第一篇:喬布斯在斯坦福大學(xué)畢業(yè)典禮上的演講(英文中文全文)
New York: 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 somethingI 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 creationa 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 downI 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 everythingthese 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.我今天很榮幸能和你們一起參加畢業(yè)典禮,斯坦福大學(xué)是世界上最好的大學(xué)之一。我從來沒有從大學(xué)中畢業(yè)。說實(shí)話,今天也許是在我的生命中離大學(xué)畢業(yè)最近的一天了。今天我想向你們講述我生活中的三個(gè)故事。不是什么大不了的事情,只是三個(gè)故事而已。
第一個(gè)故事是關(guān)于如何把生命中的點(diǎn)點(diǎn)滴滴串連起來。
我在Reed大學(xué)讀了六個(gè)月之后就退學(xué)了,但是在十八個(gè)月以后——我真正的作出退學(xué)決定之前,我還經(jīng)常去學(xué)校。我為什么要退學(xué)呢?
故事從我出生的時(shí)候講起。我的親生母親是一個(gè)年輕的,沒有結(jié)婚的大學(xué)畢業(yè)生。她決定讓別人收養(yǎng)我,她十分想讓我被大學(xué)畢業(yè)生收養(yǎng)。所以在我出生的時(shí)候,她已經(jīng)做好了一切的準(zhǔn)備工作。所以我的養(yǎng)父母突然在半夜接到了一個(gè)電話:“我們現(xiàn)在這兒有一個(gè)不小心生出來的男嬰,你們想要他嗎?”他們回答道: “當(dāng)然!”但是我親生母親隨后發(fā)現(xiàn),我的養(yǎng)母從來沒有上過大學(xué),我的養(yǎng)父 甚至從沒有讀過高中。她拒絕簽這個(gè)收養(yǎng)合同。只是在幾個(gè)月以后,我的父母答應(yīng)她一定要讓我上大學(xué),那個(gè)時(shí)候她才勉強(qiáng)同意。
在十七歲那年,我真的上了大學(xué)。但是我很愚蠢的選擇了一個(gè)幾乎和你們斯坦福大學(xué)一樣貴的學(xué)校, 我父母還處于藍(lán)領(lǐng)階層,他們幾乎把所有積蓄都花在了我的學(xué)費(fèi)上面。在六個(gè)月后, 我已經(jīng)看不到其中的價(jià)值所在。我不知道我真正想要做什么,我也不知道大學(xué)能怎樣幫助我找到答案。但是在這里,我?guī)缀趸ü饬宋腋改高@一輩子的 全部積蓄。所以我決定要退學(xué),我覺得這是個(gè)正確的決定。不能否認(rèn),我當(dāng)時(shí)確實(shí)非常的害怕,但是現(xiàn)在回頭看看,那的確是我這一生中最棒的一個(gè)決定。在我做出退學(xué)決定的那一刻,我終于可以不必去讀那些令我提不起絲毫興趣的課程了。然后我可以開始去修那些看起來有點(diǎn)意思的課程。
但是這并不是那么浪漫。我失去了我的宿舍,所以我只能在朋友房間的地板上面睡覺,我去撿可以換5美分的可樂罐,僅僅為了填飽肚子, 在星期天的晚上,我需要走七英里的路程,穿過這個(gè)城市到Hare Krishna神廟(注:位于紐約Brooklyn下城),只是為了能吃上好飯——這個(gè)星期唯一一頓好一點(diǎn)的飯,我喜歡那里的飯菜。
我跟著我的直覺和好奇心走, 遇到的很多東西,此后被證明是無價(jià)之寶。讓我給你們舉一個(gè)例子吧:Reed大學(xué)在那時(shí)提供也許是全美最好的美術(shù)字課程。在這個(gè)大學(xué)里面的每個(gè)海報(bào), 每個(gè)抽屜的標(biāo)簽上面全都是漂亮的美術(shù)字。因?yàn)槲彝藢W(xué)了, 不必去上正規(guī)的課程, 所以我決定去參加這個(gè)課程,去學(xué)學(xué)怎樣寫出漂亮的美術(shù)字。我學(xué)到了san serif 和serif字體, 我學(xué)會(huì)了怎么樣在不同的字母組合之中改變空白間距, 還有怎么樣才能作出最棒的印刷式樣。那種美好、歷史感和藝術(shù)精妙,是科學(xué)永遠(yuǎn)不能捕捉到的, 我發(fā)現(xiàn)那實(shí)在是太迷人了。當(dāng)時(shí)看起來這些東西在我的生命中,好像都沒有什么實(shí)際應(yīng)用的可能。但是十年之后,當(dāng)我們?cè)谠O(shè)計(jì)第一臺(tái)Macintosh電腦的時(shí)候,就不是那樣了。我把當(dāng)時(shí)我學(xué)的那些 東西全都設(shè)計(jì)進(jìn)了Mac。那是第一臺(tái)使用了漂亮的印刷字體的電腦。如果我當(dāng)時(shí)沒有退學(xué), 就不會(huì)有機(jī)會(huì)去參加這個(gè)我感興趣的美術(shù)字課程, Mac就不會(huì)有這么多豐富的字體,以及賞心悅目的字體間距。因 為Windows只是照抄了Mac,所以現(xiàn)在個(gè)人電腦才能有現(xiàn)在這么美妙的字型。
當(dāng)然我在大學(xué)的時(shí)候,還不可能把從前的點(diǎn)點(diǎn)滴滴串連起來,但是當(dāng)我十年后回顧這一切的時(shí)候,真的豁然開朗了。
再次說明的是,你在向前展望的時(shí)候不可能將這些片斷串連起來;你只能在回顧的時(shí)候?qū)Ⅻc(diǎn)點(diǎn)滴滴串連起來。所以你必須相信這些片斷會(huì)在你未來的某一天串連起來。你必須要相信某些東西:你的勇氣、目的、生命、因緣......這個(gè)過程從來沒有令我失望,只是讓我的生命
更加地與眾不同。
我的第二個(gè)故事是關(guān)于愛和失去。
我非常幸運(yùn), 因?yàn)槲以诤茉绲臅r(shí)候就找到了我鐘愛的東西。Woz和我在二十歲的時(shí)候就在父母的車庫里面開創(chuàng)了蘋果公司。我們工作得很努力, 十年之后, 這個(gè)公司從那兩個(gè)車庫中的窮小子發(fā)展到了超過四千名的雇員、價(jià)值超過二十億的大公司。在公司成立的第九年,我們剛剛發(fā)布了最好的產(chǎn)品,那就是Macintosh。我也快要到三十歲了。在那一年, 我被炒了魷魚。你怎么可能被你自己創(chuàng)立的公司炒了魷魚呢? 嗯,在蘋果快速成長的時(shí)候,我們雇用了一個(gè)很有天分的家伙和我一起管理這個(gè)公司, 在最初的幾年,公司運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)的很好。但是后來我們對(duì)未來的看法發(fā)生了分歧, 最終我們吵了起來。當(dāng)爭吵到不可開交的時(shí)候, 董事會(huì)站在了他的那一邊。所以在三十歲的時(shí)候, 我被炒了。在這么多人目光下我被炒了。在而立之年,我生命的全部支柱離自己遠(yuǎn)去, 這真是毀滅性的打擊。
在最初的幾個(gè)月里,我真是不知道該做些什么。我覺得我很令上一代的創(chuàng)業(yè)家們很失望,我把他們交給我的接力棒弄丟了。我和創(chuàng)辦惠普的David Pack、創(chuàng)辦Intel的Bob Noyce見面,并試圖向他們道歉。我把事情弄得糟糕透頂了。但是我漸漸發(fā)現(xiàn)了曙光,我仍然喜愛我從事的這些東西。蘋果公司發(fā)生的這些事情絲毫的沒有改變這些, 一點(diǎn)也沒有。我被驅(qū)逐了,但是我仍然鐘愛我所做的事情。所以我決定從頭再來。我當(dāng)時(shí)沒有覺察, 但是事后證明,從蘋果公司被炒是我這輩子發(fā)生的最棒的事情。因?yàn)椋鳛橐粋€(gè)成功者的負(fù)重感被作為一個(gè)創(chuàng)業(yè)者的輕松感覺所重新代替, 沒有比這更確定的事情了。這讓我覺得如此自由, 進(jìn)入了我生命中最有創(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)名叫NeXT的公司, 還有一個(gè)叫Pixar的公司, 然后和一個(gè)后來成為我妻子的優(yōu)雅女人相識(shí)。Pixar制作了世界上第一個(gè)用電腦制作的動(dòng)畫電影——“玩具總動(dòng)員”,Pixar現(xiàn)在也是世界上最成功的電腦制作工作室。
在后來的一系列運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)中,Apple收購了NeXT,然后我又回到了Apple公司。我們?cè)贜eXT發(fā)展的技術(shù)在Apple的今天的復(fù)興之中發(fā)揮了關(guān)鍵的作用。而且,我還和Laurence 一起建立了一個(gè)幸福完美的家庭。
我可以非??隙?如果我不被Apple開除的話,這些事情一件也不會(huì)發(fā)生的。這個(gè)良藥的味道實(shí)在是太苦了,但是我想病人需要這個(gè)藥。有些時(shí)候, 生活會(huì)拿起一塊磚頭向你的腦袋上猛拍一下。不要失去信仰。我很清楚唯一使我一直走下去的,就是我做的事情令我無比鐘愛。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,只要全心全意的去找,在你找到的時(shí)候,你的心會(huì)告訴你的。就像任何真誠的關(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,不要停下來!我的第三個(gè)故事是關(guān)于死亡的。
當(dāng)我十七歲的時(shí)候, 我讀到了一句話:“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@句話給我留下了一個(gè)印象。從那時(shí)開始,過了33 年,我在每天早晨都會(huì)對(duì)著鏡子問自己:“如果今天是我生命中的最后一天, 你會(huì)不會(huì)完成你今天想做的事情呢?”當(dāng)答案連續(xù)多天是“No”的時(shí)候, 我知道自己需要改變某些事情了?!坝涀∧慵磳⑺廊ァ笔俏乙簧杏龅降淖钪匾鹧?。它幫我指明了生命中重要的選擇。因?yàn)閹缀跛械氖虑? 包括所有的榮譽(yù)、所有的驕傲、所有對(duì)難堪和失敗的恐懼,這些在死亡面前都會(huì)消失。我看到的是留下的真正重要的東西。你有時(shí)候會(huì)思考你將會(huì)失去某些東西, “記住你即將死去”是我知道的避免這些想法的最好辦法。你已經(jīng)赤身裸體了,你沒有理由不去跟隨自己內(nèi)心的聲音。
大概一年以前, 我被診斷出癌癥。我在早晨七點(diǎn)半做了一個(gè)檢查, 檢查清楚的顯示在我的胰腺有一個(gè)腫瘤。我當(dāng)時(shí)都不知道胰腺是什么東西。醫(yī)生告訴我那很可能是一種無法治愈的癌癥, 我還有三到六個(gè)月的時(shí)間活在這個(gè)世界上。我的醫(yī)生叫我回家, 然后整理好我的一切, 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)盡可能輕松的生活;那意味著你要說“再見了”。
我拿著那個(gè)診斷書過了一整天,那天晚上我作了一個(gè)活切片檢查,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, 用一根針在我的胰腺上的腫瘤上取了幾個(gè)細(xì)胞。我當(dāng)時(shí)是被麻醉的,但是我的妻子在那里, 后來告訴我,當(dāng)醫(yī)生在顯微鏡下觀察這些細(xì)胞的時(shí)候他們開始尖叫, 因?yàn)檫@些細(xì)胞最后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。我做了這個(gè)手術(shù),現(xiàn)在我痊愈了。
那是我最接近死亡的時(shí)候, 我希望這也是以后的幾十年最接近的一次。從死亡線上又活了過來, 我可以比以前把死亡只當(dāng)成一 種想象中的概念的時(shí)候,更肯定一點(diǎn)地對(duì)你們說:沒有人愿意死, 即使人們想上天堂, 也不會(huì)為了去那里而死。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。也應(yīng)該如此。因?yàn)樗劳鼍褪巧凶詈玫囊粋€(gè)發(fā)明。它將舊的清除以便給新的讓路。你們現(xiàn)在是新的, 但是從現(xiàn)在開始不久以后, 你們將會(huì)逐漸的變成舊的然后被送離人生舞臺(tái)。我很抱歉這很戲劇性, 但是這十分的真實(shí)。
