s are not too late to shift jobs, whether that means changing careers, companies, or positions.

7. The Most Important Thing is to Not Stop Questioning

Steve Jobs believed that asking questions was more important than anything  else. It shouldn’t be surprising that he focuses too heavily on curiosity, which drove him throughout his career. Questioning the status quo is important for anyone looking to be successful and make a splash in life.

The Willingness to Challenge Assumptions

As you gain experience and expertise, it can be very easy to slip into old patterns and accept things as they are. “That’s how we’ve always done it” has become a mantra of many. But it’s important to maintain a questioning spirit and challenge how things are done.

Your 40s are a great time for reflection and exploration. You have plenty of experience to help guide you, but it’s important  not  to just start doing what’s comfortable. Always question why you (and everyone else) are doing what they’re doing and how it could be done better.

A questioning mind also keeps things from getting  boring . When you’re always tackling a new problem (or on the lookout for a new problem), there is always some new, exciting adventure to enjoy.

8. It is Impossible to Connect the Dots Looking Forward; You Can Only Connect Them Looking Backward

Life is unpredictable, and it’s practically impossible to work out exactly how something will go before hand. Only afterward can you look back and go: “Ah ha!”.

Don’t take this quote as an indication of helplessness, though. Just because looking forward is challenging doesn’t mean you can’t learn from looking backward.

Accepting the Future & Learning from the Past

You should  always  reflect on your experiences and learn from them. Whether something good or bad happened, you can learn from the experience and try to do better next time. Unrelated experiences often converge into one singular reality once you have some perspective on it.

Reflecting on your life also provides a sense of purpose and perspective.

That said, just because you’re learning from the past doesn’t mean you can control the future. It’s important to maintain an open mind about the future. Your life path is nonlinear, so you don’t need to feel the pressure to have everything figured out right now. Instead, keep an open mind and learn from your experiences. You may not be able to connect the dots now, but you will later!

9. Innovation is Saying No to a Thousand Things

If there is any skill you need to learn in your life, it’s saying  no . When you create something new, the first step is to figure out  what  you’re going to create, which means saying no to the dozens or even hundreds of other things you could be making.

A true breakthrough comes from eliminating the fluff and concentrating on a very specific idea. Otherwise, you’ll be pulled in too many directions!

Learning to Say “No”

You only have so many hours in the day. Time is your most precious resource, and you guard it by saying “no.” Focus on what truly matters, both professionally and personally. Don’t get bogged down by all the things you could do. Focus on the things you should do.

By saying “no” more often, you’ll have more time and energy to concentrate on the parts of your life you truly care about. Whether that’s a hobby or particular project or just spending more time with loved ones, saying no protects  all  parts of your life.

Your 40s may be an increased time of commitment and responsibilities, but it doesn’t have to be a huge time blackhole. If you’ve said “yes” too much in your life, now is the time to start saying “no.”

10. Sometimes When You Innovate, You Make Mistakes.

This quote is worth looking at the extended versions: “Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit to your mistakes quickly and move on.”

Failures happen. Innovation is a lot of trial and error, and setbacks are inevitable! You cannot do the right thing all the time. It’s just not possible. You can innovate, try new things, and accept when they don’t work.

Don’t keep going down a path you already see is a dead end.

The Fear of Failure

Midlife can bring with it a fear of failure, especially as individuals have more responsibilities and commitments. Jobs’ words encourage a growth mindset, emphasizing that mistakes are opportunities for learning and improvement.

Don’t be worried about ruining your comfort. Yes, it is a poor idea to take all the risks and run around like you have no responsibilities. However, that doesn’t mean you should avoid all risks and refuse to try anything new.

You should always pursue new challenges with the acceptance that you’re going to fail at least once. If something is truly challenging, getting it right on the first try just isn’t going to happen.

Take This Retirement Quiz To Get Matched With An Advisor Now (Sponsored)

Are you ready for retirement? Planning for retirement can be overwhelming, that’s why it could be a good idea to speak to a fiduciary financial advisor about your goals today.

Start by taking this retirement quiz right here from SmartAsset that will match you with up to 3 financial advisors that serve your area and beyond in 5 minutes. Smart Asset is now matching over 50,000 people a month.

Click here now to get started.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us? Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team .

