I have this one taped to my wall.<p>"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. That's somewhat understandable, because there are many moments that are filled with despair and agony, when you have to fire people and cancel things and deal with very difficult situations. That's when you find out who you are and what your values are." --Steve Jobs<p>When things get tough, I read that and remind myself to keep going.
"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. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."
"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 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. ... Stay hungry. Stay foolish."
"Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.<p>The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.<p>About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward.<p>Maybe they have to be crazy.<p>How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?<p>We make tools for these kinds of people.<p>While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."<p>May not be directly from Steve Jobs, but that has inspired me more than almost anything else. Well, that and Dr. King's "I Have a Dream".
"Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do" - not actually a Steve Jobs quote (it came from an ad campaign Apple ran in the late 90s) but I think it captures his spirit.
The several parts in that speech when things went wrong in all possible ways (had to drop out of college, got kicked out of his own company), and yet he just kept going.<p>Very inspiring.<p>Imagine getting kick out of your own company? Very devastating. But you have to believe that things will work out in the end.