Randy Pausch (1960 – 2008)
Professor of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, and Design at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States and a best-selling author, who achieved worldwide fame for his speech The Last Lecture at Carnegie Mellon University, after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and having only a few months to live.
Do not tell people how to live their lives. Just tell them stories. And they will figure out how those stories apply to them.
Respect authority while questioning it.
Luck is truly where preparation meets opportunity.
Never lose the child-like wonder. It's just too important. It's what drives us.
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 best way to teach somebody something is to have them think they're learning something else.
The key question to keep asking is, Are you spending your time on the right things? Because time is all you have."
People are more important than things."
Too many people go through life complaining about their problems. I've always believed that if you took one tenth the enrgy you put into complaining and applied it to solving the problem, you'd be surprised by how well things can work out."
It took me a long time but I finally figured it out: when it comes to men that are romantically interested in you, it's really simple: just ignore everything they say, and only pay attention to what they do. It's that simple. It's that easy.
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 chance I had to do something cool I tried to grab for it — and that's where my solace comes from.
Treat the Disease, Not the Symptom.
Did you figure out the head fake? It's not about how to achieve your dreams. It's about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you.
We all stand on the dart board and very few of us catch the darts. Do not think it is unfair. It is fair but you are unlucky.
You can't get there alone and I believe in karma.
Remember brick walls let us show our dedication. They are there to separate us from the people who don't really want to achieve their childhood dreams.
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.
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.
Never give up: There are certain times that you think, “OK, you have beaten me down to my knees. And now the challenge is, I am on my knees and you keep on beating me down. And the question is, are you going to keep beating me all the way to the ground or will I find a way to struggle my way back on to my feet.”
Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer.