Inspiring Wisdom: A Collection of Steve Jobs' Most Motivational Quotes

"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."

- Steve Jobs

"Stay hungry, stay foolish."

- Steve Jobs

"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."

- Steve Jobs

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

- Steve Jobs

"My job is not to be easy on people. My job is to take these great people we have and to push them and make them even better."

- Steve Jobs

"It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it."

- Steve Jobs

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

- Steve Jobs

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

- Steve Jobs

"Some people say, "Give the customers what they want." But that's not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they're going to want before they do. I think Henry Ford once said, "If I'd asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me, 'A faster horse!'" People don't know what they want until you show it to them. That's why I never rely on market research. Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page."

- Steve Jobs

"When you’re young, you look at television and think, There’s a conspiracy. The networks have conspired to dumb us down. But when you get a little older, you realize that’s not true. The networks are in business to give people exactly what they want. That’s a far more depressing thought. Conspiracy is optimistic! You can shoot the bastards! We can have a revolution! But the networks are really in business to give people what they want. It’s the truth."

- Steve Jobs

"Your thoughts construct patterns like scaffolding in your mind. You are really etching chemical patterns. In most cases, people get stuck in those patterns, just like grooves in a record, and they never get out of them."

- Steve Jobs

"I've read something that Bill Gates said about six months ago. He said, ‘I worked really, really hard in my 20s.’ And I know what he means, because I worked really, really hard in my 20s too. Literally, you know, 7 days a week, a lot of hours every day. And it actually is a wonderful thing to do, because you can get a lot done. But you can't do it forever, and you don't want to do it forever, and you have to come up with ways of figuring out what the most important things are and working with other people even more."

- Steve Jobs

"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."

- Steve Jobs

"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."

- Steve Jobs

"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. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle."

- Steve Jobs

"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."

- Steve Jobs

"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose."

- Steve Jobs

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

- Steve Jobs

"Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking."

- Steve Jobs

"Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become."

- Steve Jobs

"Creativity is just connecting things."

- Steve Jobs

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

- Steve Jobs

"Innovation comes from saying no to a thousand things."

- Steve Jobs

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

- Steve Jobs

"Details matter, it’s worth waiting to get it right."

- Steve Jobs

"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards."

- Steve Jobs

"For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through."

- Steve Jobs

"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."

- Steve Jobs

"Things don’t have to change the world to be important."

- Steve Jobs

"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."

- Steve Jobs

"If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle."

- Steve Jobs

"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there."

- Steve Jobs

"I think money is a wonderful thing because it enables you to do things."

- Steve Jobs

"I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great."

- Steve Jobs

"If you're gonna make connections which are innovative... you have to not have the same bag of experiences as everyone else does."

- Steve Jobs

"Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."

- Steve Jobs

"I believe life is an intelligent thing: that things aren't random."

- Steve Jobs

"I have a great respect for incremental improvement, and I've done that sort of thing in my life, but I've always been attracted to the more revolutionary changes."

- Steve Jobs

"Bottom line is, I didn’t return to Apple to make a fortune."

- Steve Jobs

"My model for business is The Beatles: They were four guys that kept each others’ negative tendencies in check; they balanced each other."

- Steve Jobs

"Getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me."

- Steve Jobs

"Most overnight successes took a long time."

- Steve Jobs

"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."

- Steve Jobs

"When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it."

- Steve Jobs

"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."

- Steve Jobs

"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."

- Steve Jobs

"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."

- Steve Jobs

"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."

- Steve Jobs

"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."

- Steve Jobs

"Stay hungry. Stay foolish."

- Steven Jobs

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

- Steve Jobs

"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."

- Steve Jobs

"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."

- Steve Jobs

"We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and everyone should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? So this is what we've chosen to do with our life."

- Steve Jobs

"Things don't have to change the world to be important."

- Steve Jobs

"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."

- Steve Jobs

"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."

- Steve Jobs

"Real artists ship."

- Steve Jobs

"If you live each day as if it were your last, someday you'll be right."

- Steve Jobs

"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."

- Steve Jobs

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

- Steve Jobs

"My model for business is The Beatles. They were four guys that kept each other kind of negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other and the total was greater than the sum of the parts. That's how I see business: great things in business are never done by one person, they're done by a team of people."

- Steve Jobs

"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. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life."

- Steve Jobs

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

- Steve Jobs

"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."

- Steve Jobs

"What we're doing here will send a giant ripple through the universe."

- Steve Jobs

"I’ve always been attracted to the more revolutionary changes. I don’t know why. Because they’re harder. They’re much more stressful emotionally. And you usually go through a period where everybody tells you that you’ve completely failed."

- Steve Jobs

"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."

- Steve Jobs

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

- Steve Jobs

"Everything is important- that success is in the details."

- Steve Jobs

"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower."

- Steve Jobs

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

- Steve Jobs

"We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here?"

- Steve Jobs

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

- Steve Jobs

"Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it's really how it works."

- Steve Jobs

"What is Apple, after all? Apple is about people who think 'outside the box,' people who want to use computers to help them change the world, to help them create things that make a difference, and not just to get a job done."

- Steve Jobs

"Part of what made the Macintosh great was that the people working on it were musicians, poets, artists, zoologists, and historians. They also happened to be the best computer scientists in the world. But if it hadn't been computer science, these people would have been doing amazing things in other fields."

- Steve Jobs

"When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through."

- Steve Jobs

"It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them."

- Steve Jobs

"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."

- Steve Jobs

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

- Steve Jobs

"I want to put a ding in the universe."

- Steve Jobs

"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."

- Steve Jobs

"Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected."

- Steve Jobs

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

- Steve Jobs

"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."

- Steve Jobs