The Last Lecture Quotes

“Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

“I’LL TAKE an earnest person over a hip person every time, because hip is short-term. Earnest is long-term. Earnestness is highly underestimated. It comes from the core, while hip is trying to impress you with the surface.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

“Go on those trips you’ve always wanted to take,” the woman advised other care-givers. “Live in the moment.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

“It doesn’t matter how well you polish the underside of the banister.” You”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

“the ultimate example of a man who knew what he didn’t know, was perfectly willing to admit it, and didn’t want to leave until he understood. That’s heroic to me.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

“Tenacity is a virtue, but it’s not always crucial for everyone to observe
how hard you work at something.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

“Ask Disney World workers: 'What time does the park close?' They're supposed to answer "The park is open until 8 p.m.'... I knew then. That's the way the rest of my life would need to be lived.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

“a parent’s job is to encourage kids to develop a joy for life and a great urge to follow their own dreams.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

“Each of us must decide: Am I a fun-loving Tigger or am I a sad-sack Eeyore? Pick a camp.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

“Ask those questions. Just ask them. More often than you’d suspect, the answer you’ll get is, “Sure.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

“Sometimes, all you have to do is ask.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

“People lie for lots of reasons, often because it seems like a way to get what they want with less effort. But like many short-term strategies, it’s ineffective long-term. You run into people again later, and they remember you lied to them. And they tell lots of other people about it. That’s what amazes me about lying.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

“you’re only as good as your word,” and there’s no better way to say it.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

“I’ve always admired people who are over-prepared.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

“That meant when I wasn’t happy about something, I spoke up, often directly and not always tactfully.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

“as you get older, you may find that enabling the dreams of others is even more fun.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

“All my life, I’ve been very aware that time is finite.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

“So today’s talk was about achieving childhood dreams,” I said. “But did you figure out the head fake?” I paused. The room was quiet. “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.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

“They were thinking: “I don’t know who this guy is, but I’m definitely coming to class tomorrow to check out his next stunt.” I sure got their attention. That’s always the first step to solving an ignored problem.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

“Here was a woman, having a child by accident that she surely would come to love. As for me, through the accident of cancer i'd be leaving three children to grow up without my love”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

“Tijekom mog liječenja, kada sam doznao da samo četiri posto oboljelih od raka gušterače živi pet godina, pala mi je na pamet fraza iz jednog filma o Zvjezdanim stazama, Khanov gnjev. U filmu se prikazuju kadeti Flote koji se na simulatoru suočavaju sa situacijom u kojoj bez obzira na njihove napore pogiba cjelokupna posada. Kada je Kirk bio kadet, reprogramirao je simulaciju jer »nije vjerovao u scenarij bez mogućnosti pobjede«.
U kasnijim godinama neki od mojih profinjenih akademskih kolega s prezirom su gledali na moju opčinjenost Zvjezdanim stazama. Ali ja dobro znam koliko mi je to poslužilo. Nakon sto je Shatner doznao za moju dijagnozu, poslao mi je svoju fotografiju kao kapetana Kirka. Na njoj je pisalo: »Ne vjerujem u scenarij bez mogućnosti pobjede.«”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

“When we make something hard to use, people get upset. They become so angry that they want to destroy it. We don’t want to create things that people will want to destroy”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

“I also think my dad would be reminding me that kids— more than anything else—need to know their parents love them. Their parents don’t have to be alive for that to happen.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

“Cuando cometes errores y nadie te lo indica, significa que ya se han dado por vencidos contigo.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

“«Dile a tu amigo que al morir él, una parte de ti se irá con él. Adonde quiera que él vaya, tú irás con él. Nunca estará solo».”
― Randy Pausch, La última lección

“«No fastidies y vive una vida de abundancia»,”
― Randy Pausch, La última lección

“..but it makes no sense to talk about rights without also talking about responsibilities”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

“Time is all you have. And you may find one day thar you have less than you think”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

“For Jai and me, our dented cars became a statement in our marriage. Not everything needs to be fixed.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

“On the first day of practice, we were all scared to death. Plus he hadn't brought along any footballs. One kid finally spoke up for all of us 'Excuse me, Coach. There are no footballs.'
And Coach Graham responded, 'We don't need any footballs.' There was silence while we thought about that...
'How many men are on the football field at a time?' he asked us. Eleven on a team, we answered. So that makes twenty-two.
'And how many people are touching the football at any given time?' One of them.
'Right!' he said. 'So we're going to work on what those other twenty-one guys are doing.'
Fundamentals. That was a great gift Coach Graham gave us. Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals. As a college professor, I've seen this one lesson so many kids ignore, always to their detriment: You've got to get the fundamentals down, because otherwise the fancy stuff is not going to work.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture