Steve Jobs' Best Quotes(blogs.wsj.com)
blogs.wsj.com
Steve Jobs' Best Quotes
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/08/24/steve-jobss-best-quotes/
68 comments
Did some digging about Adam Osborne. Made me quite sad for him...
It seems he was a failed (relatively speaking) genius. He is credited with building the first computer for people. Also was briefly considered a contemporary of Bill G and Steve Jobs:
"on April 3rd, 1981 when a startup called Osborne Computer Corporation announced the Osborne 1 at the West Coast Computer Faire at San Francisco’s Brooks Hall. It was the first true mass-produced portable PC and one of the most popular computers of its time" (Source: http://technologizer.com/2011/04/01/osborne-computer/)
He also: "he founded another company that also collapsed–but not before helping to pioneer the idea of really cheap software"
He later died in India at the age of 64, in 2003. Where he was born and educated when he was a very young.
It seems he was a failed (relatively speaking) genius. He is credited with building the first computer for people. Also was briefly considered a contemporary of Bill G and Steve Jobs:
"on April 3rd, 1981 when a startup called Osborne Computer Corporation announced the Osborne 1 at the West Coast Computer Faire at San Francisco’s Brooks Hall. It was the first true mass-produced portable PC and one of the most popular computers of its time" (Source: http://technologizer.com/2011/04/01/osborne-computer/)
He also: "he founded another company that also collapsed–but not before helping to pioneer the idea of really cheap software"
He later died in India at the age of 64, in 2003. Where he was born and educated when he was a very young.
> It was the first true mass-produced portable PC
Erm... "portable" is not the word I'd use. Most would settle for "transportable". I'd rather use "draggable".
Erm... "portable" is not the word I'd use. Most would settle for "transportable". I'd rather use "draggable".
I remember "luggable" as the adjective of choice for such machines through the late 80's and early 90's. The PC Magazine columnists (Dvorak and Seymour and others) were fond of it.
I remember "luggable". There was an April fool's section in BYTE in the late 80's advertising a line of hand luggage made to look like portable computers. The text said something about the size being painfully realistic and not fitting under an airplane seat.
Did you notice this Ad they had for Osborne? Please scroll down to see the 'The Guy on the left doesn't stand a chance' Ad, on the 2nd page of the article (http://technologizer.com/2011/04/01/osborne-computer/2/ )
It almost could have been an Ad for a 'Laptop' as we know it.
It almost could have been an Ad for a 'Laptop' as we know it.
Carry one for two hours.
Yeah, awesome. He gets revenge on a fairly standard sales competitor by stomping on the little person. Ha ha, Osborne acted like a person with vision by being condescending, what an asshole, but Jobs, acting like a person of vision, was inspired and lively! So what if he shat on a secretary!
This anecdote is just another flavour of "The winners get to write the histories".
This anecdote is just another flavour of "The winners get to write the histories".
He wasn't shitting on the secretary, he was shitting on Adam by proxy.
All armchair commentators would do well to consider this one:
Q: There’s a lot of symbolism to your return. Is that going to be enough to reinvigorate the company with a sense of magic?
“You’re missing it. This is not a one-man show. What’s reinvigorating this company is two things: One, there’s a lot of really talented people in this company who listened to the world tell them they were losers for a couple of years, and some of them were on the verge of starting to believe it themselves. But they’re not losers. What they didn’t have was a good set of coaches, a good plan. A good senior management team. But they have that now.” [BusinessWeek, May 25, 1998]
Q: There’s a lot of symbolism to your return. Is that going to be enough to reinvigorate the company with a sense of magic?
“You’re missing it. This is not a one-man show. What’s reinvigorating this company is two things: One, there’s a lot of really talented people in this company who listened to the world tell them they were losers for a couple of years, and some of them were on the verge of starting to believe it themselves. But they’re not losers. What they didn’t have was a good set of coaches, a good plan. A good senior management team. But they have that now.” [BusinessWeek, May 25, 1998]
To continue on this thread, I once heard Steve describe it this way:
"When I returned to Apple, I went to every engineering team and fired all the managers. Then, I went to the smartest engineer on each team and told them they were going to be the new manager. Of course, being the smartest engineers, they all immediately said, 'No'! So I told them, 'Look, either you're going to be the new manager, or I'll go hire someone like your old manager.' After that, every one of them agreed to take the position."
"When I returned to Apple, I went to every engineering team and fired all the managers. Then, I went to the smartest engineer on each team and told them they were going to be the new manager. Of course, being the smartest engineers, they all immediately said, 'No'! So I told them, 'Look, either you're going to be the new manager, or I'll go hire someone like your old manager.' After that, every one of them agreed to take the position."
That's one thing that seems to be missing in general, is the appreciation that while Jobs is a pretty awesome person and has engendered a powerful culture at Apple, it takes more than one person to come up with quality goods at that scale.
This one, too -
--
“When you’re young, you look at television and think, There’s a conspiracy. The networks have conspired to dumb us down. But when you get a little older, you realize that’s not true. The networks are in business to give people exactly what they want. That’s a far more depressing thought. Conspiracy is optimistic! You can shoot the bastards! We can have a revolution! But the networks are really in business to give people what they want. It’s the truth.” [Wired, February 1996]
--
“When you’re young, you look at television and think, There’s a conspiracy. The networks have conspired to dumb us down. But when you get a little older, you realize that’s not true. The networks are in business to give people exactly what they want. That’s a far more depressing thought. Conspiracy is optimistic! You can shoot the bastards! We can have a revolution! But the networks are really in business to give people what they want. It’s the truth.” [Wired, February 1996]
That quote kills me.
I've always had an aesthetic revulsion to committing to giving people exactly what they say they want. It belies a lack of imagination on the part of the creator, and smacks of a lack of integrity. However, most of the world is set up this way, despite my status as a 'professional.'
How do you claim more autonomy? I suppose this is part of the beauty of a startup.
I've always had an aesthetic revulsion to committing to giving people exactly what they say they want. It belies a lack of imagination on the part of the creator, and smacks of a lack of integrity. However, most of the world is set up this way, despite my status as a 'professional.'
How do you claim more autonomy? I suppose this is part of the beauty of a startup.
In fact, the networks are in business to give their customers - the advertisers - what they want. Granted, what advertisers want is to reach eyeballs (though not all eyeballs are created equal) - but it's still optimization-by-proxy, and it still produces a distortion between what people want from TV and what they're willing to tolerate.
Very Huxleian: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death
Steve Jobs of all people should realize the value of choosing not to give the viewers exactly what they want and instead pushing them toward a higher standard, even if it costs a bit of money in the short run.
That quote's crap.
We used to have Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow. Now we have CNN and Fox News. Can you picture anyone from either of those networks calling out McCarthy?
It's not so much an active conspiracy of mendacious bootlickers, as it is the lack of a conspiracy to strive for something better. Steve Jobs of all people should know better.
We used to have Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow. Now we have CNN and Fox News. Can you picture anyone from either of those networks calling out McCarthy?
It's not so much an active conspiracy of mendacious bootlickers, as it is the lack of a conspiracy to strive for something better. Steve Jobs of all people should know better.
great stuff. Like Steve on Startups:
“The problem with the Internet startup craze isn’t that too many people are starting companies; it’s that too many people aren’t sticking with it. That’s somewhat understandable, because there are many moments that are filled with despair and agony, when you have to fire people and cancel things and deal with very difficult situations. That’s when you find out who you are and what your values are.
“So when these people sell out, even though they get fabulously rich, they’re gypping themselves out of one of the potentially most rewarding experiences of their unfolding lives. Without it, they may never know their values or how to keep their newfound wealth in perspective.” [Fortune, Jan. 24, 2000]
“The problem with the Internet startup craze isn’t that too many people are starting companies; it’s that too many people aren’t sticking with it. That’s somewhat understandable, because there are many moments that are filled with despair and agony, when you have to fire people and cancel things and deal with very difficult situations. That’s when you find out who you are and what your values are.
“So when these people sell out, even though they get fabulously rich, they’re gypping themselves out of one of the potentially most rewarding experiences of their unfolding lives. Without it, they may never know their values or how to keep their newfound wealth in perspective.” [Fortune, Jan. 24, 2000]
I have posted this a few days back, but I guess in the context of persistance. He indeed did wait for the next big thing.
Rumelt congratulated Jobs on the turnaround but expressed skepticism about Apple’s chances of overcoming the Windows-Intel lock on personal computers. “What are you going to do in the longer term?” Rumelt asked. “What’s the strategy?” Jobs, he recalls, “just smiled and said, ‘I am going to wait for the next big thing.’”
