The best quotes from Steve Jobs. Steve jobs quotes Steve jobs love quotes

20.10.2021 Medicines 

Steve Jobs, whose quotes became classics during his lifetime, left behind not just a set of thoughts, but a holistic philosophy of attitude towards life. Steve inspired many people, and his ideas are still some of the most quoted on the Internet. Let's tell you more about his best quotes

Although, according to many biographers, Steve Jobs was distinguished by an unusual mentality from childhood, he himself argued that what distinguishes him is not luck or a brilliant brain, but the ability to analyze his own failures:

There are no successful people who have never stumbled or made a mistake in their lives. There are only successful people who made mistakes but then changed their plans based on past failures. I'm just one of those guys.

Steve lived a happy life and was not afraid to talk about the times when he was young and poor, considering them an important stage in the formation of his personality:

There were times when I didn’t have my own room. I slept on friends' floors, and in order to buy food, I handed over Coca-Cola bottles. Every Sunday I walked 10 kilometers in order to have a normal meal once a week at a charity dinner in the Hare Krishna temple. And guess what? It was a great time!

The best quotes from the Apple founder show that he believed that having a goal is the key to a fulfilling life:

Satisfaction with life and its meaning only comes from having a goal. It is what helps improve health, longevity, and also inspires you in difficult times.

Moreover, Jobs believed that the goal set should correspond to the character of the person:

For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, “If today was the last day of my life, would I do what I planned for today?”

Steve considered the opportunity to benefit people to be an important task in the life of any person:

We wear clothes that other people have made. We speak languages ​​that were invented by other people. We eat food that other people have learned to grow. Now the time has come for us to become useful to humanity.

At the same time, Jobs believed that being useful does not mean following all the rules established in society. By breaking them, you can change a lot in the world. Here are motivational quotes on this matter:

Don't let the noise of other people's opinions drown out your inner voice. And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you really want to become. Everything else is secondary.
It's better to be a pirate than to serve in the navy.

Jobs believed that the path to change lies through personal example, and not through indulging other people's desires and striving to be liked:

I don't try to be attractive to people. My job is to make them become better.

An important part of Jobs' life philosophy was attachment to work, the desire to devote all your soul to what you do:

Understand yourself and understand what you really love. This has as much to do with your work as it does with your personal life. Work will take up most of your time, and the only way to self-respect is to do what you consider worth your great effort. And the only way to do this kind of work is to love what you do.

Steve believed that passion for what he loved was more important than the profit it brought. If you devote yourself wholeheartedly to one activity, it will bring you rewards:

When I turned 23, I already had more than a million dollars, at 24 - more than ten million, and at 25 - more than a hundred million. And none of this matters, because I have never done anything just for money.

At the same time, he understood that reward is not always material and only material does not bring complete satisfaction:

Being the richest man in the cemetery is not important to me. Going to bed and thinking that today you performed a real miracle is what is important to me.

Steve considered the right environment to be an important key to success in any business:

I would trade all my technology in one day with Socrates.
All we are are our ideas and people. Only the brilliantly intelligent employees within the company's walls force us to get up in the morning and go to work. I have always believed that the right selection of employees is the key to success in any endeavor.

In the last days of his life, Steve thought more often about death and called for living every day as if it were your last and following your heart:

Remember that you will die is a great tool with which I was able to make all the fateful decisions in life. The thought of imminent death - The best way lose all illusions that you have something to lose. You are already naked, there is no reason for you not to follow your heart. Death is the best invention of life.

Quotes from Steve Jobs, many years after his death, have not lost their relevance and are a source of life wisdom. In them you can find not only answers to many life questions, but also find motivation for serious endeavors.

The creator of iPhones and Macs left as a legacy to the world not only his amazing inventions, but also many inspiring sayings that serve as excellent motivation for action for millions of people around the world.

IN last years Jobs fought cancer, but even during this time he was strong in spirit and set an example for those around him. News.Day offers 10 quotes from the Apple founder that can inspire people to new achievements.

1. “Stay hungry. Stay reckless."

The speech that Steve Jobs gave to graduates of Stanford University in 2005 instantly became a cult and was disassembled into quotes. Steve ended his inspiring 15-minute message to young minds with what has become his most famous statement and one that perfectly defines his outlook on life: “Don’t let the views of others drown out your own inner voice. Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”

2. “I will name the company “Apple” if you don’t offer a better one by 5 o’clock.”

A legendary quote that modern copywriters can easily adopt. It is known that Steve was very fond of apples, and especially McIntosh apples. There are other versions of the origin of the company's name and its logo: according to one of them, Steve and his colleagues wanted to play on the famous parable about Newton and an apple falling on his head, according to another - the name and logo became a tribute to the progenitor of modern computers, Alan Turing, who committed suicide , biting into an apple with poison injected into it.

3. “Remembering that I will die soon is the most important tool that helps me make difficult decisions in my life.”

Possessing an extraordinary vision of life, Jobs considered death one of the world's best inventions and the main reason for all change. He adhered to the concept of the “last day of life” - every morning he imagined that tomorrow he would be gone. Would he do on his last day what he must do today? If the answer was “No” for several days in a row, he knew it was time to change something.

4. “Sometimes life hits you over the head with a brick. Don't lose faith."

Jobs' rollercoaster-like career taught him to take every fall as a lesson. "I - only person, who knows what it's like to lose a quarter of a billion dollars in a year. It shapes the personality very well,” Steve said about his experience. And I sincerely believed that what separates successful entrepreneurs from losers is persistence and faith in their ideas.

5. “You need to work not 12 hours, but with your head!”

An innovator in everything, Steve Jobs had a rather unusual approach to communicating with colleagues and subordinates. He could easily fire a person, but then call him and invite him to a new project (“The past doesn’t bother me, only the present matters”). Another important piece of advice from Jobs to all employers: “Why hire smart people and then tell them what to do? We hire people to tell us what to do."

6. “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling soda, or do you want to change the world?”

Do you think this is Jobs' appeal to a mass audience? Perhaps a parting message to the youngsters whom he urged not to waste time on trifles? No and no. With these words, Steve persuaded PepsiCo President John Sculley to leave his post and move to the position of CEO of Apple. By the way, this was back in the early 1980s. The provocation was a success - in 1983 Scully became the head of Yabloko. Remarkably, two years later Jobs himself was fired from the company. 20 years later, Steve called this event the best thing that happened in his life: “The medicine was bitter, but it helped the patient.”

7. “Being the richest person in the cemetery is not important to me. Going to bed thinking that you created something beautiful... That's what matters to me!”

This phrase is addressed to Steve's "sworn enemy", Bill Gates. Jobs did not hesitate to criticize his competitor and his company Microsoft and make accusations of bad taste and greed: “Bill Gates is a businessman. Conquering the market was more important to him than making great products. As a result, he became the richest man in the world, and if that was his goal, he achieved it." However, despite their rivalry, Gates and Jobs respected each other immensely and even regularly exchanged opinions about their products and the market as a whole.

8. “You can’t just ask customers what they want, because by the time you do that, they’ll want something new.”

Note to all marketers: Jobs never seemed to care about what was happening in the market at any given moment. He always looked to the future, gradually freeing us from seemingly necessary and familiar things: he taught us to buy music on the Internet, got rid of disk drives in computers and styluses for phones. “Innovation separates the leader from the catcher,” Jobs said. And he always knew exactly what we needed.

9. “Why join the Navy when you can be a pirate?”

This phrase, which perfectly reflects the rebellious approach to work, was uttered by Jobs in 1982, when Apple was not doing well. in the best possible way. Then Steve took on a new project - Macintosh, luring the company's best developers to it. In 1983, Jobs’s “pirates” practically seized Apple’s head office and even planted a “Jolly Roger” on the roof - a black flag with a skull and crossbones fluttered over the building until work on the Mac was completed.

10. “I don’t trust a computer that I can’t lift.”

In 1984, Steve Jobs introduced the world to the first Macintosh computer. He simply took it out of his bag, carried it easily to the center of the stage and let the device introduce itself. “Never trust a computer you can’t lift!” Since then, the presentation of each new Apple product has invariably become a hit. A talented speaker, Steve almost single-handedly managed to sell products to millions of fans with his speeches. For example, about another innovation in the interface, he said this: “We made the icons on the screen so cute that you will want to lick them.”

Everyone knows who Steve Jobs is. It is very difficult to find a person who would never in his life benefit from the fruits of the labor of this genius. His sharp mind, incredible hard work and perseverance in his work allowed him not only to become famous throughout the world and remain forever in history, but also to influence the minds of his contemporaries.

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Today we will not discuss the achievements of Steve Jobs in the field of IT, but we will talk about his amazing life experience, which, fortunately, he managed to leave us. So, we have collected for you 25 inspiring quotes from Steve Jobs that can help everyone in their life and work, regardless of their field of activity and outlook on life.

  1. I am convinced that half of what separates successful entrepreneurs from unsuccessful ones is persistence.
  2. We don't have a chance to do many things, all of which can be called great. Because this is our life. Life is short and you die. Do you know this?
  3. When you're young, you watch TV and think that the TV companies are conspiring to make people stupid. But when you get a little older, you realize that this is not so. People themselves want this. And this is much more depressing. A conspiracy is not scary. You can shoot the bastards! Start a revolution! But there is no conspiracy, TV companies are simply meeting demand. This is true.
  4. You can't just ask customers what they need, because by the time you do that, they will want something new.
  5. I would trade all my technology for a meeting with Socrates.
  6. There is only one way to do great work - to love it. If you haven't come to this, wait. Don't rush into action. As with everything else, your own heart will help you suggest something interesting.
  7. I'm the only person who knows what it's like to lose a quarter of a billion dollars in a year. It shapes the personality very well.
  8. This phrase is from Buddhism: A beginner's opinion. It's great to have a newbie's perspective.
  9. You know that we eat food that other people grow. We wear clothes that other people have made. We speak languages ​​that were invented by other people. We use mathematics, but other people developed it too... I think we all say this all the time. This is a great reason to create something that could be useful to humanity.
  10. Pablo Picasso once said: “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” We have never been ashamed of stealing brilliant ideas from others.
  11. My job is not to make people's lives easier. My job is to make them better.
  12. I will name the company "Apple" if by 5 o'clock you have not offered a better one.
  13. Your time is limited, don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't get caught up in a creed that exists on other people's thinking. Don't let the views of others drown out your own inner voice. And it is very important to have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you really want to do. Everything else is secondary.
  14. There is no point in hiring smart people and then telling them what to do. We hire people to tell us what to do.
  15. We made the icons on the screen so cute that you will want to lick them.
  16. Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me... Going to bed thinking that you created something beautiful... that's what matters to me.
  17. Stay hungry. Stay reckless.
  18. Sometimes life hits you over 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 need to find what you love. And this is as true for work as it is for relationships. Your work will fill most of your life and the only way to be completely satisfied is to do what you think is great work. And the only way to do great things is to love what you do.
  19. When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like this: “If you live every day as if it were your last, someday you will be right.” The quote made an impression on me and since then, for 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every day 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 as soon as the answer was “No” for several days in a row, I knew that something needed to change.
  20. The most the best people the ones that make you smile the most.
  21. If you haven't found your business yet, look for it. Do not stop. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know it when you find it. And like any good relationship, it gets better and better over the years. So search until you find it. Do not stop.
  22. You need to work not 12 hours, but with your head!
  23. Of course, there are people for whom money comes first. These are usually people who will never become rich. Only those who are talented, lucky and do not constantly think about money achieve wealth.
  24. There's no way we'll survive unless we go a little crazy...
  25. Not making mistakes means living an unfulfilling life.

This man is truly special. His words contain not only life wisdom, but also courage, recklessness, and obsession with what you love, which infects you with the desire to seek what is destined for you.

Prepared by: Dmitry Sirotkin

I present to you a selection quotes from entrepreneur Steve Jobs .

He showed in practice that business can become a means of changing the world for the better. At least that's what he strived for.

Quotes summarized by topic: about myself, life ethics, approach to business, people, employees, devices, Bill Gates and Microsoft, creativity and intuition, mission, death, customer needs, life, corporations, wealth, upbringing and education, women and sex, innovation, God.

About Me

I would trade all my technology for a meeting with Socrates.

When I turned 23, I already had more than a million dollars, at 24 - more than 10 million, and at 25 - more than 100 million. And none of this matters because I have never done anything just for money.

What motivates me? I think most creative people seek to express gratitude for enjoying the fruits of the work done before them by others.

The saying that guides me in everything? “You will never know what you were looking for until you find it.”

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like this: “If you live every day as if it were your last, someday you will be right.” The quote made an impression on me and since then, for 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every day 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 as soon as the answer was “No” for several days in a row, I knew that something needed to change.

I really respect incremental change and try to do something similar in my life, but I have always been attracted to revolutionary change. Because they are more difficult. They are much more emotionally intense. And during such changes, you always go through a period when everyone tells you that you won’t succeed.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; they can only be connected looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will connect in the future. You have to believe in something - life, destiny, karma... This approach has never allowed me to lose heart, and is the reason for everything important in my life.

Over the years, I have stopped buying many things simply because they now seem ridiculous to me.

I'm the only person I know who lost a quarter of a billion dollars in a year. It shapes the personality very well.

Getting fired from Apple was the best thing that ever happened to me. The burden of success has been replaced by the agility of a beginner, unsure of anything. I gained freedom that allowed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

Goal - I am looking for a shelter that requires repair or reconstruction, but has a solid foundation. Ready to destroy walls, build bridges and install lighting. I have vast experience behind me, I am distinguished by frantic energy, and I have what is called “a vision of the essence.” I'm not afraid to start from scratch. Useful skills - that very “vision of the essence”, experience public speaking, I know how to inspire people and help them create something grandiose.

You can hire someone to drive a car for you, make money for you, but you cannot hire anyone with all your money to bear this disease for you.

If for some reason you are upset, then this is not a reason to say goodbye to life. But if life has decided to leave you, this is a reason for frustration.

About life ethics

It’s better to go ahead and invent tomorrow than to worry about yesterday being so-so.

If you just want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together.

Start small, but dream big. Don't do too many things at once. Do a few simple things first, and gradually move on to more complex ones. And always think about the future.

You need to tell others more often about what you have done. Of course, there is no need to impose this, be smug or fanatical about yourself - this will only scare people away. And yet, you should not be embarrassed to tell others about what you have done at the right time.

Not making mistakes means living an unfulfilling life.

Your time is limited. So don't waste it on living someone else's life. Don't fall into the trap of dogma that teaches you to live according to other people's thoughts. Don't let the noise of other people's opinions drown out your inner voice. And the most important. Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you really want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Sometimes life hits you over 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 need to find what you love. And this is as true for work as it is for relationships.

Remembering that I will die soon is the most important tool that helps me make difficult decisions in my life. Because everything else - other people's expectations, pride, all this fear of embarrassment or failure - all these things dissolve in the face of death, leaving only what is really important. Remembering death is the best way to avoid thinking that you have something to lose. You are already naked. You no longer have any reason not to follow your heart.

There is only one way to do great work - to love it. If you haven't come to this, wait. Don't rush into action. As with everything else, your own heart will help you suggest something interesting.

About the approach to business

My business model is The Beatles. Four guys, each of whom had control over the other's evil tendencies. They balanced each other, and the result was greater than just the sum of its parts. This is how business should be, in my opinion: great things are not accomplished alone, they are always the achievement of a team.

Why join the Navy when you can be a pirate?

Pablo Picasso once said: “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” We have never been ashamed of stealing brilliant ideas from others.

I am convinced that half of what separates successful entrepreneurs from unsuccessful ones is persistence.

Concentration and simplicity. To think clearly, you have to put in a lot of effort. And it's worth it, because this way you can move mountains.

