This document contains 25 quotes from Steve Jobs on a variety of topics. Some of the key themes that emerge are Jobs' focus on excellence and innovation, his belief that quality should take priority over quantity, and his vision that technology could be used to change people's lives. He also expressed confidence in Apple's future leadership and his ongoing connection to the company even if he wasn't present at all times.
2. โI think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out whatโs next.โ
6. โWe think the Mac will sell zillions, but we didnโt build the Mac for anybody else. We built it for ourselvesโฆWe just wanted to build the best thing we could build.โ -1985
8. โI'm the only person I know that's lost a quarter of a billion dollars in one year.... It's very character-building.โ
9. โThe most compelling reason for most people to buy a computer for the home will be to link it to a nationwide communications network. Weโre just in the beginning stages of what will be a truly remarkable breakthrough for most peopleโโas remarkable as the telephone.โ -1985
10. โIโm convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.โ
11. โInnovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It's not about money. It's about the people you have, how you're led, and how much you get it.โ
12. โEvery once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything.โ
13. โDo you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?โ
14. โYou 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.โ
15. โThe only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste. They have absolutely no tasteโฆthey donโt think of original ideas, and they donโt bring much culture into their products.โ
17. โWe donโt get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life.โ
18. โWhen youโre a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, youโre not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. Youโll know itโs there, so youโre going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.โ-1985
19. โIt takes these very simple-minded instructions-โGo fetch a number, add it to this number, put the result there, perceive if itโs greater than this other numberโโbut executes them at a rate of, letโs say, 1,000,000 per second. At 1,000,000 per second, the results appear to be magic.โ -1985
20. โWe made the buttons on the screen look so good youโll want to lick them.โ
21. โBeing the richest man in the cemetery doesnโt matter to meโฆGoing to bed at night saying weโve done something wonderfulโฆthatโs what matters to me.โ -1993
22. โSometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.โ
24. โYou have to trust in something โ your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.โ -2005
25. โI mean, some people say, โOh, God, if [Jobs] got run over by a bus, Apple would be in trouble.โ And, you know, I think it wouldnโt be a party, but there are really capable people at Apple. My job is to make the whole executive team good enough to be successors, so thatโs what I try to do.โ
26. โIโll always stay connected with Apple. I hope that throughout my life Iโll sort of have the thread of my life and the thread of Apple weave in and out of each other, like a tapestry. There may be a few years when Iโm not there, but Iโll always come back.โ -1985