Steve Jobs Inspirational Quotations

Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith.

Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.

Everyone here has the sense that right now is one of those moments when we are influencing the future.

I want to put a ding in the universe.

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.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.

Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.

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.

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.

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.

My favorite things in life don't cost any money. It's really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.

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.

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. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on.

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.

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

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.

A lot of companies have chosen to downsize, and maybe that was the right thing for them. We chose a different path. Our belief was that if we kept putting great products in front of customers, they would continue to open their wallets.

But innovation comes from people meeting up in the hallways or calling each other at 10:30 at night with a new idea, or because they realized something that shoots holes in how we've been thinking about a problem.

I think we're having fun. I think our customers really like our products. And we're always trying to do better.

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.

Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.

Older people sit down and ask, 'What is it?' but the boy asks, 'What can I do with it?'.

It's hard to tell with these Internet startups if they're really interested in building companies or if they're just interested in the money. I can tell you, though: If they don't really want to build a company, they won't luck into it. That's because it's so hard that if you don't have a passion, you'll give up.

You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new.

Stay hungry, stay foolish.

You've got to have a problem that you want to solve; a wrong that you want to right.

I'm sure a lot of you had this experience when you're changing. You're growing as a person and people tend to treat you like you were 18 months ago, and it's really frustrating sometimes when you're growing up and you're more capable. It's the same thing with a company and the press. The press is going to have a lag time. The best thing we can do about the press is embrace them and do the best thing we can to educate them about our strategy. But to keep our eye on the prize, that is turning out some great products. the press and the stock prize will take care of themselves.

I'm not dismissing the value of higher education; I'm simply saying it comes at the expense of experience.

Recruiting is hard. It's just finding the needles in the haystack. You can't know enough in a one-hour interview. So, in the end, it's ultimately based on your gut. How do I feel about this person? What are they like when they're challenged? I ask everybody that: 'Why are you here?' The answers themselves are not what you're looking for. It's the meta-data.

Creativity is just connecting things.

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.

Our friends up north spend over five billion dollars on research and development and all they seem to do is copy Google and Apple.

Nobody has tried to swallow us since I've been here. I think they are afraid how we would taste.

We're not going to be the first to this party, but we're going to be the best.

I don't really care about being right, I just care about success. I don't mind being wrong, and I'll admit that I'm wrong a lot. It doesn't really matter to me too much. What matters to me is that we do the right thing.

Innovation has nothing to do with how many R amp&; 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.

I hate the way people use slide presentations instead of thinking. People would confront a problem by creating a presentation. I wanted them to engage, to hash things out at the table, rather than show a bunch of slides. People who know what they're talking about don't need PowerPoint.

We've got to make the small things unforgettable.

In your life you only get to do so many things and right now we've chosen to do this, so let's make it great.

I would rather gamble on our vision than make a 'me, too' product.

I'm as proud of many of the things we haven't done as the things we have done. Innovation is saying no to a thousand things.

I think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what's next.

You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers.

the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.

When you're doing something for yourself, or your best friend or family, you're not going to cheese out. If you don't love something, you're not going to go the extra mile, work the extra weekend, challenge the status quo as much.

If you live each day as it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right

And it comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don't get on the wrong track or try to do too much. We're always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it's only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important.

Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking.

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.

I'm convinced that about half of what separates successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.

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

Focusing is about saying No.

I'm as proud of what we don't do as I am of what we do.

Sometimes life's going to hit you in 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.

Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.

The journey is the reward

You go to your TV to turn your brain off. You go to the computer when you want to turn your brain on.

Details matter, it's worth waiting to get it right.

The hardest thing when you think about focusing. You think focusing is about saying "Yes." No. Focusing is about saying "No." And when you say "No," you piss off people.

Shake off this erroneous notion that life is there and you're just gonna live in it, versus embrace it, change it, improve it, make your mark upon it.

Again, 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.

If you keep your eye on the profit, you’re going to skimp on the product. But if you focus on making really great products, then the profits will follow.

Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

And we've all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it.

Believe that things will work out... follow your intuition and curiosity... trust your heart even when it leads you off the well-worn path... You have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future... 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... Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.