第一篇:Apple創(chuàng)始人Steve Jobs于2005年在斯坦福大學(xué)畢業(yè)典禮上的演講
Apple創(chuàng)始人Steve Jobs于2005年在斯坦福大學(xué)畢業(yè)典禮上的演講
I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world.Truth be told, I never graduated from college, 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 somethingthe Macintoshthat 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 D all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failurewhich 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 importance ,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.(求知若渴,虛心若愚)
Thank you all very much.
第二篇:喬布斯在斯坦福大學(xué)畢業(yè)典禮上的演講
喬布斯(Steve Jobs)在斯坦福大學(xué)2005年畢業(yè)典禮上的演講
This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.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, 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.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 downthese 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 o
f 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 its 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 pol
aroid 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
第三篇:奧普拉在斯坦福大學(xué)2008畢業(yè)典禮上的演講
奧普拉在斯坦福大學(xué)2008畢業(yè)典禮上的演講[中英文對(duì)照]
Thank you, President Hennessy, and to the trustees and the faculty, to all of the parents and grandparents, to you, the Stanford graduates.Thank you for letting me share this amazing day with you.I need to begin by letting everyone in on a little secret.The secret is that Kirby Bumpus, Stanford Class of '08, is my goddaughter.So, I was thrilled when President Hennessy asked me to be your Commencement speaker, because this is the first time I've been allowed on campus since Kirby's been here.You see, Kirby's a very smart girl.She wants people to get to know her on her own terms, she says.Not in terms of who she knows.So, she never wants anyone who's first meeting her to know that I know her and she knows me.So, when she first came to Stanford for new student orientation with her mom, I hear that they arrived and everybody was so welcoming, and somebody came up to Kirby and they said, “Ohmigod, that's Gayle King!” Because a lot of people know Gayle King as my BFF [best friend forever].And so somebody comes up to Kirby, and they say, “Ohmigod, is that Gayle King?” And Kirby's like, “Uh-huh.She's my mom.”
And so the person says, “Ohmigod, does it mean, like, you know Oprah Winfrey?”
And Kirby says, “Sort of.”
I said, “Sort of? You sort of know me?” Well, I have photographic proof.I have pictures which I can e-mail to you all of Kirby riding horsey with me on all fours.So, I more than sort-of know Kirby Bumpus.And I'm so happy to be here, just happy that I finally, after four years, get to see her room.There's really nowhere else I'd rather be, because I'm so proud of Kirby, who graduates today with two degrees, one in human bio and the other in psychology.Love you, Kirby Cakes!That's how well I know her.I can call her Cakes.And so proud of her mother and father, who helped her get through this time, and her brother, Will.I really had nothing to do with her graduating from Stanford, but every time anybody's asked me in the past couple of weeks what I was doing, I would say, “I'm getting ready to go to Stanford.”
I just love saying “Stanford.” Because the truth is, I know I would have never gotten my degree at all, 'cause I didn't go to Stanford.I went to Tennessee State University.But I never would have gotten my diploma at all, because I was supposed to graduate back in 1975, but I was short one credit.And I figured, I'm just going to forget it, 'cause, you know, I'm not going to march with my class.Because by that point, I was already on television.I'd been in television since I was 19 and a sophomore.Granted, I was the only television anchor person that had an 11 o'clock curfew doing the 10 o'clock news.Seriously, my dad was like, “Well, that news is over at 10:30.Be home by 11.”
But that didn't matter to me, because I was earning a living.I was on my way.So, I thought, I'm going to let this college thing go and I only had one credit short.But, my father, from that time on and for years after, was always on my case, because I did not graduate.He'd say, “Oprah Gail”—that's my middle name—“I don't know what you're gonna do without that degree.” And I'd say, “But, Dad, I have my own television show.”
And he'd say, “Well, I still don't know what you're going to do without that degree.”
And I'd say, “But, Dad, now I'm a talk show host.” He'd say, “I don't know how you're going to get another job without that degree.”
