Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.Stanford Commencement Address, 2005
Steve Jobs
Technology Pioneer (1955 – 2011)
Editorial Standards
Last Updated: August 28, 2026
American entrepreneur and inventor Steve Jobs reshaped human communication by forging elegant devices that seamlessly integrated sophisticated technology. Driven by an uncompromising aesthetic minimalism, he believed profound innovation surfaced at the exact intersection of arts and rigorous engineering. His relentless pursuit of perfection continues to echo worldwide, compelling future generations to challenge convention and imagine a connected reality.
Editorial Standards
Last Updated: August 28, 2026
Quotes (9)
GalleryAgain, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.Stanford Commencement Address, 2005
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.Stanford Commencement Address, 2005
Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.Stanford Commencement Address, 2005
Let's go invent tomorrow rather than worrying about what happened yesterday.All Things Digital Interview, 2007
I would trade all of my technology for an afternoon with Socrates.Newsweek Interview, 2001
Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.NYT Interview, 2003
My model for business is The Beatles. They were four guys who kept each other's 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.CBS Interview, 2003
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.BusinessWeek Interview, 1998