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From his 2005 Stanford commencement speech:
"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."
He's right-- if you're about to die, there are no limitations. You can, for example, cook meth with one of your former students.
The problem is when you're not about to die. Then embarrassment and failure are real issues. You do have something to lose-- your life! Your friends, your house, your possessions, your family, so many things to lose.
If you're going to lose it all anyway, taking risks is not a big deal. If you're 20 something and have your whole life ahead of you, taking risks is a really big deal.
Rest in peace jobs, you will be missed.
Expectations, embarrasment and fear of failure are not "real issues". Overcomming them is important for 20 somethings as well.
We're all about to die.
That's like, way insightful, like, man. Pass the J?
Are you sure? We're close to growing organs in labs.
It just prolongs the inevitable. If the average life expectancy is 70 years or 200, it still doesn't matter much in regards to things left undone; on your death bed, you'll still regret not loving your children more, not having the courage to ask her out, not traveling, not working on your ideas, etc... Consider that some opportunities only happen once, and then pfff, they are gone forever. Most of use are full of regrets until the end, and growing organs in labs is only a small comfort.
The other dream of course is for us to become immortal, but that's magnitudes harder than growing a liver in a laboratory, not to mention that even if possible it would open up a huge can of worms in society, problems that are even harder to overcome than technical issues.
Also, for all the advancements medicine appears to have, remember that we aren't even able to cure cancer and HIV, we aren't able to cure Alzheimer, we are only able to keep asthmatics under control and my child's doctors weren't even able to tell me the reason for why my child had the Lyell's syndrome a month ago (thankfully he's fine now, but it did freak us out).
We aren't even able to solve the problem of freaking bacteria becoming more and more resistant to antibiotics, and should I mention we aren't even able to find a cure for the flu or for common cold?
So don't kid yourself. You are going to die, you probably won't get past 90 years and your children, your grand-children and everybody you know will die too.
For those who are late to the party, Breaking Bad is now available on Netflix streaming, in case you didn't cancel your subscription in moral outrage over Quikstergate.
As someone who runs a site to help those who are feeling depressed and runs it with what seems to be a genuine level of concern and caring for those the site intends to help, this seems like a really fucking bizarre comment to make.
Here's my medicine. Buy a Netflix subscription. Watch Breaking Bad. You'll feel better.
If you haven't achieved anything, you haven't got anything to be proud of in the first place. You can't go backwards from step 1. I don't care when I lose at street fighter, or if my player rating sucks compared to my friends' - I'm not good at street fighter yet.
And believe me, if you think it's difficult to take risks now, at ~25, without children to feed and send to school, without a girlfriend who requires upkeep or friends with high-paying jobs who want to eat at Michelin restaurants... you're never going to get off the boat.
Every journey begins with one step.
I'm not telling you how to live your life. Please, feel free to take ridiculous risks. Give up all your worldly possessions and move to the SF bay area. Start boring web 2.0 apps. Do a startup or whatever. Go to burning man. I'll be over here enjoying my nice, stable life.
A girlfriend who requires upkeep? Is this 100 years ago?
I can assure you, right now, at this point in time, no one gives a shit about your pessimism, reality checks, or breaking bad references.
Your name is very relevant to your post :).
And at least 4 or 5 people care enough about it to respond to me, so i think your anger is a bit unfounded.
The text for the full speech is here - if you've never read it, you should. It's amazing:
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html
Rest in Peace, Steve.
Here's the full video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc
While not conscious of the morbidity that really underlies it, that's been my personal way of looking at life for a long time. What is there really to lose?
After listening to his speech, hearing him say "Keep looking, don't settle", I quit my job and started out on my own. He din't just indirectly affect me through technology, he influenced me directly. Anyone could have said those words, it wouldn't have affected me in such a visceral manner, it had to be Steve. You have to win some ones respect first before you can say something to them.
The whole world had its head up its a$$ with regards to the smart phone market, and steve had to show us how its done. Strangely I now feel like how I did when I moved out of my parents home. I feel a huge sense of responsibility descending on us. Steve won't be there to show us anymore. We have to figure things out on our own.
I played that speech to my girlfriend last spring and she cried. Shortly after she decided to go back to school. I cried the first time I heard it myself.
I still remember being 18 (12 years ago already!), having just moved to a new city on my own, and the whole office of our web design company crowding around one of the power macs to watch his keynotes through the old quicktime streams. I was running 0S7 back then, and the iMac was still new and multicoloured, but you could feel that something big was happening.
I'm proud to say I'm an entrepreneur in part because of the example of pioneers like Steve.
what did she go back to school to study?
Science! (biochem)
Looks legitimate: http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/
Goodbye, sir. Thank you for changing my life.
A great man. Rest in peace, my friend.
Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward. Maybe they have to be crazy. How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels? We make tools for these kinds of people. While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.
That pretty much sums it up for me. Can't describe in words and I think that pretty much hits the nail on the head.
But does the peg's circle circumscribe or inscribe the hole's square?
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
I actually cried when I read this.
RIP Steve!
Me too, didn't expect it to get to me like that, a complete stranger, and all.... but none the less, a visionary and remarkable person who's left a huge mark on the world in which I work and live.
Me too. I love him so much. I am sure he is in heaven and see us
I can't wait to see what he invents at his new place.
Despite getting voted down, I believe you meant "He will reform tech in heaven like he reformed it on earth." The downvoters might have thought you meant he left for a different company, and that you were being cynical.
Whatever the case may be, we lost a true visionary, and the entire world should grieve as a result. RIP Steve
I think he was probably downvoted for bringing religion into it. Since this is not the time or place for a very boring religious flamewar let's just leave it at that.
I was referring to improving the user interface of urns.
For real? Sadly, knew he was sick, but wasn't expecting this.