你們的時(shí)間很有限, 所以不要將他們浪費(fèi)在重復(fù)其他人的生活上。不要被教條束縛,那意味著你和其他人思考的結(jié)果一起生活。不要被其他人喧囂的觀點(diǎn)掩蓋你真正的內(nèi)心的聲音。還有最重要的是, 你要有勇氣去聽從你直覺和心靈的指示——它們?cè)谀撤N程度上知道你想要成為什么樣子,所有其他的事情都是次要的。
當(dāng)我年輕的時(shí)候,有一本叫做“整個(gè)地球的目錄”振聾發(fā)聵的雜志,它是我們那一代人的圣經(jīng)之一。它是一個(gè)叫Stewart Brand的家伙在離這里不遠(yuǎn)的Menlo Park編輯的,他象詩一般神奇地將這本書帶到了這個(gè)世界。那是六十年代后期, 在個(gè)人電腦出現(xiàn)之前, 所以這本書全部是用打字機(jī),、剪刀還有偏光鏡制造的。有點(diǎn)像用軟皮包裝的Google, 在Google出現(xiàn)三十五年之前:這是理想主義的,其中有許多靈巧的工具和偉大的想法。Stewart和他的伙伴出版了幾期的“整個(gè)地球的目錄”,當(dāng)它完成了自己使命的時(shí)候,他們做出了最后一期的目錄。那是在七十年代的中期, 我正是你們的年紀(jì)。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?!边@是他們停止了發(fā)刊的告別語?!扒笾麴?,虛心若愚。(stay hungry,stay foolish)”我總是希望自己能夠那樣,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!
第二篇:喬布斯在斯坦福大學(xué)畢業(yè)典禮上的演講.中文
喬布斯在斯坦福大學(xué)畢業(yè)典禮上的演講
史蒂夫?喬布斯(Steve Jobs)今年 6 月在斯坦福大學(xué)的演講中談到了他生活中的三次體驗(yàn),這三次體驗(yàn)不僅在斯坦福大學(xué)的畢業(yè)生、也在硅谷乃至其他地方的技術(shù)同行中引起了巨大反響。尤其The Whole Earth Catalog提到的話,作為雜志,這是一種精神,一種氣質(zhì)。
“好學(xué)若饑、謙卑若愚”
很榮幸和大家一道參加這所世界上最好的一座大學(xué)的畢業(yè)典禮。我大學(xué)沒畢業(yè),說實(shí)話,這是我第一次離大學(xué)畢業(yè)典禮這么近。今天我想給大家講三個(gè)我自己的故事,不講別的,也不講大道理,就講三個(gè)故事。
第一個(gè)故事講的是點(diǎn)與點(diǎn)之間的關(guān)系。我在里德學(xué)院(Reed College)只讀了六個(gè)月就退學(xué)了,此后便在學(xué)校里旁聽,又過了大約一年半,我徹底離開。那么,我為什么退學(xué)呢?這得從我出生前講起。我的生母是一名年輕的未婚在校研究生,她決定將我送給別人收養(yǎng)。她非常希望收養(yǎng)我的是有大學(xué)學(xué)歷的人,所以把一切都安排好了,我一出生就交給一對(duì)律師夫婦收養(yǎng)。沒想到我落地的霎那間,那對(duì)夫婦卻決定收養(yǎng)一名女孩。就這樣,我的養(yǎng)父母─當(dāng)時(shí)他們還在登記冊(cè)上排隊(duì)等著呢─半夜三更接到一個(gè)電話: “我們這兒有一個(gè)沒人要的男嬰,你們要么?”“當(dāng)然要”他們回答。但是,我的生母后來發(fā)現(xiàn)我的養(yǎng)母不是大學(xué)畢業(yè)生,我的養(yǎng)父甚至連中學(xué)都沒有畢業(yè),所以她拒絕在最后的收養(yǎng)文件上簽字。不過,沒過幾個(gè)月她就心軟了,因?yàn)槲业酿B(yǎng)父母許諾日后一定送我上大學(xué)。年后,我真的進(jìn)了大學(xué)。當(dāng)時(shí)我很天真,選了一所學(xué)費(fèi)幾乎和斯坦福大學(xué)一樣昂貴的學(xué)校,當(dāng)工人的養(yǎng)父母傾其所有的積蓄為我支付了大學(xué)學(xué)費(fèi)。