So, in 1987, Tennessee State University invited me back to speak at their commencement.By then, I had my own show, was nationally syndicated.I'd made a movie, had been nominated for an Oscar and founded my company, Harpo.But I told them, I cannot come and give a speech unless I can earn one more credit, because my dad's still saying I'm not going to get anywhere without that degree.So, I finished my coursework, I turned in my final paper and I got the degree.And my dad was very proud.And I know that, if anything happens, that one credit will be my salvation.But I also know why my dad was insisting on that diploma, because, as B.B.King put it, “The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take that away from you.” And learning is really in the broadest sense what I want to talk about today, because your education, of course, isn't ending here.In many ways, it's only just begun.The world has so many lessons to teach you.I consider the world, this Earth, to be like a school and our life the classrooms.And sometimes here in this Planet Earth school the lessons often come dressed up as detours or roadblocks.And sometimes as full-blown crises.And the secret I've learned to getting ahead is being open to the lessons, lessons from the grandest university of all, that is, the universe itself.It's being able to walk through life eager and open to self-improvement and that which is going to best help you evolve, 'cause that's really why we're here, to evolve as human beings.To grow into more of ourselves, always moving to the next level of understanding, the next level of compassion and growth.I think about one of the greatest compliments I've ever received: I interviewed with a reporter when I was first starting out in Chicago.And then many years later, I saw the same reporter.And she said to me, “You know what? You really haven't changed.You've just become more of yourself.”
And that is really what we're all trying to do, become more of ourselves.And I believe that there's a lesson in almost everything that you do and every experience, and getting the lesson is how you move forward.It's how you enrich your spirit.And, trust me, I know that inner wisdom is more precious than wealth.The more you spend it, the more you gain.So, today, I just want to share a few lessons—meaning three—that I've learned in my journey so far.And aren't you glad? Don't you hate it when somebody says, “I'm going to share a few,” and it's 10 lessons later? And, you're like, “Listen, this is my graduation.This is not about you.” So, it's only going to be three.The three lessons that have had the greatest impact on my life have to do with feelings, with failure and with finding happiness.A year after I left college, I was given the opportunity to co-anchor the 6 o'clock news in Baltimore, because the whole goal in the media at the time I was coming up was you try to move to larger markets.And Baltimore was a much larger market than Nashville.So, getting the 6 o'clock news co-anchor job at 22 was such a big deal.It felt like the biggest deal in the world at the time.And I was so proud, because I was finally going to have my chance to be like Barbara Walters, which is who I had been trying to emulate since the start of my TV career.So, I was 22 years old, making $22,000 a year.And it's where I met my best friend, Gayle, who was an intern at the same TV station.And once we became friends, we'd say, “Ohmigod, I can't believe it!You're making $22,000 and you're only 22.Imagine when you're 40 and you're making $40,000!”
When I turned 40, I was so glad that didn't happen.So, here I am, 22, making $22,000 a year and, yet, it didn't feel right.It didn't feel right.The first sign, as President Hennessy was saying, was when they tried to change my name.The news director said to me at the time, “Nobody's going to remember Oprah.So, we want to change your name.We've come up with a name we think that people will remember and people will like.It's a friendly name: Suzie.”
Hi, Suzie.Very friendly.You can't be angry with Suzie.Remember Suzie.But my name wasn't Suzie.And, you know, I'd grown up not really loving my name, because when you're looking for your little name on the lunch boxes and the license plate tags, you're never going to find Oprah.So, I grew up not loving the name, but once I was asked to change it, I thought, well, it is my name and do I look like a Suzie to you? So, I thought, no, it doesn't feel right.I'm not going to change my name.And if people remember it or not, that's OK.And then they said they didn't like the way I looked.This was in 1976, when your boss could call you in and say, “I don't like the way you look.” Now that would be called a lawsuit, but back then they could just say, “I don't like the way you look.” Which, in case some of you in the back, if you can't tell, is nothing like Barbara Walters.So, they sent me to a salon where they gave me a perm, and after a few days all my hair fell out and I had to shave my head.And then they really didn't like the way I looked.Because now I am black and bald and sitting on TV.Not a pretty picture.But even worse than being bald, I really hated, hated, hated being sent to report on other people's tragedies as a part of my daily duty, knowing that I was just expected to observe, when everything in my instinct told me that I should be doing something, I should be lending a hand.So, as President Hennessy said, I'd cover a fire and then I'd go back and I'd try to give the victims blankets.And I wouldn't be able to sleep at night because of all the things I was covering during the day.And, meanwhile, I was trying to sit gracefully like Barbara and make myself talk like Barbara.And I thought, well, I could make a pretty goofy Barbara.And if I could figure out how to be myself, I could be a pretty good Oprah.I was trying to sound elegant like Barbara.And sometimes I didn't read my copy, because something inside me said, this should be spontaneous.So, I wanted to get the news as I was giving it to the people.So, sometimes, I wouldn't read my copy and it would be, like, six people on a pileup on I-40.Oh, my goodness.And sometimes I wouldn't read the copy—because I wanted to be spontaneous—and I'd come across a list of words I didn't know and I'd mispronounce.And one day I was reading copy and I called Canada “ca nada.” And I decided, this Barbara thing's not going too well.I should try being myself.But at the same time, my dad was saying, “Oprah Gail, this is an opportunity of a lifetime.You better keep that job.” And my boss was saying, “This is the nightly news.You're an anchor, not a social worker.Just do your job.”
