Much has already been said upon the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and until now I still feel sad about the passing of the greatest tech leader of our generation. Some may think I am stupid for being so busted up at the death of someone I never met, but I guess I look up to him so much that I feel sad because I wouldn't get to hear his amazing words of wisdom anymore.
I know that most people regard him as the man behind great products such as iPhone, iPad and all other Apple products, but Jobs is actually credited with a LOT of things in the world of computing. If not for him, personal computers might still be running in DOS-mode. Can you imagine a computer without a mouse and a graphical user interface? Jobs invented or co-invented a wide range of technologies, from actual computer and portable devices to keyboards, power adapters, staircases and speakers. His total patented technologies are over 300. Freakin' genious.
If I were to ask you, how will you remember Steve Jobs? By his revolutionary products such as iPhone and Mac? His trademark black turtleneck longsleeves and jeans attire? Through the movie "Pirates of Silicon Valley?" There are sooooo many things that remind us of him, but among all that are his memorable quotes that tell us that Steve Jobs is one heck of a legend. Here are some of my favorite quotes by this creative genious:
"We made the buttons on the screen look so good you'll want to lick them." -- on Mac OS X's Aqua user interface (Fortune, Jan. 24, 2000)
"It's rare that you see an artist in his 30s or 40s able to really contribute something amazing."
-- At age 29, as quoted in Playboy (February 1985)
"Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?"
-- A comment he made in persuading John Sculley to become Apple's CEO.
"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."
-- Interview with Inc. Magazine for its "The Entrepreneur of the Decade Award" (April 1989)
"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."
-- On the success of Bill Gates and Microsoft, The Wall Street Journal (Summer 1993)
"Apple has some tremendous assets, but I believe without some attention, the company could, could, could — I’m searching for the right word — could, could die."-– TIME, 1997
"I was worth about over a million dollars when I was twenty-three and over ten million dollars when I was twenty-four, and over a hundred million dollars when I was twenty-five and it wasn't that important because I never did it for the money."
-- PBS documentary "Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires" (1996)
"Nobody has tried to swallow us since I've been here. I think they are afraid how we would taste."
-- At the annual Apple shareholder meeting (22 April 1998)
"We used to dream about this stuff. Now we get to build it. It's pretty great."
-- Keynote address at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (June 2004)
"Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything. It's very fortunate if you can work on just one of these in your career."
-- Announcing the introduction of the iPhone (9 January 2007)
"It’s not about pop culture, and it’s not about fooling people, and it’s not about convincing people that they want something they don’t. We figure out what we want. And I think we’re pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That’s what we get paid to do."
-- On Apple's connection with the consumer (Fortune, March 2008)
"I make 50 cents for showing up... and the other 50 cents is based on my performance."
-- On his famous $1 annual salary, at the annual Apple shareholder meeting in 2007
"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."
-– Stanford University, 2005 Commencement Address
"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."
-- Stanford University, 2005 Commencement Address
Whether you love or hate Apple, you gotta admit -- Steve Jobs indeed changed the world.
Thank you, Sir Steve.
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