Latest from 24/7

This Beloved Fast Food Restaurant Outsells In-N-Out and Chick-Fil-A

Every Millennial Needs to Hear This Steve Jobs Quote

Politics latest: New poll makes grim reading for Farage - as PM tells COBRA meeting to 'maintain high alert'

Sir Keir Starmer stressed the need to "maintain high alert" for more disorder as he chaired another emergency COBRA meeting. Meanwhile, new polling suggests support for Nigel Farage has plummeted since the unrest began last week.

Thursday 8 August 2024 20:55, UK

• PM stresses need to 'maintain high alert' for further unrest
• But says swift sentencing of rioters should be 'important lesson'
• Labour councillor arrested on suspicion of encouraging murder
• Farage accused of helping spread conspiracy theories
• London mayor 'astonished' by Tory leadership hopeful's comments
• Listen: How well has the PM handled riots?
• Mhari Aurora: Starmer can't be sure he's out of woods just yet
• Darren McCaffrey: Farage may struggle to have his cake and eat it
• Explained: Robert Jenrick and the Allahu Akbar row | What does 'two-tier policing' mean - and does it exist?
• UK riots latest: Follow updates on arrests and sentences

Our  political correspondent Darren McCaffrey has spotted some interesting polling about Nigel Farage.

According to YouGov, the Reform leader's favourability ratings have fallen since the start of the riots in the UK.

He is viewed unfavourably by every voter group in the UK except Reform backers.

This includes Leave voters - his score with them going from +7 to -4.

The proportion of 2024 Tory voters that have a negative view of him has risen from 52% to 61% - and 47% of the public believe he holds some responsibility for the rioting.

Farage under fire from multiple sides

Darren said: "I think he's trying to strike this balance between trying to lean into some of the causes potentially behind at least the protests, if not the violence, but at the same time trying to condemn them. 

"The question is, can he have his cake and eat it? Can he effectively walk that fine balance?"

Mr Farage questioned the initial police response to the stabbing in Southport, accusing them of withholding information.

The Reform leader has since condemned the violence on the streets - but made allegations of " two-tier policing ", claims which have been denied and criticised by the prime minister and Met Police chief.

Mel Stride, the Tory leadership hopeful, was heavily critical of Mr Farage this morning when speaking to Sky News - and it could be that more Tories come out to attack him.

With yet another COBRA meeting in the bag for the prime minister, the Politics Hub is signing off for the evening.

For continued coverage of the response to the riots, including the latest arrests and court hearings, check out our dedicated blog below:

As things stand, the Politics Hub won't be running tomorrow, so any political news, reaction, and analysis relating to the unrest will be in the above blog - do follow along for the latest updates.

Thanks for joining us today, and have a good evening.

Sir Keir Starmer has told his ministers and police chiefs they need to "maintain high alert" despite last night's anticipated wave of far-right unrest failing to materialise.

Sky News understands that was the PM's main message from tonight's COBRA meeting - his third of the week.

Sir Keir thanked the police and wider criminal justice system, saying the high levels of policing in key areas last night helped deter rioters - as did the swift sentencing of those convicted so far.

The prime minister has condemned a "deeply concerning" rise in antisemitic incidents in the UK this year.

Charity CST, which is dedicated to protecting Jewish communities, reported almost 2,000 cases in the first half of 2024 - a record high.

There were at least 200 every month - something which had only happened five times prior to October 2023.

That marks the point that Hamas launched its brutal attack on Israel, which was followed by the now 10-month bombardment of Gaza.

Sir Keir Starmer thanked the CST for its work and said: "Jewish people, and all those from faith communities, deserve to feel safe on our streets. 

"We will work together to eradicate discrimination of any kind."

While last night didn't see the unrest many had feared, tonight's COBRA meeting comes ahead of what ministers fear could be days of further protests and disorder.

Sir Keir Starmer has vowed he will not "let up" so far as responding to threats from those bent on violence, and has held talks with police chiefs again this evening to discuss what could happen.

Our crime correspondent Martin Brunt has reported there are fears the new football season kicking off this weekend could spell trouble.

It comes after policing minister Dame Diana Johnson told Sky News earlier that intelligence points to more potential protests.

