Steve Jobs to Stanford graduates: 'Stay hungry, stay foolish'
Wearing jeans and sandals under his black robe, Jobs delivered a keynote address that spanned his adoption at birth to his insights into mortality after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer about a year ago. In plainspoken terms, his address struck a balance between the obstacles he has encountered during his notably public life and the lessons he has gleaned—for example, from his high-profile ousting in 1985 from the computer company he helped start.
"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," said Jobs, 50. "It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods in my life."
Also Jobs began by noting that he dropped out of college, and that Sunday's ceremony was the closest he had ever gotten to a university graduation. He then launched into the first part of his address, which focused on having faith that the dots of one's life will connect down the road, even if the journey so far has not followed a clear pattern.
Jobs said his biological mother was an unwed graduate student who wanted him to go to college, so she chose a lawyer and his wife to be the adoptive parents. But because they ultimately wanted a girl, he was adopted by a working-class couple—neither of whom had college degrees, Jobs said.
Jobs said they pledged to send him to college, and when the time came, he chose Reed College in Portland, Ore. Concerned that tuition was draining his parents' life savings and dissatisfied by his required courses, Jobs said he dropped out and began taking courses that interested him, including a calligraphy course that, a decade later, inspired him to design different fonts for the first Macintosh.
"Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward," Jobs said. "You can only connect them looking backward, so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future."
Jobs also talked about love and loss, and how he discovered what he wanted to do in life at an early age. He was 20 years old when he and Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computer, which in 10 years grew into a $2 billion company with 4,000 employees. After his departure from Apple, Jobs went on to found NeXT Software Inc., which was subsequently bought by Apple in 1997 returning him to the company that got him started.
"I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple," Jobs said. "I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did."
The last part of his speech was about death. When he was diagnosed with cancer about a year ago, Jobs said doctors initially gave him up to six months to live. His cancer turned out to be a rare, curable form, and he quickly underwent surgery. He has since recovered, but the experience nonetheless taught him another lesson.
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life," Jobs said. "Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice."
Wearing jeans and sandals under his black robe, Jobs delivered a keynote address that spanned his adoption at birth to his insights into mortality after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer about a year ago. In plainspoken terms, his address struck a balance between the obstacles he has encountered during his notably public life and the lessons he has gleaned—for example, from his high-profile ousting in 1985 from the computer company he helped start.
"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," said Jobs, 50. "It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods in my life."
Also Jobs began by noting that he dropped out of college, and that Sunday's ceremony was the closest he had ever gotten to a university graduation. He then launched into the first part of his address, which focused on having faith that the dots of one's life will connect down the road, even if the journey so far has not followed a clear pattern.
Jobs said his biological mother was an unwed graduate student who wanted him to go to college, so she chose a lawyer and his wife to be the adoptive parents. But because they ultimately wanted a girl, he was adopted by a working-class couple—neither of whom had college degrees, Jobs said.
Jobs said they pledged to send him to college, and when the time came, he chose Reed College in Portland, Ore. Concerned that tuition was draining his parents' life savings and dissatisfied by his required courses, Jobs said he dropped out and began taking courses that interested him, including a calligraphy course that, a decade later, inspired him to design different fonts for the first Macintosh.
"Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward," Jobs said. "You can only connect them looking backward, so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future."
Jobs also talked about love and loss, and how he discovered what he wanted to do in life at an early age. He was 20 years old when he and Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computer, which in 10 years grew into a $2 billion company with 4,000 employees. After his departure from Apple, Jobs went on to found NeXT Software Inc., which was subsequently bought by Apple in 1997 returning him to the company that got him started.
"I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple," Jobs said. "I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did."
The last part of his speech was about death. When he was diagnosed with cancer about a year ago, Jobs said doctors initially gave him up to six months to live. His cancer turned out to be a rare, curable form, and he quickly underwent surgery. He has since recovered, but the experience nonetheless taught him another lesson.
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life," Jobs said. "Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice."
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