Image via Complex Original
A year ago today, Steven Paul Jobs passed away at the age of 56 after battling a severe case of pancreatic cancer. The legendary entrepreneur, who had a hand in some of the most prominent and forward-thinking companies of our time, left his mark on nearly every industry save for fashion. Well, unless you consider the iPhone a fashion accessory, but whatever. The truth of the matter is that Jobs was a once-in-a-lifetime treasure. A genius who was able to envision products and services that would leave indelible marks on our society. Can you imagine there being no iTunes Store? No iPod? And, like most geniuses, we remember him as much for what he did as for what he said. Whether it was dropping philosophical gems or raging against his competitors, Steve had a knack for making people listen when he spoke. To commemorate the anniversary, we went back and picked out our favorite Jobs quotes.
Written by Stephen Nale
100. Picasso had a saying. He said 'Good artists copy, great artists steal.' And we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas.
Where: Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires, PBS, 1996
Fairly hypocritcal given later opinions on Microsoft and Android, but I guess it depends on what you are stealing. After all, innovation is simply improving something previously invented
99. I think it's brought the world a lot closer together, and will continue to do that. There are downsides to everything; there are unintended consequences to everything. The most corrosive piece of technology that I've ever seen is called television - but then, again, television, at its best, is magnificent.
Where: Rolling Stone, Dec. 3, 2003
As a simple man with the desire to simplify seemingly daunting technology for consumers, Steve Jobs openly acknowledged that with innovation comes unintended consequences. Viewing the television as a machine corroding society and social interaction, Jobs appreciated the simultaneous benefits achieved by such an invention. With Jobs' products however; it is fair to say that we will take the bad with the good.
98. "Now when we see new things or opportunities, we can seize them. In fact, we have already seized a few, like desktop movies, wireless networking, and iTools. A creative period like this lasts only maybe a decade, but it can be a golden decade if we manage it properly."
Where: Fortune, Jan., 2000.
When Jobs returned to Apple at the end of the century, he brought back a 'start-up' mentality to the company, but with greater resources and capital than a typical start-up. The result of this fresh approach to running Apple facilitated innovations and ushered in a techno-era unlike any other.
97. "See, one of the things you have to remember is that we started off with a very idealistic perspective-that doing something with the highest quality, doing it right the first time, would really be cheaper than having to go back and do it again. Ideas like that."
Where: Newsweek Access, Fall 1984.
Jobs' adherement to delivering quality products to the consumer was an ideal he required of Apple as a company. Getting the job done right the first time permitted Apple to focus on innovation and bringing new products to the market; rather than wasting time repairing faulty products already on the market
96. "I make 50 cents for showing up ... and the other 50 cents is based on my performance."
Where: Annual Apple Shareholder Meeting, 2007.
Thank God this trend didn't catch on like the rest of Apple's innovations. Steve Jobs reportedly received an annual salary of $1 and no other alternative compensation from Apple from 2007 until his death.
95. "We had the hardware expertise, the industrial design expertise and the software expertise, including iTunes. One of the biggest insights we have was that we decided not to try to manage your music library on the iPod, but to manage it in iTunes. Other companies tried to do everything on the device itself and made it so complicated that it was useless."
Where: Newsweek, October 14, 2006.
The simplistic approach taken in creating the iPod inarguably led to its success among consumers. While other companies forced various components onto a single device resulting in clutter and confusion among consumers, from its inception Apple's iPod fulfilled consumers' desires: a simple, portable mp3 player.
94. "We had a fundamental belief that doing it right the first time was going to be easier than having to go back and fix it. And I cannot say strongly enough that the repercussions of that attitude are staggering. I've seen them again and again throughout my business life."
Where: Inc. Magazine, April, 1989
Throughout Jobs' career he reiterated his commitment to providing a quality product to consumers and ensuring such quality before it reached their hands. Jobs realized the benefits of 'doing it right the first time' includes customer loyalty, whereas initial failure of a product could turn off a customer for life.
93. "Making an insanely great product has a lot to do with the process of making the product, how you learn things and adopt new ideas and throw out old ideas. But, yeah, the people who made Mac are sort of on the edge."
Where: Playboy, Feb. 1, 1985
The thin line that separates genius from insanity can be delineated by the attention to detail in developing Apple products which Jobs obssessed over. The ideas may seem insane until they are executed with the genius Jobs possessed, introduced to the public, and virtually accepted universally.
92. "We did iTunes because we all love music. We made what we thought was the best jukebox in iTunes. Then we all wanted to carry our whole music libraries around with us. The team worked really hard. And the reason that they worked so hard is because we all wanted one. You know? I mean,the first few hundred customers were us."
Where: Fortune, March, 2008.
Sounds like the true meaning of loving what you do. iTunes was revoluntionary simply because everyone wanted music at their fingertips...including the program's producers.
91. "The people who built Silicon Valley were engineers. They learned business, they learned a lot of different things, but they had a real belief that humans, if they worked hard with other creative, smart people, could solve most of humankind's problems. I believe that very much."
Where: Wired, Feb. 1996
With minor innovations popping up daily in the form of web apps or mobile apps that serve some social utility, the original Silicon Valley tycoons held the fundamental belief that creativity, knowledge, and hard work could bring significant changes to humankind. Needless to say, Jobs helped implement, execute, and teach this way of thinking throughout Silicon Valley
90. My model for business is The Beatles. They were four guys who kept each other's kind of negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other and the total was greater than the sum of the parts. That's how I see business: great things in business are never done by one person, they're done by a team of people.
Where: CBS: 60 Minutes, 2008
Jobs' ability to put together the best team possible to develop his creations rivaled the creations themselves. He had repeatedly expressed that his job as CEO of Apple was to put a team of great players together to build a great product. For example, when attempting to lure then-PepsiCo CEO John Sculley to Apple, Steve sealed the deal by asking: "Do you want to sell sugared water for the rest of your life? Or, do you want to come with me and change the world?" Hard to say no to that!
89. "That's why I dropped the 'interim' from my title. I'm still called iCEO, though, because I think it's cool."
Where: Newsweek, July 25, 2004.
In 2000, Jobs dropped 'interim' from his Apple CEO title although he maintained that Apple continue to pay him an annual salary of $1 (ONE dollar). His demand for such a low salary was to ease any tension among shareholders and employees at Pixar as he was simulataneously that company's CEO. In the same interview Jobs states, "...I don't view wealth as something that validates my inteligence."
88. "This is the nicest corporate cafe I've ever seen. When we got here this was dog food. There was this company called Guggeinheim that it was farmed out to and it was just shit. And finally we fired them and got this friend of mine who runs Il Fourniao restaurant to come and he did everything and now it's great."
Where: TIME, Oct. 18, 1999
Sweat the details, including how you feed your employees. This is a prime example of Jobs' obsession with producing a work environment that promotes quality work; right down to what's on Apple's cafe menu.
87. "Woz (Steve Wozniak) and I started Apple in my parents' garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4,000 employees."
Where: Stanford University Commencement Speech, 2005
And the board of directors sided with John Sculley in 1985? This bullet point alone on Jobs' resume should have been enough to convince Apple's board he was the man for the job. Afterall, he founded the company.
86. "I used to say that Apple should be the Sony of this business, but in reality, I think Apple should be the Apple of this business."
Where: BusinessWeek Online, May 12, 1998.
In reality, Apple has become the Apple of this business and continues to set the bar. Products designed with superior quality, developed to be simple to use, and the company vehemently protecting its intellectual property, Apple is definitely the Apple of this business
85. "Companies, as they grow to become multibillion-dollar entities, somehow lose their vision. They insert lots of layers of middle management between the people running the company and the people doing the work. They no longer have an inherent feel or a passion about the products. The creative people, who are the ones who care passionately, have to persuade five layers of management to do what they know is the right thing to do."
