第一篇：?jiǎn)滩妓乖谒固垢＞实难葜v片段——助攻口語(yǔ)寫(xiě)作

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 with 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.

第二篇：斯蒂夫喬布斯在斯坦福演講全文

蘋(píng)果CEO斯蒂夫.喬布斯的演講

名人勵(lì)志 2009-02-04 22:49 閱讀45 評(píng)論0

字號(hào)： 大 中 小

以下是蘋(píng)果電腦CEO斯蒂夫.喬布斯于2007年6月12日在斯坦福大學(xué)畢業(yè)典禮上的演講.他不但讓我們進(jìn)入這位偉大企業(yè)家的內(nèi)心深處,而且告訴我們應(yīng)當(dāng)怎樣經(jīng)營(yíng)自己的人生,告訴我們從哪里來(lái),要到哪里

去.......斯坦福是世界上最好的大學(xué)之一,我能參加各位的畢業(yè)典禮,備感榮幸,我大學(xué)只讀了半年,說(shuō)實(shí)話,此時(shí)算是我離大學(xué)畢業(yè)最近的一刻.現(xiàn)在,我想和你們分享我生命中的三個(gè)小故事.一:串起生命中的點(diǎn)點(diǎn)滴滴

我在里德大學(xué)讀了6個(gè)月就退學(xué)了,這是為什么呢? 故事要從我的身世說(shuō)起,我的生母是一名年輕的未婚媽媽,當(dāng)時(shí)她還在讀研究生,于是決定把我送人,我的養(yǎng)父母都是藍(lán)領(lǐng)工人,為了供我上大學(xué),他們傾其所有,在里德大學(xué)呆了半年后,我發(fā)現(xiàn)自己的人生漫無(wú)目標(biāo),也不知道這樣讀下去有什么用,為了念書(shū),還花了父母畢生的積蓄,所以我決定退學(xué),作出這個(gè)決定的時(shí)候,我是非常害怕,但現(xiàn)在看來(lái),這是我這一生所作出的最正確的決定之一.從那一刻起,我再也不用去上那些不感興趣必修課,我開(kāi)始旁聽(tīng)一些比較有意思的科目,事實(shí)上這一點(diǎn)也不浪漫.因?yàn)闆](méi)有宿舍,我只能睡在朋友房間的地板上.可樂(lè)瓶的押金是5分錢,我把瓶子還回去,然后用押金買吃的,每周日晚上，我都要步行7英里去教堂，只為了吃一頓大餐，因?yàn)槲蚁矚g那兒的食物。

事后證明，這些由著好奇心和直覺(jué)所做的事情，大多數(shù)都是極其珍貴的經(jīng)驗(yàn)，舉一個(gè)例子，當(dāng)時(shí)，里德大學(xué)擁有全美國(guó)最好的書(shū)法教育，整個(gè)校園的每一張海報(bào)，每一個(gè)抽屜上的標(biāo)簽，都是漂亮的手寫(xiě)體。由于已經(jīng)退學(xué)，我選擇旁聽(tīng)書(shū)法班，想學(xué)學(xué)怎么寫(xiě)出一手漂亮字，在那里，我學(xué)會(huì)了各種襯線，和無(wú)襯線字體，學(xué)會(huì)了如何改變不同字體組合之間的字間距，以及如何做出漂亮的版式，那是一種科學(xué)永遠(yuǎn)無(wú)法捕捉的美感，歷史感和藝術(shù)感，我發(fā)現(xiàn)這太有意思了。

當(dāng)時(shí)，我壓根兒就沒(méi)有想到這些知識(shí)有什么實(shí)際用途，但10年以后，當(dāng)我們?cè)O(shè)計(jì)第一款電腦的時(shí)候，它們?nèi)缮狭擞脠?chǎng)，我把它們?nèi)吭O(shè)計(jì)進(jìn)了MAC，這是第一臺(tái)可以排出好看版式的電腦。

現(xiàn)在回過(guò)頭來(lái)看，如果當(dāng)時(shí)我沒(méi)有退學(xué)，就不會(huì)去書(shū)法班旁聽(tīng)，蘋(píng)果電腦就不會(huì)提供各種字體和等間距字體，也不會(huì)擁有如此出色的版式功能，當(dāng)然，我在念大學(xué)的那會(huì)兒，不可能有先見(jiàn)之明，把那些生命中的點(diǎn)點(diǎn)滴滴都串起來(lái)，但10年之后，再回頭看，生命的軌跡變得非常晰。

