Works
The Last Lecture
Randy PauschFamous Randy Pausch Quotes
Source: The Last Lecture (2008), Chapter 48: Tell the Truth, p. 163
The Last Lecture (2008)
“Find your passion and follow it.”
CMU Graduation speech (2008)
Context: You will need find your passion. Many of you have already done it, many of you will later, many of you may take to your thirties or forties, but don't give up on finding it. Right, then all you are doing is waiting for the reaper. Find your passion and follow it. And if there is anything that I have learned in life, you will not find that passion in things. And you will not find that passion in money. Because the more things and the more money you have, the more you will just look around and use that as the metric — and there will always be someone with more. Your passion must come from the things that fuel you from the inside. And honors and awards are nice things, but only to the extent that they regard real respect from your peers. And to be thought of well by people you think of more highly up is a tremendous honor I've been granted. Find your passion, and in my experience, no matter what you do at work or what you do in in official settings, that passion will be grounded in people. It will be grounded in the relationships you have with people and what they think of you when your time comes.
Randy Pausch Quotes about people
The Last Lecture (2007)
The Last Lecture (2007)
“People are more important than things.”
The Last Lecture (2008)
Variant: The questions are always more important than the answers."
“Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you.”
When Pausch spoke of "when you’re screwing up and nobody’s saying anything to you anymore, that means they gaveup." he was quoting Jon Snoddy http://www.snoddy.net/
The Last Lecture (2007)
Context: Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you. He said, when you are pissed off at somebody, and you're angry at them, you just haven't given them enough time. Just give them a little more time — and they'll almost always impress you. And that really stuck with me. I think he's absolutely right on that one.
Randy Pausch Quotes about time
Quoting a CMU secretary
The Last Lecture (2007)
Source: The Last Lecture (2008), Chapter 32: Don't Complain, Just Work Harder, p. 139
“Time is all you have and you may find one day that you have less than you think.”
The Last Lecture (2008)
Time Management (2007)
Context: General Advice: Never break a promise, but re-negotiate them if need be. If you haven’t got time to do it right, you don’t have time to do it wrong. Recognize that most things are pass/fail. Feedback loops: ask in confidence.
Randy Pausch: Trending quotes
“It is not the things we do in life that we regret on our death bed. It is the things we do not.”
CMU Graduation speech (2008)
Context: It is not the things we do in life that we regret on our death bed. It is the things we do not. I assure you I've done a lot of really stupid things, and none of them bother me. All the mistakes, and all the dopey things, and all the times I was embarrassed — they don't matter. What matters is that I can kind of look back and say: Pretty much any time I got chance to do something cool I tried to grab for it — and that's where my solace comes from.
“It's not how hard you hit. It's how hard you get hit…and keep moving forward.”
The Last Lecture (2008)
“Did you figure out the second head fake? This talk's not for you. It's for my kids.”
The Last Lecture (2007)
Randy Pausch Quotes
“You can always change your plan, but only if you have one..”
The Last Lecture (2008)
Variant: You can always change your plan, but only if you have one.."
“And as you get older you may find that enabling-the-dreams-of-others thing is even more fun.”
The Last Lecture (2007)
Context: So what is today's talk about then? It's about my childhood dreams and how I've achieved them — I've been very fortunate that way; how I believe I've been able to enable the dreams of others, and to some degree, lessons learned: I'm a professor — there should be some lessons learned — and how you can use the stuff you hear today to enable your dreams or enable the dreams of others. And as you get older you may find that enabling-the-dreams-of-others thing is even more fun.
“My dad was so full of life, anything with him was an adventure.”
The Last Lecture (2007)
Context: My dad was so full of life, anything with him was an adventure. [Shows picture of his Dad holding a brown paper bag] I don’t know what’s in that bag, but I know it’s cool. My dad dressed up as Santa Claus, but he also did very, very significant things to help lots of people. This is a dormitory in Thailand that my mom and dad underwrote. And every year about 30 students get to go to school who wouldn’t have otherwise. This is something my wife and I have also been involved in heavily. And these are the kind of things that I think everybody ought to be doing. Helping others.
The Last Lecture (2007)
Context: How do you get people to help you? You can’t get there alone. People have to help you and I do believe in karma. I believe in paybacks. You get people to help you by telling the truth; by being earnest. I'll take an earnest person over a hip person every day, because hip is short-term, earnest is long term.
“I think he's absolutely right on that one.”
When Pausch spoke of "when you’re screwing up and nobody’s saying anything to you anymore, that means they gaveup." he was quoting Jon Snoddy http://www.snoddy.net/
The Last Lecture (2007)
Context: Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you. He said, when you are pissed off at somebody, and you're angry at them, you just haven't given them enough time. Just give them a little more time — and they'll almost always impress you. And that really stuck with me. I think he's absolutely right on that one.
The Last Lecture (2008)
“So what is today's talk about then? It's about my childhood dreams and how I've achieved them”
I've been very fortunate that way; how I believe I've been able to enable the dreams of others, and to some degree, lessons learned: I'm a professor — there should be some lessons learned — and how you can use the stuff you hear today to enable your dreams or enable the dreams of others. And as you get older you may find that enabling-the-dreams-of-others thing is even more fun.
The Last Lecture (2007)
“Your passion must come from the things that fuel you from the inside.”
CMU Graduation speech (2008)
Context: You will need find your passion. Many of you have already done it, many of you will later, many of you may take to your thirties or forties, but don't give up on finding it. Right, then all you are doing is waiting for the reaper. Find your passion and follow it. And if there is anything that I have learned in life, you will not find that passion in things. And you will not find that passion in money. Because the more things and the more money you have, the more you will just look around and use that as the metric — and there will always be someone with more. Your passion must come from the things that fuel you from the inside. And honors and awards are nice things, but only to the extent that they regard real respect from your peers. And to be thought of well by people you think of more highly up is a tremendous honor I've been granted. Find your passion, and in my experience, no matter what you do at work or what you do in in official settings, that passion will be grounded in people. It will be grounded in the relationships you have with people and what they think of you when your time comes.
When Pausch spoke of "You obviously don't know where the bar should be, and you're only going to do a disservice by putting it anywhere." he was quoting the advice of Andries van Dam on challenging his students after they already completed excellent performances on their first two week assignment.
The Last Lecture (2007)
Context: What he said was: "You obviously don't know where the bar should be, and you're only going to do a disservice by putting it anywhere." And boy was that good advice. Because what he said was, you obviously don’t know where the bar should be, and you’re only going to do them a disservice by putting it anywhere.
“The best way to teach somebody something is to have them think they're learning something else.”
The Last Lecture (2007)
Context: The best way to teach somebody something is to have them think they're learning something else. I’ve done it my whole career. And the head fake here is that they’re learning to program but they just think they’re making movies and video games.
“You will need find your passion.”
Many of you have already done it, many of you will later, many of you may take to your thirties or forties, but don't give up on finding it. Right, then all you are doing is waiting for the reaper. Find your passion and follow it. And if there is anything that I have learned in life, you will not find that passion in things. And you will not find that passion in money. Because the more things and the more money you have, the more you will just look around and use that as the metric — and there will always be someone with more. Your passion must come from the things that fuel you from the inside. And honors and awards are nice things, but only to the extent that they regard real respect from your peers. And to be thought of well by people you think of more highly up is a tremendous honor I've been granted. Find your passion, and in my experience, no matter what you do at work or what you do in in official settings, that passion will be grounded in people. It will be grounded in the relationships you have with people and what they think of you when your time comes.
CMU Graduation speech (2008)
Time Management (2007)
Context: Everyone has Good and Bad Times. Find your creative/thinking time. Defend it ruthlessly, spend it alone, maybe at home. Find your dead time. Schedule meetings, phone calls, and mundane stuff during it.
“And these are the kind of things that I think everybody ought to be doing. Helping others.”
The Last Lecture (2007)
Context: My dad was so full of life, anything with him was an adventure. [Shows picture of his Dad holding a brown paper bag] I don’t know what’s in that bag, but I know it’s cool. My dad dressed up as Santa Claus, but he also did very, very significant things to help lots of people. This is a dormitory in Thailand that my mom and dad underwrote. And every year about 30 students get to go to school who wouldn’t have otherwise. This is something my wife and I have also been involved in heavily. And these are the kind of things that I think everybody ought to be doing. Helping others.
“A good apology is like antibiotic, a bad apology is like rubbing salt in the wound.”
The Last Lecture (2008)
CMU Graduation speech (2008)
Context: We don't beat the reaper by living longer, but by living well, and living fully — for the reaper will come for all of us. The question is: what do we do between the time we're born and the time he shows up. Because when he shows up, it’s too late to do all the things that you’re always gonna, kinda get around to.
“When you do the right thing, good stuff has a way of happening.”
The Last Lecture (2007)
Source: The Last Lecture (2008), Chapter 37: Watch What They Do, Not What They Say, p. 146
“The best gift an educator can give is to get someone to become self-reflective.”
The Last Lecture (2007)
“Delegation: No one is an island. You can accomplish a lot more with help.”
Time Management (2007)
Source: The Last Lecture (2008), Chapter 7: I Never Made it in the NFL, pp. 36 - 37
… It's important to have specific dreams.
The Last Lecture (2007)
Source: The Last Lecture (2008), Chapter 39: Be the First Penguin, p. 149
“Treat the Disease, Not the Symptom.”
The Last Lecture (2008)
“Respect authority while questioning it.”
Presentation placard
The Last Lecture (2007)
“Everything you do is an opportunity cost. Learn to say “No””
Time Management (2007)
“Make your office comfortable for you, and optionally comfortable for others.”
Time Management (2007)
“When you do something young enough and you train for it, it just becomes a part of you.”
The Last Lecture (2007)
“You’ve got to get the fundamentals down because otherwise the fancy stuff isn’t going to work.”
The Last Lecture (2007)
The Last Lecture (2008)
Variant: And he put his arm around my shoulders and we went for a little walk and he said, Randy, it’s such a shame that people perceive you as so arrogant. Because it’s going to limit what you’re going to be able to accomplish in life. What a hell of a way to word “you’re being a jerk.” [laughter] Right? He doesn’t say you’re a jerk. He says people are perceiving you this way and he says the downside is it’s going to limit what you’re going to be able to accomplish.
When Pausch spoke of "when you’re screwing up and nobody’s saying anything to you anymore, that means they gaveup." he was quoting an assistant coach of football coach James Graham
The Last Lecture (2007)
Source: The Last Lecture (2008), Chapter 46: All You Have Is What You Bring With You, p. 160