Where: Playboy, Feb., 1985
Jobs rejected the traditional corporate structure, which may have led to his ousting at Apple. On the other side of the coin, by championing a close proximity between management and creators, he brought Apple back to the spotlight upon his return.
84. "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]. But we never hire consultants, per se. We just want to make great products."
Where: Fortune, March, 2008.
Stick to the basics: make a great product and consumers will respond favorably. Jobs only concern when it came to his competition was to know the mistakes they made, not what Apple could to do to compete. This basic goal served as the foundation of Apple's success under Steve Jobs.
83. "The subscription model of buying music is bankrupt. I think you could make available the Second Coming in a subscription model and it might not be successful."
Where: Rolling Stone, Dec. 3, 2003.
Sure, Spotify is current darling of the industry, but it's yet to come close to the market dominance of iTunes. Will things change? Of course. But as things stand today, Jobs vision for online music purchasing is still at the forefront.
82. "The amount of time you spend shopping and preparing and eating food is enormous. The amount of energy your body spends digesting the food in many cases exceeds the energy we get from the food."
Where: TIME, Jan. 3, 1983.
For some reason the press had a weird curiosity aboutJobs' eating habits. Efficiency seems to be a part of his DNA as he even analyzed the work:output ratio of preparing food to its energy output. I guess out of everything you analyze, you find possibility.
81. "If there was ever a product that catalyzed what's Apple's reason for being, it's this. Because it combines Apple's incredible technology base with Apple's legendary ease of use with Apple's awesome design... it's like, this is what we do. So if anybody was ever wondering why is Apple on the earth, I would hold this up as a good example."
Where: As reported in Wired, Oct., 2011.
Initially against making the iPod available for Windows, Jobs acknowledged the revoluntionary impact of the iPod and gave into employees advocating for a Windows version. This unprecedented move by Apple arguably aided in exponentially increasing Apple's customer base, outside of those who only purchased iPods.
80. "You just make the best product you can, and you don't put it out until you feel it's right. But no matter what you think intellectually, your heart is beating pretty fast right before people see what you've produced."
Where: Inc. Magazine, April, 1989
Even Jobs suffered a little anxiety when his years of developing, testing, and creating came to fruition with the introduction of NeXt. It probably didn't help that this was his first product release since leaving Apple four years earlier.
79. "Software is what will distinguish products in the next 10 years. And I think the technology for software is just starting to come into its own."
Where: Newsweek, Sept. 29, 1985
Post-Apple departure in 1985, Jobs predicts that software will be the distinguishing aspect of the products offered to consumers. Funny, he made this statement just prior to announcing his new company NeXt, which developed the software Mac OS X, and iOS, is based on.
78. "When you first start off trying to solve a problem, the first solutions you come up with are very complex, and most people stop there. But if you keep going, and live with the problem and peel more layers of the onion off, you can oftentimes arrive at some very elegant and simple solutions. Most people just don't put in the time or energy to get there. We believe that customers are smart, and want objects which are well thought through."
Where: Newsweek, Oct. 14, 2006.
A perfectionist's task is never complete after discovering the initial solution. The quality Jobs' sought in his products were a direct result of painstaking attention to detail at every level. His dedication to providing quality products to consumers fueled his search for the best solution, not merely a solution.
77. "Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn't really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while."
Where: Wired, Feb. 1996
For Jobs, creativity was inherent. The innovative ideas were innate. What Jobs downplayed here was the ability to execute -- transform creativity and imagination into actual products that people can use.
76. "It's in Apple's DNA that technology alone is not enough -- it's technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our heart sing, and nowhere is that more true than in these post-PC devices."
Where: Seattle Times, March 3, 2011.
Fundamental to Apple's success was its ability to make devices appear more than complex algorithms producing dry benefits to the user. Jobs realized that the ability of innovation to produce a product that is useful to consumers requires more than just a math equation resulting in an answer.
