Steve Jobs was always described as an innovator, a visionary; and
rightly so. He dropped out of college at the age of 21 and started Apple
with his friend Steve Wozniak from his parents' garage.
Apple's first
product was not a runaway success but Apple II helped the company in
getting noticed. Steve Jobs became a multimillionaire by the time he
turned 25. He also graced the cover of Time magazine at 26.
In a
surprise turn of events, Steve Jobs was ousted from Apple in 1984 when
he was 30. He did not waste too much time sulking about being unemployed
and went on to establish NeXT computers. In 1986, Steve Jobs bought the
computer graphics arm of Lucasfilm, Ltd., and this company is knows
today as Pixar Animation Studios.
In the meantime, Apple struggled
to keep pace with the changing times and decided to bring back Jobs in
1996 by buying NeXT. Steve Jobs returned as the CEO of Apple in 1997 and
took the company to unprecedented heights.
Over the years, many
people have looked up to Steve Jobs as a source of inspiration and on
his first death anniversary, we complied the ten best inspirational
quotes by the man himself.
1. At an Apple product event for the
first Macintosh computer on January 24, 1984: "We're gambling on our
vision, and we would rather do that than make "me, too" products. Let
some other companies do that. For us, it's always the next dream."
2.
In Playboy magazine in February 1985: "If you want to live your life in
a creative way, as an artist, you have to not look back too much. You
have to be willing to take whatever you've done and whoever you were and
throw them away."
3. At the Apple Worldwide Developers
Conference, May 1997: "I'm actually as proud of the things we haven't
done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000
things."
4. Talking about work at the Stanford University's
Commencement address on June 12, 2005: "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."
5. Talking about him being fired from Apple at the
Stanford University's Commencement Speech 2005: "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.[...] 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."
6. Steve Jobs gave an interview in "60 minutes" in 2003 in
which he shared that his business model was inspired by The Beatles:
"My model for business is The Beatles: They were four guys that kept
each other's negative tendencies in check; they balanced each other. And
the total was greater than the sum of the parts. Great things in
business are not done by one person, they are done by a team of people."
7.
In an interview to BusinesWeek in 1998: "That's been one of my mantras -
focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to
work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth
it in the end, because once you get there, you can move mountains."
8. In a statement to The New York Times, 2003: "[Design is] not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."
9.
On being the richest man in an interview to The Wall Street Journal in
1993 "Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me...
Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful... that's
what matters to me."
10. Talking about Death at the Stanford
University commencement speech, June 2005: "Remembering that I'll be
dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me
make the big choices in life. Because almost everything -- all external
expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure -- these
things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly
important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know
to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are
already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. ... Stay
hungry. Stay foolish."
Also Read: Remembering Steve Jobs: "You've got to find what you love"
Steve Jobs life in pictures