When you start solving a problem, the most difficult solutions come to mind first, and most people stop there. But if you continue to think further, if you delve into the problem, if you remove the peel layer by layer, as if peeling an onion, then you come to the most elegant and simple solution. Most people simply do not have the energy or time for this.

Be the standard of quality. Some people were not in an environment where innovation was a major asset.

This phrase is from Buddhism: A beginner's opinion. It's great to have a newbie's perspective.

I think if you have done something and it turned out to be good enough, then you need to do something else, something wonderful, and not relax for a long time. To understand what to do next.

About people

The best people are the ones who make you smile the most.

When you're young, you watch TV and think that the TV companies are conspiring to make people stupid. But when you get a little older, you realize that this is not so. People themselves want this. And this is much more depressing. A conspiracy is not scary. You can shoot the bastards! Start a revolution! But there is no conspiracy, TV companies are simply meeting demand. This is true.

I believe that a person's qualities are determined by his environment and not by heredity.

Whether the house you live in is three hundred square meters or three thousand square meters, you are equally lonely.

Many people don't have very diverse experiences. There are not enough coordinates on their life graph to connect them and build the correct trajectory of movement. Most do not see the problem in all its diversity, so their solutions are very straightforward. The higher a person’s culture, which allows him to make wider use of the experience of mankind, the better his design solutions.

About employees

Stay hungry. Stay reckless.

You need to work not 12 hours, but with your head!

It makes no sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.

I can fire someone and then call them to discuss a project or rehire them. The past doesn't bother me, only the present matters.

All we are are our ideas and our people. Only the brilliant companies within the walls make us get up in the morning and drag ourselves to work. smart people. I have always believed that the right selection of employees is the key to success in any business.

Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling soda or do you want to change the world? (convincing John Sculley to leave PepsiCo for Apple)

If you are involved in a dying industry, quit quickly before you lose your job.

About devices

The computer is the most amazing tool I have ever encountered. This is a bicycle for our consciousness.

We think that we mainly watch TV to give our brains a rest and we work at the computer when we want to turn on our brains.

TV is dull and kills a lot of time. Turn it off and you'll save a few brain cells. However, be careful - you can also become dumb using an Apple computer.

I don't trust a computer I can't lift.

Design is not about how a thing looks, but how it works.

About Bill Gates and Microsoft

Bill Gates would have been incredibly open-minded if he had ever tried acid or even gone to an ashram when he was young.

He is a businessman. Conquering the market was more important than making great products. As a result, Bill became the richest man in the world, and if that was his goal, he achieved it.

Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me... Going to bed thinking that you created something beautiful... that's what matters to me.

The only problem with Microsoft is they have no taste. Absolutely. I don't mean in small ways, but in big ways. They have no ideas of their own, there is no culture in their products.

About creativity and intuition

Creativity simply brings things together. When you ask a creative person how he managed to do something, he feels a little guilty because he didn't really do anything on purpose, he just saw it. This seems obvious to him.

Intuition is a very powerful thing, more powerful than intellect.

If you just sit and watch, you will see how limitless your thinking is. If you try to calm him down, it will only get worse. But over time, thinking calms down on its own and you learn to control it. At this moment, intuition awakens and you see everything around you much more clearly than you saw before.

About the mission

We are here to make a contribution to this world. Otherwise why are we here?

My job is not to make people's lives easier. My job is to make them better.

You know that we eat food that other people grow. We wear clothes that other people have made. We speak languages ​​that were invented by other people. We use mathematics, but other people developed it too... I think we all say this all the time. This is a great reason to create something that could be useful to humanity.

About death

Death is probably the best invention of Life. She is the cause of change. She clears away the old to make way for the new.

We don't have a chance to do many things, all of which can be called great. Because this is our life. Life is short and you die. Do you know this?

Nobody wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want it to happen.

About customer needs

It's really hard to create a product based on focus groups. Most often, people don’t understand what they really need until you show it to them.

You can't just ask customers what they need, because by the time you do that, they will want something new.

People pay us for integration; they don’t have time to think all day long about what connects to what.

About life

The path traveled is the reward.

There's no way we'll survive unless we go a little crazy...

Only having a goal brings meaning and satisfaction to life. This not only promotes better health and longevity, but also gives you a little optimism during a difficult time.

About corporations

I remember my first day at HP when I was happy and enthusiastic when I met my supervisor, a guy named Chris. I told him that electronics are my love and asked him what he liked the most. He looked at me and said, “What I love most is fucking.” I learned a lot that summer.

When companies grow into multi-billion dollar corporations, they lose their ideology. Wedged between those who run the company and those who do the work are a thick layer of middle managers. Thus, the connection with the product and the passion for working on it are lost. And the creators - the only ones who really care about their product - have to convince five levels of management that they are doing exactly what is needed.

About wealth

The older we get, the smarter we become, and gradually we realize that a watch that costs thirty dollars and a watch that costs three hundred dollars tell the same time.

Of course, there are people for whom money comes first. These are usually people who will never become rich. Only those who are talented, lucky and do not constantly think about money achieve wealth.

About upbringing and education

Don't raise your children to be rich. Raise them to be happy. So when they grow up, they will know the value of things, not their price.

The most important thing in education is the person. A person who sparks your curiosity, who feeds your curiosity; computers can't give you that.

About women and sex

I have had many different women, but my own wives have always been the best.

My girlfriend always laughs during sex. Regardless of what she is reading at the time.

About innovation

Innovation distinguishes the leader from the catcher.

We made the icons on the screen so cute that you will want to lick them.

About God

As for faith in God, I believe in him about 50%, and don’t believe in him 50%.

Apparently, leaders like Steve Jobs are rehabilitating business by giving it a meaningful dimension. And in general, the fact that among the heroes of our strange era there are entrepreneurs inspires me personally moderate optimism .

Quotes about Steve Jobs

  • B. Gates: Jobs always expected the best results from his work and from the products his company creates. He had the mindset of a designer. You see, I look at the code and say: “Okay, it's well written.” It's just a different way of perceiving the world. He also had a natural, innate feeling, an understanding of whether this or that object corresponds to certain standards. And his standards were unprecedentedly high. He very clearly distinguished where it sucked and where it didn’t suck.

Copied from Habr

A selection of quotes by Steve Jobs in Russian and English, said by him at different times, including at the famous speech to graduates of Stanford University, as well as popular quotes incorrectly attributed to Jobs.

“It’s better to be a pirate than to serve in the navy.”

“It’s more fun to be a pirate than to join the navy.”

1982

“Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling soda or do you want to change the world?”

“Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?”

1987

“Computers are the most wonderful tools we can work with. It’s like a bicycle, only for our consciousness.”

“What a computer is to me is the most remarkable tool that we have ever come up with. It’s the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds.”

1991

“Being the richest man in the cemetery is not the main thing... Going to bed and telling yourself that you really did something wonderful is what’s important.”

“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.”

May 1993

“We look at design differently. Design is not how a product looks and feels. Design is how it works."

“That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”

February 1996

“Creativity is simply making connections between things. When creative people are asked how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn't actually do anything, but just noticed it. This becomes clear to them over time. They were able to connect different pieces of their experience and synthesize something new. This happens because they have experienced and seen more than others, or because they think about it more.”

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people.”

February 1996

“When you are young and watch TV, you think that the television companies are in cahoots and want to dumb down people. But then you grow up and the understanding comes: people themselves want this. And that's a much more frightening thought. Conspiracy is not scary! You can shoot whoever you want! Start a revolution! But TV companies are simply meeting demand. And it is true".

“When you're young, you look at television and think, there's a conspiracy. The networks have been conspired to dumb us down. But when you get a little older, you realize that’s not true. The networks are in business to give people exactly what they want. That’s a far more depressing thought. Conspiracy is optimistic! You can shoot the bastards! We can have a revolution! But the networks are really in business to give people what they want. It’s the truth.”

February 1996

“Creating a product based on focus groups is really difficult. Most often, people don’t understand what they really need until you show it to them.”

“It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”

May 1998

“Focus and simplicity is my mantra. It is harder to achieve simplicity than complexity: you have to work as hard as you can to start thinking clearly and do some simple thing.”