75. "I have a great respect for incremental improvement, and I've done that sort of thing in my life, but I've always been attracted to the more revolutionary changes. Because they're harder. They're much more stressful emotionally. And you usually go through a period where everybody tells you that you've completely failed."
Where: Rolling Stone, June 16, 1994.
What Jobs viewed as incremental improvements seem pretty revolutionary to us. It can be argued that most generations of any Apple product line revolutionized technology at the time they were released. At a minimum each new product released raised the bar for other companies throughout the tech industry.
74. "I wish developing great products was as easy as writing a check. If that was the case, Microsoft would have great products."
Where: CNET, May 10, 2007.
Hiyooo! Never one to miss an opportunity to attack a competitor's lack of innovation, Steve's favorite target was undoubtedly Microsoft.
73. "There are lots of examples where not the best product wins. Windows would be one of those, but there are examples where the best product wins. And the iPod is a great example of that."
Where: Newsweek, July 25, 2004.
Speaking on the ubiquity of Windows throughout American schools and offices, Steve used the competition's success to emphasize that losers can still win. However, in countering that statement, Steve was quick to acknowledge that when it came to portable mp3 players, the best product, the iPod, won.
72. "Good PR educates people; that's all it is. You can't con people in this business. The products speak for themselves."
Where: Playboy, Feb., 1985
Jobs understood that PR could not be used to pull the wool over the consumers ads. Regardless of how you spin the product, if it doesn't work the way consumers desire, they will go elsewhere.
71. "Somebody once told me, 'Manage the top line, and the bottom line will follow.' What's the top line? It's things like, why are we doing this in the first place? What's our strategy? What are customers saying? How responsive are we? Do we have the best products and the best people? Those are the kind of questions you have to focus on."
Where: Inc. Magazine, April, 1989.
When Jobs left Apple and started NeXt he never deviated from the basic goals that brought Apple success. Not one to abide traditional corporate practices, Jobs believed that the basic task of providing consumers with great computers would bring NeXt the same success it had brought Apple.
70. "It's not about charisma and personality, it's about results and products and those very bedrock things that are why people at Apple and outside of Apple are getting more excited about the company and what Apple stands for and what its potential is to contribute to the industry."
Where: BusinessWeek Online, May 12, 1998.
Gimmicks are for those who lack substance and quality. Apple didn't have room for gimmicks that did not improve the devices operation or functionality. Perfecting the basics of a quality device and making it easy to use replaced the need for gimmicks.
69. "I've always thought it would be really wonderful to have a little box, a sort of slate that you could carry along with you"
Where: Newsweek Access, Fall 1984.
Possibly envisioning the iPad, Steve Jobs foresaw the device years before its production.
68. "Microsoft has had two goals in the last 10 years. One was to copy the Mac, and the other was to copy Lotus' success in the spreadsheet - basically, the applications business. And over the course of the last 10 years, Microsoft accomplished both of those goals. And now they are completely lost. They were able to copy the Mac because the Mac was frozen in time. The Mac didn't change much for the last 10 years. It changed maybe 10 percent. It was a sitting duck. It's amazing that it took Microsoft 10 years to copy something that was a sitting duck."
Where: Rolling Stone, July 16, 1994.
The hanging Microsoft target gets hit again. Without making revoluntionary changes to Mac, Jobs believed Microsoft achieved its goal of copying the Mac blueprint. Conceding Microsoft achieved its goal (which was to copy Mac), Jobs further qualified its achievement by stating cynically that it took them 10 years to copy something that didn't change.
67. "John Sculley ruined Apple and he ruined it by bringing a set of values to the top of Apple which were corrupt and corrupted some of the top people who were there, drove out some of the ones who were not corruptible, and brought in more corrupt ones and paid themselves collectively tens of millions of dollars and cared more about their own glory and wealth than they didabout what built Apple in the first place - which was making great computers for people to use."
Where: Interview with the Smithsonian Institute, April 20, 1995.
Two years after luring John Sculley from PepsiCo to become the CEO of Apple, the decision proved to be the wrong one for Steve Jobs. After many differences with corporate decisions and a constant power struggle, Apple's board of directors sided with Sculley and stripped Jobs of virtually all management power for Macintosh. Jobs left Apple at his own will, retiring nearly five months later.
66. A lot of companies have chosen to downsize, and maybe that was the right thing for them. We chose a different path. Our belief was that if we kept putting great products in front of customers, they would continue to open their wallets.
Where: The New York Times June 5, 2007
Surrounded by a great team delivering products that sell enabled Apple to continue to add more innovators and engineers to the team. Apple's system, if there was one, could be pinned down as success begets success
65. It's kind of like watching the gladiator going into the arena and saying, 'Here it is.' It's really perceived as Apple's do or die. And it goes even deeper... If we don't do this, nobody can stop IBM.
Where: Rolling Stone, March 1, 1984.
Passionate about his work, Jobs appeared equally passionate about not letting the competition get ahead. This fear of losing to the competition was a humanitarian and utilitarian fear, not one measured monetarily. It appears that Jobs believed that Apple losing to IBM would negatively impact humankind.
64. "Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything. It's very fortunate if you can work on just one of these in your career. Apple's been very fortunate in that it's introduced a few of these."
Where: Msn.com, Jan. 9, 2007.
Announcing the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, Jobs knew the revolutionary impact it would have, not only on the telecommunications industry, but the entire technology world. A touchscreen?! Access to the internet without a scroll-ball?! The Sidekick II was cool and all, but...
63. [Design is] not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.
Where: New York Times Magazine, Nov. 30, 2003
Although Apple sets its products aside from the competition with its trademark aesthetic designs (even going so far as to trademark the shape of the chargers); to Jobs, the value of design, especially to the consumer, lay with the products functionality and ease of use.
62. The system is that there is no system. That doesn't mean we don't have process. Apple is a very disciplined company, and we have great processes. But that's not what it's about. Process makes you more efficient.
Where: BusinessWeek, Oct. 12 2004
Minimizing the importance of implementing a corporate system within Apple, Jobs also downplayed process, as it relates to innovation. While acknowledging that Apple as a company has great processes, he went on to clarify that Apple's process, as it relates to innovation, typically resulted from informal meetings such as impromptu hallway conversations.
61. "The desktop computer industry is dead. Innovation has virtually ceased. Microsoft dominates with very little innovation. That's over. Apple lost. The desktop market has entered the dark ages, and it's going to be in the dark ages for the next 10 years, or certainly for the rest of this decade."
Where: Wired, Feb. 1996.
The ever so clairvoyant Jobs revealed this gem in February 1996—arguably the beginning of the consumer desktop industry boom. It took more than 10 years Apple to being selling more computers than rival PC makers. But, it would only take seven for Apple to introduce Mac OS X, the operating system that set the tone for every OS that followed.
60. "When I was growing up, a guy across the street had a Volkswagen Bug. He really wanted to make it into a Porsche. He spent all his spare money and time accessorizing this VW, making it look and sound loud. By the time he was done, he did not have a Porsche. He had a loud, ugly VW."
Where: Fortune, Nov., 1998.
This could be seen as another cake with the dog shit frosting. Jobs, a staunch perfectionist when it came to quality, appreciated that a top quality product could not be achieved without sweating the details at every level of the development process.
59. "If, for some reason, we make some big mistake and IBM wins, my personal feeling is that we are going to enter a computer Dark Ages for about twenty years."
Where: "Steve Jobs: The Journey is the Reward," by Jeffrey S. Young
Possibly a very exaggerated belief expressed for the press, but, in case Jobs' prediction would became a reality, well, nevermind. What's IBM again?
