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.
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.
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.
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.
Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.
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.
Everyone here has the sense that right now is one of those moments when we are influencing the future.
My favorite things in life don't cost any money. It's really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.
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.
Things don't have to change the world to be important.
Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected.
Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.
Your 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. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it.
Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.
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. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.
Bottom line is, I didn't return to Apple to make a fortune. I've been very lucky in my life and already have one. When I was 25, my net worth was $100 million or so. I decided then that I wasn't going to let it ruin my life. There's no way you could ever spend it all, and I don't view wealth as something that validates my intelligence.
Computers themselves, and software yet to be developed, will revolutionize the way we learn.
Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith.
Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it's really how it works.
Stay hungry, stay foolish.
Innovation has nothing to do with how many R & D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R & D. It's not about money. It's about the people you have, how you're led, and how much you get it.
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.
Technology is nothing. What's important is that you have a faith in people, that they're basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they'll do wonderful things with them.
Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service. The iMac is not just the color or translucence or the shape of the shell. The essence of the iMac is to be the finest possible consumer computer in which each element plays together.
Our DNA is as a consumer company - for that individual customer who's voting thumbs up or thumbs down. That's who we think about. And we think that our job is to take responsibility for the complete user experience. And if it's not up to par, it's our fault, plain and simply.
You have to dream before your dreams can come true.
If a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a difference. They are the father, the mother and the teacher.
Look at the sky. We are not alone. The whole universe is friendly to us and conspires only to give the best to those who dream and work.
Great dreams of great dreamers are always transcended.
My message, especially to young people is to have courage to think differently, courage to invent, to travel the unexplored path, courage to discover the impossible and to conquer the problems and succeed. These are great qualities that they must work towards. This is my message to the young people.
To succeed in your mission, you must have single-minded devotion to your goal.
Let me define a leader. He must have vision and passion and not be afraid of any problem. Instead, he should know how to defeat it. Most importantly, he must work with integrity.
When we tackle obstacles, we find hidden reserves of courage and resilience we did not know we had. And it is only when we are faced with failure do we realise that these resources were always there within us. We only need to find them and move on with our lives.
Climbing to the top demands strength, whether it is to the top of Mount Everest or to the top of your career.
The world has today 546 nuclear plants generating electricity. Their experience is being continuously researched, and feedback should be provided to all. Nuclear scientists have to interact with the people of the nation, and academic institutions continuously update nuclear power generation technology and safety.
God, our Creator, has stored within our minds and personalities, great potential strength and ability. Prayer helps us tap and develop these powers.
Excellence is a continuous process and not an accident.
Creativity is the key to success in the future, and primary education is where teachers can bring creativity in children at that level.
The bird is powered by its own life and by its motivation.
One of the very important characteristics of a student is to question. Let the students ask questions.
Let us sacrifice our today so that our children can have a better tomorrow.
Life is a difficult game. You can win it only by retaining your birthright to be a person.
We should not give up and we should not allow the problem to defeat us.
Man needs his difficulties because they are necessary to enjoy success.
Almost half of the population of the world lives in rural regions and mostly in a state of poverty. Such inequalities in human development have been one of the primary reasons for unrest and, in some parts of the world, even violence.
We will be remembered only if we give to our younger generation a prosperous and safe India, resulting out of economic prosperity coupled with civilizational heritage.
Educationists should build the capacities of the spirit of inquiry, creativity, entrepreneurial and moral leadership among students and become their role model.
Poetry comes from the highest happiness or the deepest sorrow.
Unless India stands up to the world, no one will respect us. In this world, fear has no place. Only strength respects strength.
You see, God helps only people who work hard. That principle is very clear.
You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.
When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity.
The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.
A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.
Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.
It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.
The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.
Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.
The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.
Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.
The only source of knowledge is experience.
It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.
In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same.
Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character.
Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.
Where there is love there is life.
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
My life is my message.
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.
When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator.
Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.
Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from fear of punishment.
Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.
Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.
I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.
Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening.
If patience is worth anything, it must endure to the end of time. And a living faith will last in the midst of the blackest storm.
A nation's culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.
You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.
Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory.
Anger is the enemy of non-violence and pride is a monster that swallows it up.
The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.