讀了六個(gè)月后,我卻看不出上學(xué)有什么意義。我既不知道自己這一生想干什么,也不知道大學(xué)是否能夠幫我弄明白自己想干什么。這時(shí),我就要花光父母一輩子節(jié)省下來的錢了。所以,我決定退學(xué),并且堅(jiān)信日后會(huì)證明我這樣做是對(duì)的。當(dāng)年做出這個(gè)決定時(shí)心里直打鼓,但現(xiàn)在回想起來,這還真是我有生以來做出的最好的決定之一。從退學(xué)那一刻起,我就可以不再選那些我毫無興趣的必修課,開始旁聽一些看上去有意思的課。那些日子一點(diǎn)兒都不浪漫。我沒有宿舍,只能睡在朋友房間的地板上。我去退還可樂瓶,用那五分錢的押金來買吃的。每個(gè)星期天晚上我都要走七英里,到城那頭的黑爾-科里施納禮拜堂去,吃每周才能享用一次的美餐。我喜歡這樣。我憑著好奇心和直覺所干的這些事情,有許多后來都證明是無價(jià)之寶。我給大家舉個(gè)例子:當(dāng)時(shí),里德學(xué)院的書法課大概是全國最好的。校園里所有的公告欄和每個(gè)抽屜標(biāo)簽上的字都寫得非常漂亮。當(dāng)時(shí)我已經(jīng)退學(xué),不用正常上課,所以我決定選一門書法課,學(xué)學(xué)怎么寫好字。我學(xué)習(xí)寫帶短截線和不帶短截線的印刷字體,根據(jù)不同字母組合調(diào)整其間距,以及怎樣把版式調(diào)整得好上加好。這門課太棒了,既有歷史價(jià)值,又有藝術(shù)造詣,這一點(diǎn)科學(xué)就做不到,而我覺得它妙不可言。
當(dāng)時(shí)我并不指望書法在以后的生活中能有什么實(shí)用價(jià)值。但是,十年之后,我們?cè)谠O(shè)計(jì)第一臺(tái) Macintosh 計(jì)算機(jī)時(shí),它一下子浮現(xiàn)在我眼前。于是,我們把這些東西全都設(shè)計(jì)進(jìn)了計(jì)算機(jī)中。這是第一臺(tái)有這么漂亮的文字版式的計(jì)算機(jī)。要不是我當(dāng)初在大學(xué)里偶然選了這么一門課,Macintosh 計(jì)算機(jī)絕不會(huì)有那么多種印刷字體或間距安排合理的字號(hào)。要不是 Windows 照搬了 Macintosh,個(gè)人電腦可能不會(huì)有這些字體和字號(hào)。要不是退了學(xué),我決不
會(huì)碰巧選了這門書法課,個(gè)人電腦也可能不會(huì)有現(xiàn)在這些漂亮的版式了。當(dāng)然,我在大學(xué)里不可能從這一點(diǎn)上看到它與將來的關(guān)系。十年之后再回頭看,兩者之間的關(guān)系就非常、非常清楚了。你們同樣不可能從現(xiàn)在這個(gè)點(diǎn)上看到將來;只有回頭看時(shí),才會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)它們之間的關(guān)系。所以,要相信這些點(diǎn)遲早會(huì)連接到一起。你們必須信賴某些東西─直覺、歸宿、生命,還有業(yè)力,等等。這樣做從來沒有讓我的希望落空過,而且還徹底改變了我的生活。
我的第二個(gè)故事是關(guān)于好惡與得失。幸運(yùn)的是,我在很小的時(shí)候就發(fā)現(xiàn)自己喜歡做什么。我在 20 歲時(shí)和沃茲(Woz,蘋果公司創(chuàng)始人之一 Wozon 的昵稱─譯注)在我父母的車庫里辦起了蘋果公司。我們干得很賣力,十年后,蘋果公司就從車庫里我們兩個(gè)人發(fā)展成為一個(gè)擁有 20 億元資產(chǎn)、4,000 名員工的大企業(yè)。那時(shí),我們剛剛推出了我們最好的產(chǎn)品─ Macintosh 電腦─那是在第 9 年,我剛滿 30 歲??珊髞恚冶唤夤土?。你怎么會(huì)被自己辦的公司解雇呢?是這樣,隨著蘋果公司越做越大,我們聘了一位我認(rèn)為非常有才華的人與我一道管理公司。在開始的一年多里,一切都很順利??墒?,隨后我倆對(duì)公司前景的看法開始出現(xiàn)分歧,最后我倆反目了。