So, I was juggling these messages of expectation and obligation and feeling really miserable with myself.I'd go home at night and fill up my journals, 'cause I've kept a journal since I was 15—so I now have volumes of journals.So, I'd go home at night and fill up my journals about how miserable I was and frustrated.Then I'd eat my anxiety.That's where I learned that habit.And after eight months, I lost that job.They said I was too emotional.I was too much.But since they didn't want to pay out the contract, they put me on a talk show in Baltimore.And the moment I sat down on that show, the moment I did, I felt like I'd come home.I realized that TV could be more than just a playground, but a platform for service, for helping other people lift their lives.And the moment I sat down, doing that talk show, it felt like breathing.It felt right.And that's where everything that followed for me began.And I got that lesson.When you're doing the work you're meant to do, it feels right and every day is a bonus, regardless of what you're getting paid.It's true.And how do you know when you're doing something right? How do you know that? It feels so.What I know now is that feelings are really your GPS system for life.When you're supposed to do something or not supposed to do something, your emotional guidance system lets you know.The trick is to learn to check your ego at the door and start checking your gut instead.Every right decision I've made—every right decision I've ever made—has come from my gut.And every wrong decision I've ever made was a result of me not listening to the greater voice of myself.If it doesn't feel right, don't do it.That's the lesson.And that lesson alone will save you, my friends, a lot of grief.Even doubt means don't.This is what I've learned.There are many times when you don't know what to do.When you don't know what to do, get still, get very still, until you do know what to do.And when you do get still and let your internal motivation be the driver, not only will your personal life improve, but you will gain a competitive edge in the working world as well.Because, as Daniel Pink writes in his best-seller, A Whole New Mind, we're entering a whole new age.And he calls it the Conceptual Age, where traits that set people apart today are going to come from our hearts—right brain—as well as our heads.It's no longer just the logical, linear, rules-based thinking that matters, he says.It's also empathy and joyfulness and purpose, inner traits that have transcendent worth.These qualities bloom when we're doing what we love, when we're involving the wholeness of ourselves in our work, both our expertise and our emotion.So, I say to you, forget about the fast lane.If you really want to fly, just harness your power to your passion.Honor your calling.Everybody has one.Trust your heart and success will come to you.So, how do I define success? Let me tell you, money's pretty nice.I'm not going to stand up here and tell you that it's not about money, 'cause money is very nice.I like money.It's good for buying things.But having a lot of money does not automatically make you a successful person.What you want is money and meaning.You want your work to be meaningful.Because meaning is what brings the real richness to your life.What you really want is to be surrounded by people you trust and treasure and by people who cherish you.That's when you're really rich.So, lesson one, follow your feelings.If it feels right, move forward.If it doesn't feel right, don't do it.Now I want to talk a little bit about failings, because nobody's journey is seamless or smooth.We all stumble.We all have setbacks.If things go wrong, you hit a dead end—as you will—it's just life's way of saying time to change course.So, ask every failure—this is what I do with every failure, every crisis, every difficult time—I say, what is this here to teach me? And as soon as you get the lesson, you get to move on.If you really get the lesson, you pass and you don't have to repeat the class.If you don't get the lesson, it shows up wearing another pair of pants—or skirt—to give you some remedial work.And what I've found is that difficulties come when you don't pay attention to life's whisper, because life always whispers to you first.And if you ignore the whisper, sooner or later you'll get a scream.Whatever you resist persists.But, if you ask the right question—not why is this happening, but what is this here to teach me?—it puts you in the place and space to get the lesson you need.My friend Eckhart Tolle, who's written this wonderful book called A New Earth that's all about letting the awareness of who you are stimulate everything that you do, he puts it like this: He says, don't react against a bad situation;merge with that situation instead.And the solution will arise from the challenge.Because surrendering yourself doesn't mean giving up;it means acting with responsibility.Many of you know that, as President Hennessy said, I started this school in Africa.And I founded the school, where I'm trying to give South African girls a shot at a future like yours—Stanford.And I spent five years making sure that school would be as beautiful as the students.I wanted every girl to feel her worth reflected in her surroundings.So, I checked every blueprint, I picked every pillow.I was looking at the grout in between the bricks.I knew every thread count of the sheets.I chose every girl from the villages, from nine provinces.And yet, last fall, I was faced with a crisis I had never anticipated.I was told that one of the dorm matrons was suspected of sexual abuse.That was, as you can imagine, devastating news.First, I cried—actually, I sobbed—for about half an hour.And then I said, let's get to it;that's all you get, a half an hour.You need to focus on the now, what you need to do now.So, I contacted a child trauma specialist.I put together a team of investigators.I made sure the girls had counseling and support.And Gayle and I got on a plane and flew to South Africa.And the whole time I kept asking that question: What is this here to teach me? And, as difficult as that experience has been, I got a lot of lessons.I understand now the mistakes I made, because I had been paying attention to all of the wrong things.I'd built that school from the outside in, when what really mattered was the inside out.So, it's a lesson that applies to all of our lives as a whole.What matters most is what's inside.What matters most is the sense of integrity, of quality and beauty.I got that lesson.And what I know is that the girls came away with something, too.They have emerged from this more resilient and knowing that their voices have power.And their resilience and spirit have given me more than I could ever give to them, which leads me to my final lesson—the one about finding happiness—which we could talk about all day, but I know you have other wacky things to do.Not a small topic this is, finding happiness.But in some ways I think it's the simplest of all.Gwendolyn Brooks wrote a poem for her children.It's called “Speech to the Young : Speech to the Progress-Toward.” And she says at the end, “Live not for battles won./ Live not for the-end-of-the-song./ Live in the along.” She's saying, like Eckhart Tolle, that you have to live for the present.You have to be in the moment.Whatever has happened to you in your past has no power over this present moment, because life is now.But I think she's also saying, be a part of something.Don't live for yourself alone.This is what I know for sure: In order to be truly happy, you must live along with and you have to stand for something larger than yourself.Because life is a reciprocal exchange.To move forward you have to give back.And to me, that is the greatest lesson of life.To be happy, you have to give something back.I know you know that, because that's a lesson that's woven into the very fabric of this university.It's a lesson that Jane and Leland Stanford got and one they've bequeathed to you.Because all of you know the story of how this great school came to be, how the Stanfords lost their only child to typhoid at the age of 15.They had every right and they had every reason to turn their backs against the world at that time, but instead, they channeled their grief and their pain into an act of grace.Within a year of their son's death, they had made the founding grant for this great school, pledging to do for other people's children what they were not able to do for their own boy.The lesson here is clear, and that is, if you're hurting, you need to help somebody ease their hurt.If you're in pain, help somebody else's pain.And when you're in a mess, you get yourself out of the mess helping somebody out of theirs.And in the process, you get to become a member of what I call the greatest fellowship of all, the sorority of compassion and the fraternity of service.The Stanfords had suffered the worst thing any mom and dad can ever endure, yet they understood that helping others is the way we help ourselves.And this wisdom is increasingly supported by scientific and sociological research.It's no longer just woo-woo soft-skills talk.There's actually a helper's high, a spiritual surge you gain from serving others.So, if you want to feel good, you have to go out and do some good.But when you do good, I hope you strive for more than just the good feeling that service provides, because I know this for sure, that doing good actually makes you better.So, whatever field you choose, if you operate from the paradigm of service, I know your life will have more value and you will be happy.I was always happy doing my talk show, but that happiness reached a depth of fulfillment, of joy, that I really can't describe to you or measure when I stopped just being on TV and looking at TV as a job and decided to use television, to use it and not have it use me, to use it as a platform to serve my viewers.That alone changed the trajectory of my success.So, I know this—that whether you're an actor, you offer your talent in the way that most inspires art.If you're an anatomist, you look at your gift as knowledge and service to healing.Whether you've been called, as so many of you here today getting doctorates and other degrees, to the professions of business, law, engineering, humanities, science, medicine, if you choose to offer your skills and talent in service, when you choose the paradigm of service, looking at life through that paradigm, it turns everything you do from a job into a gift.And I know you haven't spent all this time at Stanford just to go out and get a job.You've been enriched in countless ways.There's no better way to make your mark on the world and to share that abundance with others.My constant prayer for myself is to be used in service for the greater good.So, let me end with one of my favorite quotes from Martin Luther King.Dr.King said, “Not everybody can be famous.” And I don't know, but everybody today seems to want to be famous.But fame is a trip.People follow you to the bathroom, listen to you pee.It's just—try to pee quietly.It doesn't matter, they come out and say, “Ohmigod, it's you.You peed.”
