Here is one:
“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.
“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.” [Stanford commencement speech, June 2005]
Reading through these again tonight, I was reminded of what a great communicator he was:
“We made the buttons on the screen look so good you’ll want to lick them.â€
Wow–oh, wow.
His genius (at least from my individual non-genius perspective) was his ability to integrate design and function. I was saying to my sister today that it seemed to me that he was in the world of computers and electronics what the Italians once were in the world of mechanics – that the aesthetics of design were as important as function (or, as my last Alfa Romeo experience demonstrated, more important than function). A coffee grinder, a pistol, an ocean liner had to look good in support of its function. Of course, as a gross generalization, one could say that design swallowed up function for some Italian products. But for Jobs, design did indeed support function and it was the combination of the two at a consistently high level of quality that made us so enthusiastic about his products. It’s always hard to classify genius, and in his case it is indeed very complex. But it was unmistakably there.
I love the recent changes to the Wall Street Journal. I’m very enthusiastic about them. Nevertheless, they editors still did not have the courage to print what is Steve Jobs’ actual best quote. Answering why the iPad is so revolutionary, he said:
[blockquote] Freedom from porn. Yep, freedom. The times they are a changin’, and some traditional PC folk feel like their world is slipping away. It is.[/blockquote]
I wanted to kiss him.
Re #2
Nova Scout
[blockquote] A coffee grinder, a pistol, an ocean liner had to look good in support of its function. Of course, as a gross generalization, one could say that design swallowed up function for some Italian products.[/blockquote]
Have you ever seen pictures from some of the Italian ocean liners built in the 20’s and 30’s? Holy cow! It was like crossing the Atlantic in a baroque palace.
AO: at the risk of imposing on the site host by rambling off-topic, ocean liners in the 20s and 30s is a particular favourite of mine. There wer every distinctive national traits, as you allude to. REX was a great Italian liner. But it continued on after the War with ANDREA DORIA, MICHAELANGELO and RAFFAELLO. To bring it back to the post a bit, I think Jobs’s gift was to have a kind of Italianate devotion to design combined with a mid 20th Century American’s commitment to function.
But the finality of death is something that goes beyond the simple quote and I am sure this was true in his case too.
Re #5
Nova Scout
It would seem we share a hobby. I have had a near life long fascination with ships and ocean liners in particular. A pretty substantial portion of my library is composed of works on the subject. The Rex and her sister the Conte di Savoia were magnificent vessels, quite probably the finest ever to sail the southern route. I am in general less enthusiastic about the post war liners, though there were some exceptions such as the French Liberte (ex-Europa).
I thought of all the tributes, that of the Vatican most accurately situates the man in his times:
http://www.news.va/en/news/the-talent-of-mr-apple
AO: (elves -please indulge us just a bit, here) we perhaps should establish direct contact through the message service on this site and then wax rhapsodically about the joys of the Great Ships without annoying others. I have been aboard QM, QE, the UNITED STATES, and crossed on the QE2 and RYNDAM. If I could have crossed on any of them, I suspect I would have liked to have been aboard the NORMANDIE. The father of a good friend was Master of the UNITED STATES. The son spent the summers on board and has some great stories.
NV Scout and Ad Orientem,
My wife and I crawled around the bowels of the United States when she was tied up in Nrofolks in the hands of the Federal Marshals. We now have a number of linen and heavy cotton table cloths with the United States Lines emblem woven into the center, as well as numerous matching napkins. They made great Christmas presnets to family members. Also got telegraph pads, stationery, and other odds and ends, all for a song.