Steve Jobs Quotes: My Top 25 Favorite Lines from the Tech Whiz

Technology lovers will long mourn the loss of Apple Computer founder and wildly successful entrepreneur Steve Jobs (1955-2011), who pioneered the development of personal computers, smart phones and other advanced consumer electronics.

Jobs passed away October 5, 2011, after a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer. His recent product legacy includes the Mac, iPad, iPhone, iPod, iTouch and more.

Along the way, during his illustrious and innovative career, Jobs often issued quotable statements. Jobs' quotes ranged from candid to comical, serious to sarcastic, instructive to insightful, and practical to prophetic.

Here are 25 favorite quotations from Apple Founder Steve Jobs.

1. "Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected."

2. "Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful - that's what matters to me."

3. "Click. Boom. Amazing!"

4. "Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."

5. "I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life."

6. "I think we're having fun. I think our customers really like our products. And we're always trying to do better."

7. "I want to put a ding in the universe."

8. "I was lucky -- I found what I love to do early in life."

9. "I was worth over $1,000,000 when I was 23, and over $10,000,000 when I was 24, and over $100,000,000 when I was 25, and it wasn't that important because I never did it for the money."

10. "I'm convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance."

11. "I'm as proud of what we don't do as I am of what we do."

12. "I'm the only person I know that's lost a quarter of a billion dollars in one year.... It's very character-building."

13. "Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower."

14. "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."

15. "Our belief was that if we kept putting great products in front of customers, they would continue to open their wallets."

16. "Our goal is to make the best devices in the world, not to be the biggest."

17. "Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles."

18. "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."

19. "Sometimes life is going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith."

20. "Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations."

21. "We do not say anything about future products. We work on them in secret, then we announce them."

22. "We want to stand at the intersection of computers and humanism."

23. "Why join the navy if you can be a pirate?"

24. "You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new."

25. "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 other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition."

Herald or humanist, Jobs undoubtedly left his self-tagged ding in the universe. At least, he left his own indelible mark in cyberspace.

Sources:

Brainy Quote - Steve Jobs

MacStories.Net - A Collection of Inspirational Steve Jobs Quotes About Life, Design and Apple

Quotations Page - Steve Jobs

ThinkExist.com - Steve Jobs Quotes

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Linda Ann Nickerson brings decades of experience and a globally-minded Midwestern perspective to a host of topics, balancing human interest with history, hard facts and often humor.