iSad: Steve Jobs: Inspiring Comments

As I type this blog entry on my MacBook, and peruse my emails on my iphone and listen to my favorite songs on my itunes, I cannot help but be saddened by the loss of Steve Jobs (1955-2011). I took notice of Steve Jobs' outside-of-the box thinking years ago when he commented appreciatively on the creativity and non-comformity of homeschooling families. Having home-schooled my own children on and off over the years at great expense and dedication of my time and energy, I appreciated his public support.

Here are some great comments from a man who touched many lives, and came into our homes with his technological genius. Was he a perfect man? No. This post is not intended to idealize him, but to recognize him as a person of talent, excellence, and visionary qualities that inspired technological advancements we have all enjoyed. I ask you, seriously, how many of you did not like Pixar's Toy Story? I don't know about you, but I much prefer a Mac over a PC, and the ipad has been on my wish-list for the last couple of years.

Here is Steve Jobs in his own words:

"The only way to do great work is to love what you do." Stanford Commencement Address, 2005

"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. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life."
- Stanford University commencement address, June 12, 2005

"It's better to be a pirate than to join the Navy."
- Odyssey: Pepsi to Apple

"I'm the only person I know that's lost a quarter of a billion dollars in one year…. It's very character-building."
- Apple Confidential 2.0

"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's 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's 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, heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become." Stanford Commencement Address (speaking about his cancer diagnosis in 2003)

Here is an guest commentary at CNet that shows how astute Steve Jobs was: What I Learned from Steve Jobs, by Guy Kawasaki

Farwell Steve Jobs, and God Bless

iSad