That's the fame trip, so I don't know if you want that.So, Dr.King said, “Not everybody can be famous.But everybody can be great, because greatness is determined by service.” Those of you who are history scholars may know the rest of that passage.He said, “You don't have to have a college degree to serve.You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve.You don't have to know about Plato or Aristotle to serve.You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve.You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve.You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love.”
In a few moments, you'll all be officially Stanford's '08.You have the heart and the smarts to go with it.And it's up to you to decide, really, where will you now use those gifts? You've got the diploma, so go out and get the lessons, 'cause I know great things are sure to come.You know, I've always believed that everything is better when you share it, so before I go, I wanted to share a graduation gift with you.Underneath your seats you'll find two of my favorite books.Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth is my current book club selection.Our New Earth webcast has been downloaded 30 million times with that book.And Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future has reassured me I'm in the right direction.I really wanted to give you cars but I just couldn't pull that off!Congratulations, '08!
Thank you.Thank you.
第四篇:喬布斯在斯坦福大學(xué)畢業(yè)典禮上的演講
喬布斯在斯坦福大學(xué)畢業(yè)典禮上的演講
今天我能和你們一起參加畢業(yè)典禮讓我感到很榮幸,斯坦福大學(xué)是世界上一流的大學(xué)之一。我從來沒有從大學(xué)畢業(yè)。說真的,今天可能是我一生中離大學(xué)畢業(yè)最近的一天。今天我將向你們講述我生活中三個(gè)故事。這三個(gè)故事并不是什么大不了的事情,只是我生活中的三個(gè)故事而已。
第一個(gè)故事是關(guān)于怎樣把生活中的點(diǎn)點(diǎn)滴滴都串聯(lián)起來。
我在里德學(xué)院讀了6個(gè)月的書之后就退學(xué)了,但是在我真正放棄之前大約18個(gè)月的時(shí)間里,我還經(jīng)常去學(xué)校聽課。那么我為什么要退學(xué)呢?
這個(gè)故事要從我出生的時(shí)候講起。我的親生母親是一個(gè)未婚的年輕的研究生。她決定把我送給別人收養(yǎng),她非常想讓一個(gè)大學(xué)畢業(yè)生收養(yǎng)我。在我就要出生的時(shí)候,她已經(jīng)把一切準(zhǔn)備工作做好了,希望我被一對(duì)律師夫婦收養(yǎng)。唯獨(dú)有一件事沒有準(zhǔn)備好:在我出生的那一刻,那對(duì)律師夫婦在最后一分鐘才決定,他們其實(shí)想要一個(gè)女孩。所以排在候選名單上的我的養(yǎng)父母,在半夜突然接到一個(gè)電話:“我們這里剛剛生了個(gè)意料之外的男嬰,你們想要他嗎?”他們回答說道:“當(dāng)然想要!”但是我的親生母親很快就發(fā)現(xiàn),我的養(yǎng)母沒有上過大學(xué),我的養(yǎng)父甚至連高中都沒讀完。于是她拒絕在這份收養(yǎng)合同上簽字。在幾個(gè)月之后,我的養(yǎng)父母保證一定會(huì)讓我上大學(xué),這個(gè)時(shí)候她才勉強(qiáng)同意讓他們收養(yǎng)我。
在17歲那年,我真的去上了大學(xué)。但是我當(dāng)時(shí)很幼稚地選擇了一所費(fèi)用貴得能和你們斯坦福大學(xué)相媲美的學(xué)校。我的父母都是工薪階層,他們幾乎把他們一生所有的積蓄都花在了我的學(xué)費(fèi)上。在入學(xué)6個(gè)月之后,我已經(jīng)看不到在這里上學(xué)的價(jià)值所在。我當(dāng)時(shí)并不知道我真正想要的到底是什么,我也不知道這所大學(xué)怎么能幫我找到我想要的答案。但是在這里,我?guī)缀趸ü饬宋腋改敢簧娜糠e蓄。因此我決定退學(xué),并相信這是一個(gè)明智的決定。不可否認(rèn),其實(shí)我當(dāng)時(shí)的確是非常害怕的,但是現(xiàn)在看來,那可真是我這一生中作出的最好的一個(gè)決定。就在我做出退學(xué)決定的那一刻,我終于可以不再去讀那些令我厭煩的課程了。然后我就可以去學(xué)那些我感興趣的課程了。
可是事情并不如想象的那么浪漫。我不能再住在宿舍里了,所以我就只能睡在朋友家的地板上,靠回收空可樂瓶的5美分退費(fèi)買吃的。在周日的晚上,我要穿過這個(gè)城市到Hare Krishna神廟(位于紐約布魯克林下城—編者注),走上7英里的路只是為了吃頓好點(diǎn)的飯,這可是一個(gè)星期里最好的一頓飯,我喜歡那里的飯菜。
追隨我的好奇心和與直覺,我所投入過的大部分的事情,后來看來都是無比珍貴的。我在這里給你們舉個(gè)例子吧:那時(shí)候里德學(xué)院的美術(shù)字課程可能是全美最好的美術(shù)字課。這所大學(xué)里的每份海報(bào),每個(gè)抽屜的標(biāo)簽上面全部都是最漂亮的美術(shù)字體。因?yàn)槲彝藢W(xué)了,所以我不必去上那些正規(guī)的課程,可以去學(xué)學(xué)那些美術(shù)字課程,學(xué)習(xí)怎樣才能寫出漂亮的美術(shù)字。我學(xué)會(huì)了襯線字體和無襯線字體,我還學(xué)會(huì)如何改變不同字母之間的空間距離,還學(xué)會(huì)了如何去做出最好的印刷式樣。那種美妙的藝術(shù)感和歷史感,是科學(xué)永遠(yuǎn)都不可能做到的,我發(fā)現(xiàn)那真的是很讓人著迷。
在當(dāng)時(shí)看來,這些東西在我生命中好像沒有什么實(shí)際的用處,但只在十年之后,當(dāng)我們?cè)谠O(shè)計(jì)第一臺(tái)麥金塔電腦的時(shí)候,我發(fā)覺了這些東西的用處。我把當(dāng)時(shí)我學(xué)到的那些東西全
部都用到了麥金塔的設(shè)計(jì)上。那是第一臺(tái)有非常漂亮的印刷字體的電腦。如果我當(dāng)時(shí)沒有退學(xué)的話,就沒有機(jī)會(huì)去參加那個(gè)我感興趣的美術(shù)字課程,麥金塔也就不會(huì)有那么多豐富的美術(shù)字體和那些美妙的字體間距。因?yàn)閃indows只是照抄了麥金塔,所以現(xiàn)在大家使用的個(gè)人電腦才會(huì)有那么多美妙的字體。
當(dāng)然在上大學(xué)的時(shí)候,我還不能前瞻性地把那些點(diǎn)點(diǎn)滴滴聯(lián)系起來,但是在十年之后,在回顧這一切的時(shí)候,真的是豁然開朗了。
我再說一次,你在展望未來的時(shí)候可能還不能將那些點(diǎn)滴的片段串聯(lián)起來;只有在你回顧的時(shí)候才能將它們串聯(lián)起來。所以你一定要相信這些片斷會(huì)在你未來某一天里全部串聯(lián)起來。在你的生命中你必須相信某些東西:你的直覺、命運(yùn)、生命、緣分……在這個(gè)過程中從來都沒有令我失望過,而且讓我的生命更加與眾不同。
我第二個(gè)要講的故事是關(guān)于愛和失去。
我真的是非常的幸運(yùn),在很早的時(shí)候就找到了我感興趣的那些東西。沃茲和我在我們20多歲的時(shí)候就在我父母的車庫里開創(chuàng)了蘋果公司。我們很努力地工作,10年之后,這個(gè)公司從只有兩個(gè)窮小子發(fā)展到擁有4000多名員工、市值超過20億美元的大公司。在這家公司成立的第9年里,我們發(fā)布了最棒的產(chǎn)品,那就是麥金塔。那年我剛好30歲。然后,我被炒魷魚了。
你怎么可能被你自己一手創(chuàng)立起來的公司給炒魷魚了呢?嗯,在蘋果公司快速發(fā)展的時(shí)期,我們雇用了一個(gè)我認(rèn)為非常有天分的人和我一起管理這家公司。在開始的幾年里,蘋果公司運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)得非常好,但是后來我們?cè)诠疚磥淼陌l(fā)展上發(fā)生了分歧,最終我們吵了起來。當(dāng)我們吵得很兇的時(shí)候,董事會(huì)站了出來,并且站到了他的那邊。所以在我30歲的時(shí)候,我被炒了魷魚。在眾目睽睽之下我被蘋果開除了。在而立之年,這絕對(duì)是毀滅性的打擊。我生命的全部支柱都離我而去。