58. "When we laid some people off at Apple a year ago, or when I have to take people out of their jobs, it's harder for me now. Much harder. I do it because that's my job. But when I look at people when this happens, I also think of them as being 5 years old. And I think that person could be me coming home to tell my wife and kids that I just got laid off. Or that could be one of my kids in 20 years. I never took it so personally before. Life is short, and we're all going to die really soon. It's true, you know."
Where: Fortune, Nov., 1998.
Jobs is referring to the personal difficulty of laying off employees after he had children of his own. The professional duty of firing an employee, although he knew it was best for the company, affected him on a personal level; demonstrating a compassion for people in the workplace, previously believed to be nonexistent.
57. "Much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on."
Where: Stanford University Commencement Speech, 2005
Addressing the 2005 Stanford University graduates, Jobs advocated reaping the benefits of curiousity, intuition, and learning from your mistakes. The lessons learned from failure and setbacks proved valuable to Jobs later in life.
56. "I'm just a guy who probably should have been a semi-talented poet on the Left Bank. I sort of got sidetracked here."
Where: Newsweek Access, Fall 1984.
Or a renowned philosopher, questioning people's life's work to help them determine whether they are living up to their full potential in the most efficient manner possible. Then again, what is the meaning of life?
55. "You've baked a really lovely cake, but then you've used dog shit for frosting."
Where: "The Second Coming of Steve Jobs," 2000
On the quest for product perfection, Jobs did not take any shortcuts nor allow his team to do so. This quote was reportedly directed to an engineer working on NeXt. Let them eat cake!
54. I mean, some people say, 'Oh, God, if [Jobs] got run over by a bus, Apple would be in trouble.' And, you know, I think it wouldn't 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 that's what I try to do.
Where: Fortune, March 7, 2008
Roughly four months before appearing at the World Wide Developers Conferece in 2008, where his declining health was physically apparent, Jobs made clear the infrastructure in place at Apple would allow the company to survive beyond his life. Given his staunch attention to detail and perfectionist character, it's safe to say Jobs weeded out the weak links and left the Apple dynasty in good hands.
53. "The Mac team was an attempt to build a whole team like that, A players. People said they wouldn't get along, they'd hate working with each other. But I realized that A players like to work with A players, they just didn't like working with C players."
Where: "Steve Jobs," by Walter Isaacson, 2011.
In performing one of his many duties, Jobs strived to work with only the best at Mac. Jobs remained confident that people of the same caliber would produce work of equal caliber and not allow their personality's to yield negative results.
52. It's more than publishing. It's commerce. People are going to stop goingto a lot of stores. And they're going to buy stuff over the Web!
Where: Wired, Feb. 1996.
In February 1996, when I was using a computer to play Number Munchers, Steve Jobs predicted the demise of physical stores, replaced by a digital marketplace. He predicted sellers, whether merchants or casual, would benefit from this web-based marketplace.
51. "We don't believe it's possible to protect digital content ... What's new is this amazingly efficient distribution system for stolen property called the Internet - and no one's gonna shut down the Internet. And it only takes one stolen copy to be on the Internet. And the way we expressed it to them is: Pick one lock - open every door. It only takes one person to pick a lock. Worst case: Somebody just takes the analog outputs of their CD player and rerecords it - puts it on the Internet. You'll never stop that. So what you have to do is compete with it."
Where: Rolling Stone, Dec. 3, 2003
If only the labels listened sooner. Jobs recognized preventing the indefinite duplication of one leaked digital file could not be stopped. Instead of attempting to counter this endless reproduction, Jobs envisioned means to channel the force and compete...enter iTunes.
50. "There's an old Wayne Gretzky quote that I love. 'I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.' And we've always tried to do that at Apple. Since the very very beginning. And we always will."
Where: Macworld Conference and Expo in Jan. 2007
Spoken like a true visionary. Being able to see the direction in which technology is going and delivering an easy to use product to the consumer created Apple's legacy and Steve Jobs' legend.