這時(shí),董事會(huì)站在了他那一邊,所以在 30 歲那年,我離開了公司,而且這件事鬧得滿城風(fēng)雨。我成年后的整個(gè)生活重心都沒有了,這使我心力交瘁。一連幾個(gè)月,我真的不知道應(yīng)該怎么辦。我感到自己給老一代的創(chuàng)業(yè)者丟了臉─因?yàn)槲胰拥袅私坏阶约菏掷锏慕恿Π?。我去見了戴維?帕卡德(David Packard,惠普公司創(chuàng)始人之一─譯注)和鮑勃?諾伊斯(Bob Noyce,英特爾公司創(chuàng)建者之一─譯注),想為把事情搞得這么糟糕說聲道歉。這次失敗弄得沸沸揚(yáng)揚(yáng)的,我甚至想過逃離硅谷。但是,漸漸地,我開始有了一個(gè)想法─我仍然熱愛我過去做的一切。在蘋果公司發(fā)生的這些**絲毫沒有改變這一點(diǎn)。我雖然被拒之門外,但我仍然深愛我的事業(yè)。于是,我決定從頭開始。
雖然當(dāng)時(shí)我并沒有意識(shí)到,但事實(shí)證明,被蘋果公司炒魷魚是我一生中碰到的最好的事情。盡管前景未卜,但從頭開始的輕松感取代了保持成功的沉重感。這使我進(jìn)入了一生中最富有創(chuàng)造力的時(shí)期之一。在此后的五年里,我開了一家名叫 NeXT 的公司和一家叫皮克斯的公司,我還愛上一位了不起的女人,后來娶了她。皮克斯公司推出了世界上第一部用電腦制作的動(dòng)畫片《玩具總動(dòng)員》(Toy Story),它現(xiàn)在是全球最成功的動(dòng)畫制作室。世道輪回,蘋果公司買下 NeXT 后,我又回到了蘋果公司,我們?cè)?NeXT 公司開發(fā)的技術(shù)成了蘋果公司這次重新崛起的核心。我和勞倫娜(Laurene)也建立了美滿的家庭。
我確信,如果不是被蘋果公司解雇,這一切決不可能發(fā)生。這是一劑苦藥,可我認(rèn)為苦藥利于病。有時(shí)生活會(huì)當(dāng)頭給你一棒,但不要灰心。我堅(jiān)信讓我一往無前的唯一力量就是我熱愛我所做的一切。所以,一定得知道自己喜歡什么,選擇愛人時(shí)如此,選擇工作時(shí)同樣如此。工作將是生活中的一大部分,讓自己真正滿意的唯一辦法,是做自己認(rèn)為是有意義的工作;做有意義的工作的唯一辦法,是熱愛自己的工作。你們?nèi)绻€沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)自己喜歡什么,那就不斷地去尋找,不要急于做出決定。就像一切要憑著感覺去做的事情一樣,一旦找到了自己喜歡的事,感覺就會(huì)告訴你。就像任何一種美妙的東西,歷久彌新。所以說,要不斷地尋找,直到找到自己喜歡的東西。不要半途而廢。我的第三個(gè)故事與死亡有關(guān)。17 歲那年,我讀到過這樣一段話,大意是:“如果把每一天都當(dāng)作生命的最后一天,總有一天你會(huì)如愿以償?!蔽矣涀×诉@句話,從那時(shí)起,33 年過去了,我每天早晨都對(duì)著鏡子自問: “假如今天是生命的最后一天,我還會(huì)去做今天要做的事嗎?”如果一連許多天我的回答都是“不”,我知道自己應(yīng)該有所改變了。
讓我能夠做出人生重大抉擇的最主要辦法是,記住生命隨時(shí)都有可能結(jié)束。因?yàn)閹缀跛械臇|西─所有對(duì)自身之外的希求、所有的尊嚴(yán)、所有對(duì)困窘和失敗的恐懼─在死亡來臨時(shí)都將不復(fù)存在,只剩下真正重要的東西。記住自己隨時(shí)都會(huì)死去,這是我所知道的防止患得患失的最好方法。你已經(jīng)一無所有了,還有什么理由不跟著自己的感覺走呢。
大約一年前,我被診斷患了癌癥。那天早上七點(diǎn)半,我做了一次掃描檢查,結(jié)果清楚地表明我的胰腺上長了一個(gè)瘤子,可那時(shí)我連胰腺是什么還不知道呢!醫(yī)生告訴我說,幾乎可以確診這是一種無法治愈的惡性腫瘤,我最多還能活 3 到 6 個(gè)月。醫(yī)生建議我回去把一切都安排好,其實(shí)這是在暗示“準(zhǔn)備后事”。也就是說,把今后十年要跟孩子們說的事情在這幾個(gè)月內(nèi)囑咐完;也就是說,把一切都安排妥當(dāng),盡可能不給家人留麻煩;也就是說,去跟大家訣別。