在被開除的最初幾個(gè)月里,我真是不知道自己該做些什么。我覺得我很令上一代的那些創(chuàng)業(yè)家們失望,我把他們交給我的接力棒弄丟了。我和創(chuàng)辦惠普的大衛(wèi)·帕克、創(chuàng)辦英特爾的鮑勃·諾伊斯見面,并想向他們道歉,因?yàn)槲野咽虑榕煤茉愀?。但是我漸漸地發(fā)現(xiàn)希望,因?yàn)槲胰匀幌矏畚覐氖碌哪切┦虑椤T谔O果公司發(fā)生的那些不愉快的事情絲毫沒有改變我的想法,一點(diǎn)也沒有改變。我被蘋果拋棄了,但我仍然鐘愛我所從事的事情。所以我決定東山再起,從頭再來。我當(dāng)時(shí)并沒有覺察,?但是事后證明,被蘋果公司炒魷魚是我這輩子發(fā)生的最棒的事情。因?yàn)?,作為一個(gè)成功者的負(fù)重感被作為一個(gè)創(chuàng)業(yè)者的輕松感所代替,對(duì)任何事情都不再那么特別看重了。這讓我感覺很自由,我進(jìn)入了生命中最有創(chuàng)造力的一個(gè)階段。在接下來的五年里,我創(chuàng)立了一個(gè)新的公司名字叫NeXT,同時(shí)還創(chuàng)立了一個(gè)叫皮克斯的公司,?然后和一個(gè)后來成為我妻子的美麗女人相識(shí)。而皮克斯制作出了世界上第一個(gè)用電腦制作的動(dòng)畫電影—《玩具總動(dòng)員》,皮克斯現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)是世界上最成功的電腦動(dòng)畫制作工作室。后來,蘋果收購了NeXT,之后我就又回到了蘋果公司。我們?cè)贜eXT公司創(chuàng)新出來的技術(shù)對(duì)蘋果的今天發(fā)展起到至關(guān)重要的作用。而且,我還和勞倫斯一起建立了一個(gè)幸福美滿的家庭。
我可以非??隙ǎ绻?dāng)初我不被蘋果開除的話,那么后來的這些事情一件也不會(huì)發(fā)生的。良藥確實(shí)苦口,但是我想病人需要這個(gè)藥。有些時(shí)候,上帝會(huì)跟你開一個(gè)很大的玩笑。
這時(shí)不要失去信仰。我確信,我熱愛我所做的事情,是這些年來支持我繼續(xù)走下去的唯一理由。你需要去找到你所愛的東西。對(duì)于工作是如此,對(duì)于你的愛人也是如此。你的工作將會(huì)占據(jù)生活中很大的一部分。你只有相信自己所做的是偉大的工作,你才能怡然自得。如果你現(xiàn)在還沒有找到,那么繼續(xù)找,不要停下來。只要全心全意地去找,在你找到的時(shí)候,你的心就會(huì)告訴你的。這就像任何深厚的關(guān)系,隨著歲月的流逝只會(huì)越來越緊密。所以繼續(xù)找,直到你找到它為止,千萬不要停下來!
我講的第三個(gè)故事是關(guān)于死亡的。
在我17歲的時(shí)候,我讀過這樣一句話:“如果你把每一天都當(dāng)作生命中最后一天去生活的話,那么有一天你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)你是正確的?!边@句話給我留下了深刻的印象。從那個(gè)時(shí)候開始,在過去的33年里,我每天早晨都會(huì)對(duì)著鏡子問自己:“如果今天是你生命中的最后一天,你會(huì)不會(huì)完成你今天想做的事情呢?”如果答案連續(xù)很多天都是“不”的話,我知道自己需要改變一些事情了。
“記住你終將死去”是我一生中遇到的最重要箴言。它幫我指明了生命的方向。因?yàn)閹缀跛械氖虑?,包括所有來自外部的期望、所有的榮譽(yù)、所有的驕傲、所有對(duì)困難和失敗的恐懼,所有的這些在死亡面前都會(huì)消失,而留下來的那些才是真正重要的東西。你有時(shí)候會(huì)想你將會(huì)失去某些東西,“記住你終將死去”是我所知道的避免這些思維陷阱的最好辦法。你已經(jīng)什么都沒有了,沒有理由不去聽從自己內(nèi)心的聲音。
大約在一年以前,我被診斷出了癌癥。我那天早晨七點(diǎn)半做了一個(gè)體檢,體檢報(bào)告清楚地顯示在我的胰腺上有一個(gè)腫瘤。說實(shí)話當(dāng)時(shí)我都不知道胰腺是什么東西。醫(yī)生告訴我說這很可能是一種無法治愈的癌癥,我只能活三到六個(gè)月的時(shí)間。我的醫(yī)生叫我回家,然后準(zhǔn)備好一切后事,那是醫(yī)生對(duì)臨終病人的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)程序。那意味著你將要把未來十年對(duì)你小孩說的話在幾個(gè)月里面說完;那意味著把每件事情都安排好,讓你的家人會(huì)盡可能輕松地生活;那意味著你要說“再見了”。我拿著那個(gè)診斷書過了整整一天,當(dāng)天晚上我作了一個(gè)切片檢查,醫(yī)生將一個(gè)內(nèi)窺鏡從我的喉嚨伸進(jìn)去,通過我的胃,然后進(jìn)入我的腸子,用一根針從我的胰腺腫瘤上取了幾個(gè)細(xì)胞。當(dāng)時(shí)我是被麻醉的,但是我的妻子在那里,后來她告訴我,當(dāng)醫(yī)生在顯微鏡下觀察到這些細(xì)胞的時(shí)候他們歡呼起來,因?yàn)檫@些細(xì)胞竟然是一種非常罕見的可以用手術(shù)治愈的胰腺癌癥細(xì)胞。之后我就做了手術(shù),現(xiàn)在我很好。