The world has lost a unique and brilliant technology / business / design leader, the likes of which are few and far between.
:-(
WoW! Just wow.
Here is to a life of unrelenting pursuit of perfection.
What a strange thing. I'm actually going to miss him a little as if I had known him.
Its not going to be quite the same now that I know "the Steve" is not in his Cupertino lair working his magic.
This is the first "celebrity" death in recent history that's really upset me :/
I feel like he really truly had a rare combination of drive, personality, and talent that is extremely rare, dare I say one of a kind? Our field owes him a great debt for pushing us forward, even when we didn't want to.
RIP Steve.
This is the second time a death of somebody I haven't met have upset me. The first time it was Layne Staley, lead singer of Alice in Chains. I guess both Steve Jobs and Layne Staley have created beautiful work that inspired me.
I will never forget this moment.
10/5 NEVER FORGET.
Almost wierd that I feel sick to my stomach.
RIP Steve. We'll certainly miss the most important innovator of our times.
Steve Jobs has inspired us all, through his business philosophy, through pushing the mobile landscape to where it is today, for changing the music industry as we know it, for his snappy turtle-necks, for the opportunities he has given his employees and developers on iOS.
The world lost one of the greatest business man of all time.
RIP
Not entirely unexpected but still sad. The end of an era. He will be missed by many.
Indeed, Jobs will certainly be remembered. His initial founding of Apple might be dismissed as being in the right place at the right time, although it's harder to attribute the Mac to that. But in coming back to Apple when it was doing so poorly, and leading it back to enormous success -- that should secure his reputation for vision and leadership.
It is sad. But his memory will endure.
Don't forget Pixar.
Rest in peace, Steve.
While everything you built wasn't necessarily for me, god damn if it wasn't brilliant. Everybody in the community really seemed to speak highly of you, I wish I would have had the chance to experience this in person.
The world will always, always love you, and love the impact that you made on it. Thank you for that.
It's almost impossible for me to imagine the tech world without Jobs... the world has lost a visionary man today.
The homepage of Apple right now is such an appropriate tribute. Stark. Clean. Compassionate. Human.
Wow. He held on just long enough to make sure an Apple product announcement went on successfully without him.
http://www.apple.com/ apple.com is dedicated to him.
He held out for one final launch. When I think about that, I cry. His passion kept him going, passion for work, passion for life, passion to make a difference.
Yeah, that's sort of what came to my mind. The 'S' in the iPhone 4S for me at least will mean Steve - buying one although I don't have any iDevice around.
Rest in peace and here is to hoping that cancer researchers around the world get all the inspiration they need - keep looking, don't settle.
As far as I'm concerned, you just renamed it.
I'll be buying an iPhone 4 Steve this friday.
You've made me tear up again, too. I thought I was well prepared for this day... I knew it was going to happen, realized we were getting close, but I wasn't ready. I'm sure he wasn't either. I'm sure he wasn't.
A true visionary, maverick and someone who had healthy disregards for rules and status quo. RIP Steve. You'll be sorely missed.
One thing that he really forced down all our throats was the importance of taste. He knew what he wanted, and he made us all see how great it was.
Here's a clip from back in 1996, before his return to Apple, where he talks briefly about Microsoft, and in it you can really see his continuing obsession with making insanely great things: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upzKj-1HaKw
"The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste; they have absolutely no taste. And what that means is - I don't mean that in a small way, I mean that in a big way - in the sense that they don't think of original ideas, and they don't bring much culture into their products .. And so I guess I am saddened, not by Microsoft's success; I have no problem with their success, they've earned their success, in the most part; I have a problem with the fact they make really third rate products."
I think the lesson is lost on many-- Steve Jobs wasn't great because he had great taste. He was great because he knew taste was important. I am not sure he even had great taste.. there are anecdotes from the early years that indicate that what he was great at was knowing who to hire who did have great taste.
But he new it was important, he always pushed to make things better....
This is a link to the "Think Different" commercial from Apple. I must admit that after watching it just now I teared up a bit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oAB83Z1ydE
What a life.
"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."
- Steve Jobs
I grew up with the machines he and his team at Apple designed and built.
I was four when I got my first mac, and some of my earliest memories are those of customizing my system with the Font/DA Mover app on System 6. My earliest ideas about the role of machines in our lives were shaped by things like HyperCard and MacPaint. My dad still tells the story of the time that 14-year-old me skipped basketball practice one afternoon to install System 7 from the six floppies it came on. Apple hardware and software has directly shaped who I am today, as cliche as it may sound.
I recall seeing exactly one empty seat in the town hall during the 4S reveal, in the front row, labelled "Reserved" in their iconic Myriad typeface. I wonder if that's who it was for.
A friend just suggested that perhaps he died a short time ago, and they waited until after the launch to announce it. It's not a stretch, considering that he devoted his life's work to the betterment of Apple's shareholders.
Regardless, I'll miss him. He was as much an influence on my life and development, both aesthetically and technologically, as any family member.
Many people will have more days, but few will have more impact. Rest in Peace.
Is the present perfect tense here more correct, or should it be the past tense, "Steve Jobs died?"
Factually it's [someone] (has) died, of course. In reportage, the present tense is typically used for headlines no matter if present or past. I.e. "The Fed increases the overnight interbank rate by 25 basis points." "[Politician] wins senate race", etc.
Steve Jobs is a visionary not because he saw the future, he is a visionary because he created it.
Watching "Pirates of Silicon Valley" impacted me as much as listening to and learning about the Beatles as a child. Steve Jobs you're forever my hero.
Legend Dies...Legacy Remains!
"In Memory of Steve Jobs" video. Made it in iMovie for the HN crowd. http://news.ycombinator.net/item?id=3081923