The Wisdom and Legacy of Steve Jobs

Everyone, myself included, seems to be mourning the loss of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, a man who led a technological revolution for which we're all grateful.  My daily routine would be a lot different without my iPhone, iPod, iPad and Macbook Pro. I'm sure the same is true of many of you.

But what's really remarkable is that so many people are realizing what an amazing person Steve Jobs was, with an amazing and inspiring attitude as he fought cancer and faced death.  Fortunately for us, he shared some really wonderful stuff - besides all those awesome gadgets - with the world, and I wanted to share some of that wisdom with you.

Photo from lisenstromberg.wordpress.com

I will preface this list of meaningful quotations with the caveat that I am merely reproducing what I found elsewhere, so while I apologize for any inaccuracies, they aren't mine. [Material found on Guardian.co.uk, BrainyQuote.com, Huffington Post, and others.]

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1.     "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 other's 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."

2.     "Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles." (BusinessWeek)

3.     "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... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do."

4.     "My model for business is The Beatles. They were four guys who kept each other's kind of negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other and the total was greater than the sum of the parts. That's how I see business: great things in business are never done by one person, they're done by a team of people." ("60 Minutes" Interview, 2003)

5.     "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.  This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life." (Stanford University commencement speech, 2005)

6.     "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. ... Stay hungry. Stay foolish." (Stanford University commencement speech, 2005)

7.     "Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations."

8.      "Sometimes life is going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith." (Stanford University commencement speech, 2005)

9.       "Picasso had a saying: 'Good artists copy, great artists steal.' We have always been shameless about stealing great ideas...I think part of what made the Macintosh great was that the people working on it were musicians, poets, artists, zoologists and historians who also happened to be the best computer scientists in the world." (1994)

10.     “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.” (Wall Street Journal, 1993)

11.     “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.” (Stanford University commencement speech, 2005)

12.       "That's been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains." (BusinessWeek interview, 1998)

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So here's to the life and legacy of a genius and all-around inspiring guy. You'll be missed, Steve Jobs.