I’m absolutely crushed to hear that Steve Jobs died today. He was truly inspirational and I believe that the world is a better place because of him. I know it has been quoted many times already, but during his 2005 commencement address to Stanford, he gave a very nice perspective on death:
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.
I copied three quotes yesterday and today — the above was one. Here are the other two:
“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.” — Steve Jobs
“I’m a big believer in boredom,” he told me. Boredom allows one to indulge in curiosity, he explained, and “out of curiosity comes everything.” –Steven Levy referring to Steve Jobs.