Read more from our political reporter Alix Culbertson  👇

We've been reporting in the Politics Hub today on the arrest of a Labour councillor over comments he made at one of the counter-protests that took place around the country last night.

First came footage from the event, which appeared to show a man calling for "fascist" rioters to have their throats "cut".

Nigel Farage was among those who shared it, and called on police to arrest the man responsible.

He was named online as Dartford Labour councillor Ricky Jones, and the party moved quickly to suspend him.

We then heard from the Met Police, who said they were urgently investigating the video - and later came an arrest on suspicion of encouraging murder.

For the full story and where we've got to as of tonight, our political reporter Faye Brown has you covered 👇

Sir Keir Starmer was in the West Midlands earlier before returning to London for tonight's COBRA meeting.

The PM visited a mosque in Solihull, and has just put out a post on X thanking local leaders he met there - and the police - for "keeping our communities safe".

Our team have spotted cabinet ministers leaving the COBRA meeting in the last few minutes, so hopefully we'll get an update on what was discussed from Downing Street before too long.

We'll bring it to you if and when we do.

By Faye Brown , political reporter

Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley has knocked back claims of "two-tier policing" as "complete nonsense".

He said such claims - pedalled online by Nigel Farage and Elon Musk - put officers dealing with the ongoing riots at risk.

The phrase is used to describe the impression that some protests and demonstrations are dealt with more harshly than others.

What are the origins of 'two-tier' policing?

The term has been used to suggest police are more heavy-handed with people on the right of the political spectrum than the left.

Even before the current rioting in the UK, the idea was propagated by the likes of English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson, actor-turned political activist Laurence Fox, and former ex-minister Robert Jenrick.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage summed up the sentiment when he claimed that "ever since the soft policing of the Black Lives Matter protests, the impression of two-tier policing has become widespread".

'Difference between riot and protest'

However, critics of those who have used the term say there is a clear difference between legal protests and the riots, which has seen mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers attacked, police officers hospitalised, and shops smashed and looted.

One of the strongest rebukes came from Dame Priti Patel, who was home secretary during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in 2020.

She told Times Radio: "What we saw during the pandemic, we saw protest. We believe in free speech. We saw protests being policed.

"What we're seeing right now is thuggery and disorder and criminality. There is a complete distinction between the two."

What is the law on protests in the UK?

Protest is legal in the UK and the right to freedom of expression is also protected under the European Convention of Human Rights.

However, this only applies to peaceful protest and does not extend to any violence inflicted or damage caused during a protest.

As pointed out by Chris Hobbs, a former Special Branch officer writing for the  Police Oracle website , arrests have been made at pro-Palestinian protests when there has been suspected criminal offences, as has been the case during climate protests and BLM demonstrations.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is banking on the rapid sentencing of convicted rioters putting people off committing more disorder.

There have been more arrests today - not just over the violence we've seen over the past week, but also inaccurate information about the Southport attack shared online.

False claims about the suspect helped ignite the riots.

People have been sentenced today, too - some to several years in jail.

For the latest on the response of the police and the courts, head to our dedicated live blog:

The unrest of the past week has seen members of the far right target Muslim communities and mosques.

It's reignited calls for the government to adopt an official definition of Islamophobia, with the hope it could help educate sections of the public and clamp down on violence and abuse.

Rishi Sunak's government refused to adopt one, suggesting it could negatively impact freedom of speech, and instead referred to cases of "anti-Muslim hatred".

And it appears the new government won't be quick to adopt one either.

Asked directly on Sky News if it would consider one, communities minister Alex Norris danced around the question.

'Still people out there who want to cause disorder'

"Our focus is on the next few days," he said, adding there'll be "plenty of other things we can look at" when the risk of more unrest has passed.

Mr Norris said while there are "still people out there who want to cause violent disorder", the government's focus is on ensuring police "have the powers they need" and that "swift justice" can be delivered.

We've spotted cabinet ministers and police chiefs arriving for tonight's COBRA meeting in Whitehall.

Met boss Sir Mark Rowley and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood are among those we've seen.

The meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, will discuss what happened last night and what may still be to come - the government has suggested more protests could be in the offing this week.

We'll bring you updates from the meeting whenever we can.

Be the first to get Breaking News

Install the Sky News app for free