那個(gè)時(shí)候是我最接近死亡的時(shí)刻,我希望這也是我以后的幾十年里最接近的一次。從死亡線上我又活了過來,現(xiàn)在,比起只把死亡當(dāng)成一種想象中的概念,我可以更肯定地對(duì)你們說:沒有人愿意死,即使人們想上天堂,也沒有人愿意去死。但是死亡是我們每個(gè)人共同的終點(diǎn)。從來沒有人能夠逃脫它。其實(shí)也應(yīng)該是如此,因?yàn)樗劳龊芸赡芫褪巧凶畎舻囊环N“發(fā)明”。它是生命交替的媒介。它將老的清除,以便給年輕的讓路。你們現(xiàn)在是年輕的,但是從現(xiàn)在開始過不了多久,你們將會(huì)逐漸變成老的然后被送離人生舞臺(tái)。我很抱歉說得很戲劇性,但是這確實(shí)是真實(shí)的。
你的時(shí)間是有限的,所以不要浪費(fèi)時(shí)間活在別人的生活里。不要被教條束縛,那意味著你將按別人的想法生活。不要讓其他人的觀點(diǎn)弱化你內(nèi)心的聲音。還有最重要的一點(diǎn)就是,要有勇氣去聽從來自內(nèi)心和直覺的指示—你自己其實(shí)已經(jīng)知道你真正想要成為什么樣的人,而其他所有的一切都是次要的。
當(dāng)我年輕的時(shí)候,有一本很棒的雜志,叫做《地球全目錄》。它是我們那一代人的圣經(jīng)之一。它是由一個(gè)叫斯圖爾特·布蘭德的人在離這里不遠(yuǎn)的門洛帕克創(chuàng)辦的,他詩人一般神奇地將這本書帶到了這個(gè)世界。那是在20世紀(jì)60年代后期,當(dāng)時(shí)個(gè)人電腦還沒有出現(xiàn),因此這本書全部是用打字機(jī)、剪刀還有一次成影照相機(jī)做出來的。那樣子是有點(diǎn)像今天的谷歌的“平裝版”,那是在谷歌出現(xiàn)35年以前:這本雜志是理想主義的,其實(shí)這其中有許多巧妙的工具和偉大的想法。
斯圖爾特和他的伙伴出版了好幾期《地球全目錄》。當(dāng)它完成了自己使命的時(shí)候,他們出了最后一期。那是在20世紀(jì)70年代的中期,我正像你們一樣年輕。在最后一期的封底上是清晨鄉(xiāng)村公路的照片(如果你有冒險(xiǎn)精神的話,你可以自己找到這條路的),在照片之下有這樣一段話:“求知若饑,虛心若愚?!?這是他們停止發(fā)刊的告別語?!扒笾麴嚕撔娜粲??!蔽铱偸窍M约耗軌蚰菢?,現(xiàn)在,在你們即將畢業(yè),開始新的旅程的時(shí)候,我也希望你們能這樣。
求知若饑,虛心若愚。
非常感謝你們!
第五篇:Steve Jobs于2005年在斯坦福大學(xué)畢業(yè)典禮上的演講
Steve Jobs于2005年在斯坦福大學(xué)畢業(yè)典禮上的演講(兼任Apple和Pixar公司CEO)
I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world.Truth be told, I never graduated from college, 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 calligraped.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.1
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, 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.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 somethingthe Macintoshthat 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 D 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 retuned 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 D all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failurewhich 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.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.