Quotable Quotes from Randy Pausch
“I can’t control the cards I’m dealt, [but I can control] how I play the hands.”
“I don’t choose to be an object of pity.”
“Anything is possible and we should never lose that spirit.”
“It’s very important to know that if you don’t achieve your dreams, you can still get a lot by trying for it.”
“Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.”
“When you’re doing a bad job and nobody points it out to you, that’s when they’ve given up on you… It’s when somebody is going [to be hard on you], they’re doing that because they care to make you better.”
“The brick walls that are in our way are there for a reason; they are not there to keep us out, they are there to give us a way to show how much we want it.”
“There’s this notion of ‘have fun all the time’—have a sense of fun and wonder—that should never go away.”
“An important lesson in humility… The importance of people vs. things…
“You better decide early on if you’re a Tigger or an Eeyore. Tiggers are energetic, they’re optimistic, they’re curious, they’re enthusiastic and they have fun! And never ever underestimate the importance of having fun!”
“I am dying soon, and I am CHOOSING to have fun—today, tomorrow, and every other day I have left.”
“If you want to achieve your dreams, you better work and play well with others, and that means you better live with integrity. Simple advice that you’ll find hard to follow: just tell the truth. Second thing, when you [mess] up, apologize. There are a lot of bad apologies … A good apology has three parts—I’m sorry, It was my fault, How do I make it right? Most people skip that third part, that’s how you can tell [if there’s] sincerity.”
“Show gratitude… Gratitude is a simple thing, but it’s a very powerful thing.”
“I don’t think complaining and whining really solves the problem … You can choose to take your finite time and energy and effort and you can spend it complaining, or you can spend it playing the game hard, which is probably going to be more helpful to you in the long run.”
“It’s about how to live your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself, the dreams will come to you. If you live properly, the dreams will come to you.”
