Steve Jobs, Stanford commencement address (Stanford News, 12 June 2005): prepared text

Steve Jobs · 12 Jun 2005

Steve Jobs did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
You can only understand the path of a life looking backward, so the dots have to be trusted to connect in the future: trust in something, whether gut, destiny or karma.

Their wordsAgain, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. 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.
Our reading
Being fired can turn out to be the best thing that could have happened: the heaviness of success gives way to the lightness of being a beginner again, which frees creativity.

Their wordsI 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.
Our reading
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 have not found it, keep looking and do not settle.

Their wordsYour 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.
Our reading
Asking each morning whether today would be worth living as the last day of one’s life shows when something needs to change.

Their wordsI 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.
Our reading
Remembering that one will soon be dead is the most useful tool for making the big choices in life, because expectations, pride and fear of failure fall away in the face of death.

Their wordsRemembering 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.
Our reading
Death is very likely the best invention of life: the change agent that clears out the old to make way for the new.

Their wordsDeath 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.
Our reading
Time is limited, so one should not live someone else’s life: dogma is living with other people’s thinking, and one’s own intuition already knows what one wants to become.

Their wordsYour 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.

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