Steve Jobs was a passionate genius who made a huge change in this world, then left.

Whenever I felt hopeless or unable to achieve particular results, I turned to his words for motivation, especially his well-known 2005 Commencement Address at Stanford University. I learned from him that it’s okay to start over and be a beginner again.

His death, in October 2011, reminded me how short life is and how important it is to pursue what we truly love. He lived a life of purpose and passion, with an understanding that money is not the most important achievement. As proof, he claimed that he didn’t return to Apple to make a fortune, as “wealth never validated his intelligence.”

Perhaps the greatest lesson I learned from Jobs is to think outside the box. When we follow our passion with willingness and perseverance, this is when we leave our strongest mark on the world.

To celebrate his birthday, here are more of Jobs’ thought-provoking words to inspire you:

“Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma which is living the result of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinion drown your own little voice.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Sometimes life is gonna hit you in the head with a brick: don’t lose faith.”

“I was worth about over a million dollars when I was 23 and over 10 million dollars when I was 24, and over 100 million dollars when I was 25 and… it wasn’t that important—because I never did it for the money.”

“Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you want to become.”

“When you first start off trying to solve a problem, the first solutions you come up with are very complex, and most people stop there. But if you keep going, and live with the problem and peel more layers of the onion off, you can oftentimes arrive at some very elegant and simple solutions. Most people just don’t put in the time or energy to get there.”

“Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

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

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

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

“Quality is more important than quantity.”

“The greatest thing is when you do put your heart and soul into something over an extended period of time, and it is worth 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.”

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

“Why join the navy if you can be a pirate?”

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

 

Author: Elyane Youssef

Editor: Nicole Cameron

Image: YouTube screenshot