Rumelt congratulated Jobs on the turnaround but expressed skepticism about Apple’s chances of overcoming the Windows-Intel lock on personal computers. “What are you going to do in the longer term?” Rumelt asked. “What’s the strategy?” Jobs, he recalls, “just smiled and said, ‘I am going to wait for the next big thing.’”
My two favorite Steve quotes both came during a talk with some interns one summer (paraphrasing from memory):
-----
Intern: "Where do you see Apple in 5 years? 10 years?"
Steve: "I don't know. I'm too focused on where Apple is going tomorrow...and I think anyone that does tell you they know where their company will be in 5 years is lying, or doesn't have enough to worry about now."
(It was clear that Steve saw Apple's roadmap as a continuous progression from the present, rather than a plotted course to some arbitrary goal. That's an attitude that I've found has served me very well...)
-----
Intern: "What are your dreams?"
Steve: "To not be asked questions like that...next"
-----
Intern: "Where do you see Apple in 5 years? 10 years?"
Steve: "I don't know. I'm too focused on where Apple is going tomorrow...and I think anyone that does tell you they know where their company will be in 5 years is lying, or doesn't have enough to worry about now."
(It was clear that Steve saw Apple's roadmap as a continuous progression from the present, rather than a plotted course to some arbitrary goal. That's an attitude that I've found has served me very well...)
-----
Intern: "What are your dreams?"
Steve: "To not be asked questions like that...next"
So many of these remind me of Howard Roark, the architect in Ayn Rand's novel "The Fountainhead."
The idea of designing products for yourself, that YOU want, not for a committee and not for the masses - and of loyalty to the central idea of the product all the way through. The idea of a man who is religious about his work - but who is not actually religious. Building something in your own image - for Roark, it was actual buildings; for Jobs, as has been said, it was Apple.
The idea of designing products for yourself, that YOU want, not for a committee and not for the masses - and of loyalty to the central idea of the product all the way through. The idea of a man who is religious about his work - but who is not actually religious. Building something in your own image - for Roark, it was actual buildings; for Jobs, as has been said, it was Apple.
Two of my favorites are not there:
"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."
and
"I am saddened, not by Microsoft's success — I have no problem with their success. They've earned their success, for the most part. I have a problem with the fact that they just make really third-rate products."
"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."
and
"I am saddened, not by Microsoft's success — I have no problem with their success. They've earned their success, for the most part. I have a problem with the fact that they just make really third-rate products."
One thing I really like about that first quote is his humility and pragmatism. He didn't say something dramatic like "and if the answer is no, I stop and change everything then and there". No, he knows sometimes you have to do stuff which you don't like, but it shouldn't become a habit.
both of those are there
Steve's advice to Nike:
"Nike makes some of the best products in the world. Products that you lust after. But you also make a lot of crap. Just get rid of the crappy stuff and focus on the good stuff."
"Nike makes some of the best products in the world. Products that you lust after. But you also make a lot of crap. Just get rid of the crappy stuff and focus on the good stuff."
“It’s like when IBM drove a lot of innovation out of the computer industry before the microprocessor came along. Eventually, Microsoft will crumble because of complacency, and maybe some new things will grow. But until that happens, until there’s some fundamental technology shift, it’s just over.” [Wired, February 1996]
Wow I find this one especially prescient. Imo it shows real insight, and shows he wasn't following some pipe dream.
Wow I find this one especially prescient. Imo it shows real insight, and shows he wasn't following some pipe dream.
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
I think this is simply one of the best quotes I've ever come across.
I think this is simply one of the best quotes I've ever come across.
has lots of gravity and truth in it.
There is a missing quote from Steve Jobs that I really like.
"It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do."
"It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do."
One of my favorites not on there.
"We do no market research. We don't hire consultants. The only consultants I've ever hired in my 10 years is one firm to analyze Gateway's retail strategy so I would not make some of the same mistakes they made [when launching Apple's retail stores]."
"We do no market research. We don't hire consultants. The only consultants I've ever hired in my 10 years is one firm to analyze Gateway's retail strategy so I would not make some of the same mistakes they made [when launching Apple's retail stores]."
Perhaps the most pertinent to startup life: "“It’s more fun to be a pirate than to join the navy.”
Perhaps in the fantasy in our heads. But in real life, pirates are desperate people, usually repeatedly risking their lives in order to stay alive. In comparison, all the people I know in the navy absolutely love it - they like the life, they absolutely love the travelling from port to port, cameraderie, high tech playtoys, so on and so forth.
I think he meant it more in the context of olden times, where neither pirates nor navy had "high tech playtoys" and piracy was a little more common than today
Also the distinction between navies and pirates was a lot less clearly defined than it is now.
Both John Paul Jones and Sir Walter Raleigh were regarded as pirates by their adversaries and as naval heroes at home.
Both John Paul Jones and Sir Walter Raleigh were regarded as pirates by their adversaries and as naval heroes at home.
And those two would be considered among the least piratic! The English Crown granted licenses that gave commercial vessels the rights to any plunder from Spanish ships and settlements. It was effectively a loose mercenary affiliation. Deal: We empower you to commit legally sanctioned piracy. In return you make life difficult for our enemies and cut us in on the proceeds. Soldiers in war were never as restrained as period movies would have us believe, so imagine being boarded or invaded by a desperate privateer crew with not even the semblance of honor and soldierly gallantry to moderate their behavior.
Ahem. Back to Steve.
Ahem. Back to Steve.
I think it's allowed in the circumstances:
http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Pirate_Flag.txt
http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Pirate_Flag.txt
I'm really digging that quote. I never thought about the paths I have chosen away from corporate life (assuming that is what he is referring to by "navy") to be fun, just that they were more interesting. In the end, I like to think that it is about fun.
This one's my favorite -
--
Q: There’s a lot of symbolism to your return. Is that going to be enough to reinvigorate the company with a sense of magic?
“You’re missing it. This is not a one-man show. What’s reinvigorating this company is two things: One, there’s a lot of really talented people in this company who listened to the world tell them they were losers for a couple of years, and some of them were on the verge of starting to believe it themselves. But they’re not losers. What they didn’t have was a good set of coaches, a good plan. A good senior management team. But they have that now.” [BusinessWeek, May 25, 1998]
--
Q: There’s a lot of symbolism to your return. Is that going to be enough to reinvigorate the company with a sense of magic?
“You’re missing it. This is not a one-man show. What’s reinvigorating this company is two things: One, there’s a lot of really talented people in this company who listened to the world tell them they were losers for a couple of years, and some of them were on the verge of starting to believe it themselves. But they’re not losers. What they didn’t have was a good set of coaches, a good plan. A good senior management team. But they have that now.” [BusinessWeek, May 25, 1998]
"We think the Mac will sell zillions, but we didn’t build the Mac for anybody else. We built it for ourselves."
Seems contrary to advice I often read from people here.
Seems contrary to advice I often read from people here.
Always build for yourself. You are the only client you really know.
Yes, but you might have also heard about "eating your own dog food."
I have, but that just refers to using your own product, not building it for yourself.
Two of my favorite Steve stories:
http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&s...
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/3533.html
http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&s...
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/3533.html
His answer the 1996 interview question with Wired about technology revolutionizing our lives definitely seems at odds with what we've listened to him tout about such things as the iPad.
I'm guessing you are referring to this passage, but I can only guess since you forgot to specify:
"Q: What's the biggest surprise this technology will deliver?
A: The problem is I'm older now, I'm 40 years old, and this stuff doesn't change the world. It really doesn't.
Q: That's going to break people's hearts.
A: I'm sorry, it's true. Having children really changes your view on these things. We're born, we live for a brief instant, and we die. It's been happening for a long time. Technology is not changing it much - if at all.
These technologies can make life easier, can let us touch people we might not otherwise. You may have a child with a birth defect and be able to get in touch with other parents and support groups, get medical information, the latest experimental drugs. These things can profoundly influence life. I'm not downplaying that. But it's a disservice to constantly put things in this radical new light - that it's going to change everything. Things don't have to change the world to be important.
The Web is going to be very important. Is it going to be a life-changing event for millions of people? No. I mean, maybe. But it's not an assured Yes at this point. And it'll probably creep up on people.
It's certainly not going to be like the first time somebody saw a television. It's certainly not going to be as profound as when someone in Nebraska first heard a radio broadcast. It's not going to be that profound."
15 years later...yeah, probably not an accurate call on "the web". But I think I sort of understand what he's trying to say. And am mindful that he was trying to be a bit provocative.
"Q: What's the biggest surprise this technology will deliver?
A: The problem is I'm older now, I'm 40 years old, and this stuff doesn't change the world. It really doesn't.
Q: That's going to break people's hearts.
A: I'm sorry, it's true. Having children really changes your view on these things. We're born, we live for a brief instant, and we die. It's been happening for a long time. Technology is not changing it much - if at all.