再?gòu)?qiáng)調(diào)一次，你不可能充滿預(yù)見(jiàn)地將生命中的點(diǎn)點(diǎn)滴滴串聯(lián)起來(lái)，只有在經(jīng)歷這后，你才會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)這些點(diǎn)點(diǎn)滴滴之間的聯(lián)系，所以，你要堅(jiān)信，你現(xiàn)在所經(jīng)歷的將在你未來(lái)的生命中串聯(lián)起來(lái)。

正是這種信念，讓我從未失去希望，讓我的人生變得與眾不同。

二：從事偉大工作的惟一方法，就是熱愛(ài)這份工作 一個(gè)人最大的幸運(yùn)，莫過(guò)于在他年富 力強(qiáng)的時(shí)候，發(fā)現(xiàn)了自己人生的使命，從這個(gè)意義上講，我是幸運(yùn)的。20多歲的時(shí)候，我就在自家的車庫(kù)里開(kāi)創(chuàng)了蘋(píng)果電腦公司，10年后，公司已經(jīng)成長(zhǎng)為一家擁有4000多名員工，市值20億美元的大企業(yè)，然后，我就被炒了魷魚(yú)。

一個(gè)人怎么可以被他所創(chuàng)立的公司解雇呢？這么說(shuō)吧，隨著蘋(píng)果的成長(zhǎng)，我們請(qǐng)了一個(gè)原本以為很能干的家伙和我一起管理這家公司，在頭一年左右，他干得還不錯(cuò)，但后來(lái)，我們對(duì)公司未來(lái)的前景出現(xiàn)了分歧，于是我們之間出現(xiàn)了矛盾，由于公司的董事會(huì)站在他那一邊，所以在我30歲的時(shí)候，就被踢出了局，我失去了一直貫穿在我整個(gè)成年生活的重心，打擊是毀滅性的。

失業(yè)的頭幾個(gè)月，我真不知道要做些什么，我覺(jué)得我讓企業(yè)界的前輩們失望了，我失去了傳到我手上的指揮棒。我由眾人景仰的企業(yè)家變成了一個(gè)徹頭徹尾的失敗者，當(dāng)時(shí)我甚至想過(guò)逃離硅谷，但曙光漸漸出現(xiàn)，我不是喜歡我做過(guò)的事情，在蘋(píng)果電腦發(fā)生一切絲毫沒(méi)有改變我，一點(diǎn)都沒(méi)有，雖然被拋棄了，但

我熱忱不改，我決定重新開(kāi)始。

我當(dāng)時(shí)沒(méi)有看出來(lái)，但事實(shí)證明，被蘋(píng)果開(kāi)掉是我這一生最大的財(cái)富，成功的沉重被鳳凰涅磐的輕盈所代替，卸下包袱，我以自由之身軀進(jìn)入了生命中最有創(chuàng)意的時(shí)期，在接下來(lái)的5年里，我開(kāi)創(chuàng)了一家叫做NEXT的公司，接著是一家名PIXAR的公司，并且結(jié)識(shí)了后來(lái)成為我妻子的曼妙女勞倫斯，PIXAR后來(lái)制作了世界上第一部全電腦畫(huà)電影《玩具總動(dòng)員》，現(xiàn)在這家公司是世界上最成功的動(dòng)畫(huà)制作公司之一，后來(lái)經(jīng)歷一系列的事件，蘋(píng)果買下了NEXT，于是 我又回到了蘋(píng)果，我們?cè)贜EXT研發(fā)出的技術(shù)成為推動(dòng)蘋(píng)果復(fù)興的核心動(dòng)力，我和勞倫斯也擁有了美滿的家庭。

我非常肯定，如果沒(méi)有被蘋(píng)果炒掉，這一切都不可能在我身上發(fā)生，生活有時(shí)候就像一塊板磚，不斷拍向你的腦袋，但你不要因此喪失信心，熱愛(ài)我所從事的工作，是一直支持我不斷前進(jìn)的惟一理由，你要時(shí)刻清楚自己想要成為什么樣的人，想要做什么，對(duì)愛(ài)人如此，對(duì)工作也要如此。

工作 將占據(jù)你生命的相當(dāng)一部分，從事你認(rèn)為具有非凡意義的工作，才能帶給你真正的滿足感，而從事一份偉大工作的惟一方法就是熱愛(ài)這份工作，如果你現(xiàn)在還沒(méi)有找到這份工作，那么請(qǐng)繼續(xù)尋找，如同浪漫的愛(ài)情一樣，偉大的工作只會(huì)在歲月的醞釀中越陳越香。

三：死亡是生命最好的一項(xiàng)發(fā)明

17歲那年記不得什么書(shū)上的一段話對(duì)我產(chǎn)生了致命的誘惑：“如果你把每一天當(dāng)作生命的最后一天，總有一天你的假設(shè)會(huì)成為現(xiàn)實(shí)”從那時(shí)起，我每天早晨都會(huì)對(duì)著鏡子捫心自問(wèn)，假如今天 是我生命中的最后一天，我還會(huì)去做今天的事嗎？這件事值得我去為 它投入激情嗎？當(dāng)一連幾天答案都是否定的時(shí)候，我就知道做出改變的時(shí)候到了．

因?yàn)樗械囊磺校饨绲钠谕鹳F的地位，對(duì)失敗的恐懼，對(duì)面對(duì)死亡的時(shí)候，都是煙消云散，只留下真正重要的東西，人赤條條地來(lái)，赤條條地走，沒(méi)有理由不聽(tīng)從內(nèi)心的呼喚．

兩年前，我被診斷患有癌癥，掃描結(jié)果清楚地顯示我的肺腑出現(xiàn)了一個(gè)腫瘤，醫(yī)生告訴我，這是一種不治之癥，頂多還能活３至６個(gè)月，于是醫(yī)生建議我回家，把各種事情安排妥當(dāng)，這是醫(yī)生對(duì)臨終病人的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)用語(yǔ)，這意味著你的子女說(shuō)的話用幾個(gè)月的時(shí)間說(shuō)完，這意味著你得準(zhǔn)備向眾人告別了．

我一直都著那個(gè)不容置疑的診斷結(jié)果，那天晚上做了一個(gè)切片檢查，當(dāng)大夫們從顯微鏡下觀察了細(xì)胞之后，我忍不住哭了，因?yàn)槟鞘且环N非常罕見(jiàn)的，完全可以通過(guò)手術(shù)治療胰臟癌，我接受了手術(shù)，現(xiàn)在，我已經(jīng)康復(fù)了．

這是我最接近死亡的一次，在與死神擦肩而過(guò)之后，我能夠肯定地告訴你們以下事實(shí)：誰(shuí)也不愿意死即使是那些人想進(jìn)天堂的人，然而死亡是我們共同的歸宿，沒(méi)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)生命的新陳換代．

現(xiàn)在，你們是新的，但在不久的將來(lái)，你們也會(huì)成為舊的，也會(huì)被淘汰，你們的時(shí)間都是有限的，所以不要按照別人的意愿去活，這是浪費(fèi)時(shí)間，不要讓別人聒噪聲淹沒(méi)了自己的心聲，最主要的是要有跟著自己感覺(jué)和直覺(jué)的勇氣，無(wú)論如何，感覺(jué)和直覺(jué)早就知道你到底想成為一個(gè)什么樣的人，其他的都不重

要．

第三篇：?jiǎn)滩妓乖谒固垢４髮W(xué)演講 經(jīng)典片段

喬布斯在斯坦福大學(xué)演講 經(jīng)典片段

.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.在六個(gè)月后, 我已經(jīng)看不到其中的價(jià)值所在。我不知道我想要在生命中做什么,我也不知道大學(xué)能幫助我找到怎樣的答案。

And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.我跟著我的直覺(jué)和好奇心走, 遇到的很多東西,此后被證明是無(wú)價(jià)之寶。

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.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(lái),但是當(dāng)我十年后回顧這一切的時(shí)候,真的豁然開(kāi)朗了。

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 somethingthese 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.“記住你即將死去”是我一生中遇到的最重要箴言。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(méi)有理由不去跟隨自己的心一起跳動(dòng)。

