“Never lose the child-like wonder. It's just too important. It's what drives us.”
The Last Lecture (2007)
Quotes from book
The Last Lecture
The Last Lecture is a New York Times best-selling book co-authored by Randy Pausch—a professor of computer science, human-computer interaction, and design at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—and Jeffrey Zaslow of the Wall Street Journal. The book speaks on a lecture Pausch gave in September 2007 entitled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams".
“Have something to bring to the table, because that will make you more welcomed.”
The Last Lecture (2007)
The Last Lecture (2007)
“Did you figure out the second head fake? This talk's not for you. It's for my kids.”
The Last Lecture (2007)
“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.
“Time is all you have and you may find one day that you have less than you think.”
The Last Lecture (2008)
“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.
“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.
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)
“People are more important than things.”
The Last Lecture (2008)
Variant: The questions are always more important than the answers."