These technologies can make life easier, can let us touch people we might not otherwise. You may have a child with a birth defect and be able to get in touch with other parents and support groups, get medical information, the latest experimental drugs. These things can profoundly influence life. I'm not downplaying that. But it's a disservice to constantly put things in this radical new light - that it's going to change everything. Things don't have to change the world to be important.
The Web is going to be very important. Is it going to be a life-changing event for millions of people? No. I mean, maybe. But it's not an assured Yes at this point. And it'll probably creep up on people.
It's certainly not going to be like the first time somebody saw a television. It's certainly not going to be as profound as when someone in Nebraska first heard a radio broadcast. It's not going to be that profound."
15 years later...yeah, probably not an accurate call on "the web". But I think I sort of understand what he's trying to say. And am mindful that he was trying to be a bit provocative.
"Having children really changes your view on these things."
Did he? In true Apple form, we (at least I) know absolutely nothing about his private life. Only hint of offspring is on his new house blueprint marked "playroom".
Did he? In true Apple form, we (at least I) know absolutely nothing about his private life. Only hint of offspring is on his new house blueprint marked "playroom".
I agree with this. Especially as we drift further away from Tim Berners-Lee's web towards the web as the evolution of network television and the entertainment industry.
I think $404.50/share is about the best quote he's ever had.
Great 1995 interview with Jobs from the Smithsonian:
http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/comphist/sj1.html
In our business, one person can't do anything anymore. You create a team of people around you. You have a responsibility of integrity of work to that team. Everybody does try to turn out the best work that they can.
http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/comphist/sj1.html
In our business, one person can't do anything anymore. You create a team of people around you. You have a responsibility of integrity of work to that team. Everybody does try to turn out the best work that they can.
The bicycle analogy to computers.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob_GX50Za6c
Paraphrase: The computer is to the human mind, what the bicycle is to our ability to travel.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob_GX50Za6c
Paraphrase: The computer is to the human mind, what the bicycle is to our ability to travel.
My favorite quote from Steve Jobs: http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&s...
Sums up my thoughts on vi:
> Some people are saying that we ought to put an IBM PC on every desk in America to improve productivity. It won’t work. The special incantations you have to learn this time are the “slash q-zs” and things like that.
> Some people are saying that we ought to put an IBM PC on every desk in America to improve productivity. It won’t work. The special incantations you have to learn this time are the “slash q-zs” and things like that.
Yeah, but a good portion of Mac users would never use it if it weren't UNIX under the covers and if it didn't enable them to work they way they like (from command line and vi). Without these people advocating the platform, it would be a lot less successful.
Agreed. The sole reason I use a Mac is because it's BSD + a far far superior replacement to X Windows. Among countless other subtle perfections.
I am eagerly waiting for the Steve Jobs's biography. Its based on 40 interviews with Jobs. I am hoping there are a lot more such interesting stories.
"I want to put a ding in the universe."
We worked our way up to the front of the crowd to get a good look at the units [Osborne 1] that were on display. We started to ask one of the presenters a technical question, when we were suprised to see Adam Osborne himself standing a few feet from us, looking at our show badges, preempting the response.
"Oh, some Apple folks", he addressed us in a condescending tone, "What do you think? The Osborne 1 is going to outsell the Apple II by a factor of 10, don't you think so? What part of Apple do you work in?"
When we told him that we were on the Mac team, he started to chuckle. "The Macintosh, I heard about that. When are we going to get to see it? Well, go back and tell Steve Jobs that the Osborne 1 is going to outsell the Apple II and the Macintosh combined!"
So, after returning to Cupertino later that afternoon, we told Steve about our encounter with Adam Osborne. He smiled, with a sort of mock anger, and immediately grabbed the telephone on the spare desk in Bud's office, and called information for the number of the Osborne Computer Corporation. He dialed the number, but it was answered by a secretary.
"Hi, this is Steve Jobs. I'd like to speak with Adam Osborne."
The secretary informed Steve that Mr. Osborne was not available, and would not be back in the office until tomorrow morning. She asked Steve if he would like to leave a message.
"Yes", Steve replied. He paused for a second. "Here's my message. Tell Adam he's an asshole."
There was a long delay, as the secretary tried to figure out how to respond. Steve continued, "One more thing. I hear that Adam's curious about the Macintosh. Tell him that the Macintosh is so good that he's probably going to buy a few for his children even though it put his company out of business!"