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.那意味著你將要把未來(lái)十年對(duì)你小孩說(shuō)的話在幾個(gè)月里面說(shuō)完.；那意味著把每件事情都搞定, 讓你的家人會(huì)盡可能輕松的生活；那意味著你要說(shuō)“再見(jiàn)了”。

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.Don't be trapped by dogma-which is living with the results of other people's thinking.Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice.And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.They somehow already know what you truly want to become.Everything else is secondary.你們的時(shí)間有限，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，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(tīng)從你直覺(jué)和心靈的指示——他們?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。

第四篇：?jiǎn)滩妓乖谒固垢Ｑ葜v稿

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement(開(kāi)始，發(fā)端，畢業(yè)典禮)from one of the finest universities in the world.Truth be told，I never graduated from college and 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（沒(méi)什么了不起的）.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(不速之客)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（未婚的，沒(méi)有結(jié)婚的）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（突然出現(xiàn)）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 got an unexpected baby boy;do you want him?” They said: “Of course.” My biological mother found out later 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（變溫和，變寬厚）a few months later when my parents promised that I would go to college.This was the start of my life.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(工人階級(jí)的，勞動(dòng)階級(jí)的)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 far more 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（定金）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（困惑，絆倒）into by following my curiosity and intuition（直覺(jué)，直覺(jué)知識(shí)）turned out to be priceless（無(wú)價(jià)的）later on.Let me give you one example: Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy(書(shū)法，筆跡)instruction（教導(dǎo)，說(shuō)明，指令）in the country.Throughout the campus every poster（海報(bào)，廣告，招貼）, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphied.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(襯線體)and san serif typefaces（無(wú)襯線字體）, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography（排印，印刷格式，印刷樣式）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(成比例地，相稱地，適當(dāng)?shù)?spaced fonts（字體）.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 something — your gut(膽量，直覺(jué)), destiny（命運(yùn)）, life, karma（因緣，因果報(bào)應(yīng)）, whatever.Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn（用久了的，平凡的）path.And that will make all the difference.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（愿景，想象）of the future began to diverge（分歧，偏離）and eventually we had a falling out.When we did, our Board of Directors（董事會(huì)，理事會(huì)）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(災(zāi)難性的，毀滅性的).I really didn't know what to do for a few months.I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs(企業(yè)家)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 of thinking you have something to lose.You are already naked(裸露的，赤裸裸的).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(胰腺).I didn't even know what a pancreas was.The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable（無(wú)藥可救的，不能治愈的）, 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 and 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（圓滿完成的，守口如瓶的）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(活組織檢查), where they stuck an endoscope（內(nèi)窺鏡，內(nèi)診鏡）down my throat(喉嚨), through my stomach and into my intestines（腸）, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor.I was sedated（處于鎮(zhèn)靜狀態(tài)）, 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（發(fā)明，創(chuàng)造）of Life.It is Life's change agent(是生命的轉(zhuǎn)化媒介).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（目錄，產(chǎn)品目錄，編目。全球目錄）, which was one of the bibles（圣經(jīng)）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（詩(shī)歌的，詩(shī)意的）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（顯膠片照相機(jī)）.It was sort of like Google in paperback（平裝本，平裝書(shū)）form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with（充滿著）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（完畢）, 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(搭便車，搭車旅行)on if you were so adventurous.Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry.Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell（告別，辭別）message as they signed off（停止活動(dòng)，結(jié)束）.Stay Hungry.Stay Foolish.And I have always wished that for myself.And now, as you graduate to begin anew（adv.重新，再）, I wish that for you.Stay Hungry.Stay Foolish.Thank you all very much.

第五篇：?jiǎn)滩妓?005年斯坦福大學(xué)畢業(yè)演講

喬布斯2005年斯坦福大學(xué)畢業(yè)演講

史蒂夫喬布斯(Steve Jobs)2005年6 月在斯坦福大學(xué)的演講在今天對(duì)于我們?nèi)杂泻艽蟮膯l(fā)作用。這位蘋(píng)果電腦公司(Apple Computer)和皮克斯動(dòng)畫(huà)公司(Pixar Animation Studios)首席執(zhí)行官在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。他們將他的演講登在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上，在博客上展開(kāi)討論，通過(guò)電子郵件互相發(fā)送，在全球傳閱。下面給大家分享這次演講的中英文演講稿。

You've got to find what you love

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 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 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 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.