Transcript of Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address
Stanford
0:07This program is brought to you by Stanford University.0:10Please visit us at stanford.edu0:22Thank You. I am honored to be with you today at your commencement0:30from one of the finest universities in the world.0:35Truth be told I never graduated from college0:41and this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation.0:47Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it.0:52No big deal. Just three stories.0:55The first story is about connecting the dots.1:01I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months,1:03but then stayed around as a drop-in1:05for another 18 months or so before I really quit.1:09So why did I drop out?1:12It started before I was born.1:15My biological mother was a young, unwed graduate student,1:19and she decided to put me up for adoption.1:22She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates,1:26so everything was all set for me to1:28be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife.1:31Except that when I popped out they decided1:34at the last minute that they really wanted a girl.1:37So my parents, who were on a waiting list,1:40got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected1:44baby boy; do you want him?"1:47They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that1:53my mother had never graduated from college1:55and that my father had never graduated from high school.1:59She refused to sign the final adoption papers.2:03She only relented a few months later when2:05my parents promised that I would go to college. This was the start in my life.2:12And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college2:19that was almost as expensive as Stanford,2:22and all of my working-class parents'2:24savings were being spent on my college tuition.2:27After six months, I couldn't see the value in it.2:30I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life2:32and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out.2:36And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved2:40their entire life.2:42So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK.2:46It was pretty scary at the time,2:49but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made.2:54The minute I dropped out I could stop2:56taking the required classes that didn't interest me,2:59and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.3:04It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room,3:08so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms,3:10I returned coke bottles for the 5 cent deposits to buy food with,3:14and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday3:17night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna3:21temple. I loved it.3:23And much of what I stumbled into by following3:26my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.3:29Let me give you one example: Reed College at that3:34time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country.3:38Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer,3:42was beautifully hand calligraphed.3:45Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes,3:49I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this.3:53I learned about serif and san serif typefaces,3:56about varying the amount of space3:57between different letter combinations,3:59about what makes great typography great.4:03It was beautiful, historical,4:05artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture,4:09and I found it fascinating.4:12None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life.4:17But ten years later,4:18when we were designing the first Macintosh computer,4:21it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac.4:25It was the first computer with beautiful typography.4:29If I had never dropped in on that single course in college,4:32the Mac would have never had multiple4:34typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts.4:37And since Windows just copied the Mac,4:39it's likely that no personal computer would have them.4:47If I had never dropped out,4:51I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class,4:54and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography4:57that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect5:00the dots looking forward when I was in college.5:02But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.5:07Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward;5:10you can only connect them looking backwards.5:12So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect5:15in your future.5:16You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma,5:20whatever.5:22Beleiveing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart5:28Even when it leads you off the well worn path, and that will make all the difference.5:38My second story is about love and loss.5:44I was lucky I found what I loved to do early in life.5:48Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20.5:51We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of5:55us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees.5:59We had just released our finest creation the Macintosh6:03a year earlier, and I had just turned 30.6:06And then I got fired.6:09How can you get fired from a company you started?6:12Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought6:15was very talented to run the company with me,6:18and for the first year or so things went well.6:20But then our visions of the future began6:22to diverge and eventually we had a falling out.6:25When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him.6:29So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out.6:32What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone,6:35and it was devastating.6:38I really didn't know what to do for a few months.6:41I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs6:43down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me.6:47I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce6:50and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly.6:54I was a very public failure,6:55and I even thought about running away from the valley.6:58But something slowly began to dawn on me I still loved what I did.7:03The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit.7:07I had been rejected, but I was still in love.7:12And so I decided to start over.7:14I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from7:17Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me.7:21The heaviness of being successful was7:23replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again,7:26less sure about everything.7:27It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.7:31During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT,7:34another company named Pixar,7:35and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife.7:39Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature7:42film, Toy Story,7:44and is now the most successful animation studio in the world.7:49In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT,7:53I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at7:56NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance.7:59And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.8:03I'm pretty sure none of this would8:05have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple.8:08It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it.8:12Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith.8:18I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved8:21what I did. You've got to find what you love.8:24And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers.8:28Your work is going to fill a large part of your life,8:30and the only way to be truly satisfied8:32is to do what you believe is great work.8:35And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.8:38If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle.8:43As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it.8:47And, like any great relationship,8:49it just gets better and better as the years roll on.8:52So keep looking. Don't settle.9:05My third story is about death.9:09When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like:9:12"If you live each day as if it was your last,9:15someday you'll most certainly be right."9:20It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years,9:25I have looked in the mirror every morning9:27and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life,9:30would I want to do what I am about to do today?"9:34And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row,9:37I know I need to change something.9:40Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important9:43tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.9:47Because almost everything all external expectations, all pride,9:52all fear of embarrassment or failure -9:54these things just fall away in the face of death,9:58leaving only what is truly important.10:00Remembering that you are going to die is the best10:03way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.10:08You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.10:13About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer.10:16I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning,10:20and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas.10:23I didn't even know what a pancreas was.10:26The doctors told me this was almost10:28certainly a type of cancer that is incurable,10:30and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months.10:35My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order,10:40which is doctor's code for prepare to die.10:42It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought10:47you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months.10:51It means to make sure everything is buttoned10:53up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family.10:56It means to say your goodbyes.11:01I lived with that diagnosis all day.11:04Later that evening I had a biopsy,11:06where they stuck an endoscope down my throat,11:08through my stomach and into my intestines,11:11put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor.11:14I was sedated, but my wife, who was there,11:18told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope11:21the doctors started crying because it turned out to be11:24a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery.11:29I had the surgery and thankfully I'm fine now.11:40This was the closest I've been to facing death,11:43and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades.11:46Having lived through it,11:48I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when11:51death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:11:55No one wants to die.11:58Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there.12:02And yet death is the destination we all share.12:06No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be,12:10because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life.12:15It is Life's change agent.12:16It clears out the old to make way for the new.12:19Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now,12:24you will gradually become the old and be cleared away.12:28Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.12:32Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.12:38Don't be trapped by dogma which is living12:40with the results of other people's thinking.12:42Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner12:46voice. And most important,12:48have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.12:51They somehow already know what you truly want to become.12:55Everything else is secondary.13:09When I was young,13:11there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog,13:15which was one of the bibles of my generation.13:18It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here13:21in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch.13:25This was in the late 1960's,13:27before personal computers and desktop publishing,13:30so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras.13:34It was sort of like Google in paperback form,13:3635 years before Google came along: it was idealistic,13:41overflowing with neat tools, and great notions.13:45Stewart and his team put out several13:47issues of The Whole Earth Catalog,13:48and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue.13:53It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age.13:58On the back cover of their final issue14:00was a photograph of an early morning country road,14:04the kind you might find yourself14:05hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous.14:08Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."14:13It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry.14:18Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself.14:23And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.14:28Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.14:31Thank you all very much.14:57The preceding program is copyrighted by Stanford University.15:01Please visit us at stanford.edu
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