那一整天里,我的腦子一直沒離開這個(gè)診斷。到了晚上,我做了一次組織切片檢查,他們把一個(gè)內(nèi)窺鏡通過喉嚨穿過我的胃進(jìn)入腸子,用針頭在胰腺的瘤子上取了一些細(xì)胞組織。當(dāng)時(shí)我用了麻醉劑,陪在一旁的妻子后來告訴我,醫(yī)生在顯微鏡里看了細(xì)胞之后叫了起來,原來這是一種少見的可以通過外科手術(shù)治愈的惡性腫瘤。我做了手術(shù),現(xiàn)在好了。
這是我和死神離得最近的一次,我希望也是今后幾十年里最近的一次。有了這次經(jīng)歷之后,現(xiàn)在我可以更加實(shí)在地和你們談?wù)撍劳?,而不是純粹紙上談兵,那就? 誰都不愿意死。就是那些想進(jìn)天堂的人也不愿意死后再進(jìn)。然而,死亡是我們共同的歸宿,沒人能擺脫。我們注定會(huì)死,因?yàn)樗劳龊芸赡苁巧詈玫囊豁?xiàng)發(fā)明。它推進(jìn)生命的變遷,舊的不去,新的不來。現(xiàn)在,你們就是新的,但在不久的將來,你們也會(huì)逐漸成為舊的,也會(huì)被淘汰。對(duì)不起,話說得太過分了,不過這是千真萬確的。
你們的時(shí)間都有限,所以不要按照別人的意愿去活,這是浪費(fèi)時(shí)間。不要囿于成見,那是在按照別人設(shè)想的結(jié)果而活。不要讓別人觀點(diǎn)的聒噪聲淹沒自己的心聲。最主要的是,要有跟著自己感覺和直覺走的勇氣。無論如何,感覺和直覺早就知道你到底想成為什么樣的人,其他都是次要的。
我年輕時(shí)有一本非常好的刊物,叫《全球概覽》(The Whole Earth Catalog),這是我那代人的寶書之一,創(chuàng)辦人名叫斯圖爾特?布蘭德(Stewart Brand),就住在離這兒不遠(yuǎn)的門洛帕克市。他用詩一般的語言把刊物辦得生動(dòng)活潑。那是 20 世紀(jì) 60 年代末,還沒有個(gè)人電腦和桌面印刷系統(tǒng),全靠打字機(jī)、剪刀和寶麗萊照相機(jī)(Polaroid)。它就像一種紙質(zhì)的 Google,卻比 Google 早問世了 35 年。這份刊物太完美了,查閱手段齊備、構(gòu)思不凡。
斯圖爾特和他的同事們出了好幾期《全球概覽》,到最后辦不下去時(shí),他們出了最后一期。那是 20 世紀(jì) 70 年代中期,我也就是你們現(xiàn)在的年紀(jì)。最后一期的封底上是一張清晨鄉(xiāng)間小路的照片,就是那種愛冒險(xiǎn)的人等在那兒搭便車的那種小路。照片下面寫道: 好學(xué)若饑、謙卑若愚。那是他們??暗母鎰e辭。
求知若渴,大智若愚。這也是我一直想做到的。眼下正值諸位大學(xué)畢業(yè)、開始新生活之際,我同樣愿大家: 好學(xué)若饑、謙卑若愚。
第三篇:喬布斯在斯坦福大學(xué)畢業(yè)典禮上的演講(英文)
喬布斯在斯坦福大學(xué)畢業(yè)典禮上的演講(英文)New York: 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 somethingI 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 creationa 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 downI 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 everythingthese 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.
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(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
第五篇: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?,如果當(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?,虛心若愚?!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!