“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.”

May 1998

"We made the buttons on the screen so cute you'll want to lick them."

“We made the buttons on the screen look so good you’ll want to lick them.”

January 2000

“I would trade all my technology for a meeting with Socrates.”

“I would trade all of my technology for an afternoon with Socrates.”

October 2001

“My business model is the Beatles. Four guys controlled each other's negative manifestations. They balanced each other, and the overall result was greater than the sum of the individual parts. That’s how I look at business: big things aren’t done by one person, they’re done by a team.”

“My model for business is The Beatles. They were four guys who kept each other’s kind of negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other and the total was greater than the sum of the parts. That’s how I see business: great things in business are never done by one person, they’re done by a team of people.”

2003

“We think that we watch TV to give our brains a break, and we work on the computer when we want to use our brains.”

“We think basically you watch television to turn your brain off, and you work on your computer when you want to turn your brain on.”

February 2004

“I'm the only person who knows what it's like to lose a quarter of a billion dollars in a year. It builds character."

“I’m the only person I know that’s lost a quarter of a billion dollars in one year… It’s very character-building.”

February 2004

“The only problem with Microsoft is their lack of taste. Absolute lack of taste. Not in small things, but on a large scale. They don’t have their own ideas, there’s no culture in their products.”

“The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste. They have absolutely no taste. And I don’t mean that in a small way, I mean that in a big way, in the sense that they don’t think of original ideas, and they don’t bring much culture into their products.”

2006

Address to Stanford University Alumni

“Not everything was so romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I traded 5-cent bottles of Coke to buy food, and I walked 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get a decent meal at the Hare Krishna temple once a week. I liked him. And a lot of what I came across, following my curiosity and intuition, later turned out to be invaluable.”

“It was not all romantic. I did not have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for 5 cents, to buy food and go for 7 miles across town every Sunday night, once a week to eat normally at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of, from what I’ve come across, following my curiosity and intuition, turned out to be priceless later.”

“You cannot connect the dots of your destiny if you look ahead; they can only be connected retrospectively. So you have to believe that these dots will somehow connect in the future. You have to believe in something - your courage, destiny, karma, whatever. This principle has never failed me and has changed my whole life.”

“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.”

“There is only one way to do great work - to love it. If you haven't come to this, wait. Don't rush into action. As with everything else, your own heart will help you suggest something interesting.”

“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..”

“When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like this: “If every day is like your last, then one day you will be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for 33 years, I look in the mirror every day and ask myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And As soon as the answer was “no” for several days in a row, I knew something had to change.”

“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.”

“The memory that I will die soon is the most important tool that helps me make difficult decisions in my life. Because everything else - other people's opinions, all this pride, all this fear of embarrassment or failure - all these things fall in the face of death, leaving only what is really important. Remembering death is the best way to avoid thinking that you have something to lose. You are no longer constrained by anything. There is no longer any reason for you not to follow your heart.”

“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.”

“Nobody wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die. And yet, death is the destination for each of us. No one has yet been able to escape it. This is how it should be, because Death is probably the best invention of Life.”

“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.”

“Your time is limited, don't waste it living another life. Don't get caught up in a creed that is the product of other people's thinking. Don't let the views of others drown out your own inner voice. And it is very important to have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They already know what you really want to do. Everything else is secondary.”

“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.”



Incorrectly attributed

“Stay hungry. Stay reckless."

“Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.”

This favorite phrase of Jobs was taken from the catalog “ Whole Earth Catalog" 1974.

“Talented artists copy, brilliant artists steal.”

“Good artists copy; great artists steal.”

Also Jobs’ favorite phrase, a distorted statement from Pablo Picasso.

“Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”

“The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”

Mark Twain's original quote: “The report of my death was an exaggeration.”

“My girlfriend always laughs during sex, no matter what she’s reading at the time.”

“My girlfriend always laughs during sex—no matter what she’s reading.”

This statement can often be found on the Internet, but it does not belong to Jobs; It was first performed in the show of stand-up comedian Emo Philips.