Steve Jobs, in his own words

It’s the fourth day since the death of the legendary entrepreneur Steve Jobs caught the world in grief and the online and offline networks are still abuzz with mourning the passing away of one of the greatest innovators of all time.

What makes Steve Jobs very special in Jason McCabe Calacanis’ words:

1. Unrelenting attention to detail.
2. Impeccable taste.
3. Indefatigable passion.
4. Absolute conviction.
5. Unwavering vision.
6. Boundless curiosity.
7. Mercurial motivator.

One or two of these will help you make a living.

Three or four of these will make you successful.

Four of five of these will make you a legend.

Five or six of these will make you iconic for all time.

All seven will make you Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs is undoubtedly the inspiration to all of us. Here are the 25 best quotes from Steve Jobs that shall continue to inspire us. Tweet them, mention them in your Facebook updates, stick them to your the walls of your study room or office boards.

What’s your favorite Steve Jobs quote? Do share in the comments below.

Steve Jobs on Entrepreneurship

• “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”
•  “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.”
• “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.”
•  “I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.”
• “Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
• “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, and 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 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.”
• “The problem with the Internet startup craze isn’t that too many people are starting companies; it’s that too many people aren’t sticking with it.”

Steve Jobs on Design

• “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”
• “In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer. It’s interior decorating. It’s the fabric of the curtains of the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a human-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service.”
• “To design something really well you have to get it.  You have to really grok what it’s all about.  It takes a passionate commitment to thoroughly understand something – chew it up, not just quickly swallow it.  Most people don’t take the time to do that… The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better designs we will have.”
• “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.”
• “You can’t 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.”

Steve Jobs on Execution

• “Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.”
• “I was worth over $1,000,000 when I was 23, and over $10,000,000 when I was 24, and over $100,000,000 when I was 25, and it wasn’t that important because I never did it for the money.”
• “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 the only person I know that’s lost a quarter of a billion dollars in one year…. It’s very character-building.”

Steve Jobs on building successful organisations

• “The people who are doing the work are the moving force behind the Macintosh. My job is to create a space for them, to clear out the rest of the organization and keep it at bay.”
• “Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”
• “People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.”

Steve Jobs on Death

• “…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.”
• “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”
• “… 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 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.”