My story is about death.

[Guest guest]

This is an extract from the text of the address by Steve Jobs, CEO of

Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, who spoke at

Commencement on June 12, 2005.

---

My story is about death.

 

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: " If you live

each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be

right. " It made an impression on me, and since then, 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.

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. Remembering that your

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.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in

the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't

even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost

certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should

expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised

me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for

prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you

thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few

months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it

will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your

goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a

biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my

stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got

a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was

there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the

doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form

of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery

and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the

closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can

now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a

useful but purely intellectual concept:

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. 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.

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 other's opinions drown out

your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow

your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly

want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole

Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was

created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo

Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in

the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so

it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It

was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google

came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and

great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth

Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final

issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of

their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road,

the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so

adventurous. Beneath it were the words: " Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. "

It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay

Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you

graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

 

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.