49. "I'm convinced that to give away a dollar effectively is harder than to make a dollar."
Where: Playboy, Feb., 1985.
In response to what Jobs does with his money and on his plans to start a public foundation when he has the time. He found it harder to beneficially give away money than it was to make it.
48. "If I look at myself and ask, 'What am I best at and what do I enjoy most doing?' I think what I'm best at is creating sort of new innovative products."
Where: Newsweek, Sept. 30, 1985.
Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to realize what it is you are truly good at doing. Steve Jobs hit the nail on its head when he answered this question.
47. "You've got to start with the customer experience and work back toward the technology - not the other way around."
Where: World Wide Developers Conference, May 1997
Highlighting Jobs' focus on producing consumer friendly products and his stern belief that although consumers may not know what they want in terms of features, Jobs' realized that the consumers' experience with the product is necessary for Apple's success.
46. "Software is the user experience. As the iPod and iTunes prove, it has become the driving technology not just of computers but of consumer electronics".
Where: Fortune, Feb. 21, 2005
As Jobs predicted a decade earlier, software became the distinguishing aspects among new consumer electronics on the market and set Apple apart from its competitors.
45. "They are shamelessly trying to copy us. I think the most telling thing is that Tiger will ship at the end of the month and Longhorn is still two years out. They can't even copy fast."
Where: ComputerWorld, April 21, 2005.
Jobs may have agreed with Picasso's quote, "...great artists steal," but he wasn't on board when it came to a competitor copying his work, especially when they couldn't even do it at a competitive rate. Once again, Microsoft was the victim of Jobs' spite.
44. "There are sneakers that cost more than an iPod."
Where: Newsweek, Oct. 27, 2003.
In response to the iPod's initial price range of $300 and $500, Steve was quick to compare that price to DVD players. He distinguished that for music lovers, the price was entirely reasonable. The pricey portable device also had the unintended consequence of ushering in the next generation of 'death over designer'.
43. 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.
Where: The Wall Street Journal,1993.
To put it another way: Money ain't a thing.
42. "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."
Where: The Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires, PBS, June 1996
Jobs couldn't deny Microsoft's success, with its omnipresence at the turn of the century, but he qualified it by implying the company duped consumers with third-rate products to achieve success. Always a competitor, Microsoft's success without much innovation appeared almost insulting to Jobs as he strived to deliver top quaity products.
41. "I'm a big believer in boredom. Boredom allows one to indulge in curiosity and out of curiosity comes everything. All the [technology] stuff is wonderful, but having nothing to do can be wonderful, too."
Where: As reported in Wired, Oct., 2011
As a visionary, Jobs clearly took advantage of boredom more than the average man. In Steve Jobs' world, boredom beget curiousity, which in turn beget innovation.
40. "I don't think that my role in life is to run big organizations and do incremental improvements."
Where: Newsweek, Sept. 30, 1985.
Jobs' focus was on revolutionary changes in technology; changes that would effect the consumer in ways they may have imagined, but did not believe were possible. It's evident that although Jobs chased revolutionary changes, such results were only achieved with incremental improvements in quality and development at every stage of production.
39. "Woz and I very much liked Bob Dylan's poetry, and we spent a lot of time thinking about a lot of that stuff. This was California. You could get LSD fresh made from Stanford. You could sleep on the beach at night with your girlfriend. California has a sense of experimentation and a sense of openness-openness to new possibilities."
Where: Playboy, Feb. 1, 1985
Experimentation, a necessary component of innovation, seemed to be engrained in Jobs' since his early years. With the production of consumer products unimaginable to us not even 10 years ago (e.g., Siri) it is clear Jobs maintained his openness to new possibilities up until his demise. If only I had access to freshly produced Stanford-grade LSD!
38. "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."
Where: Stanford University Commencement Speech, 2005.
In 2005, Jobs reflected on his ousting from Apple and declared it life-changing for the better. Apple as a corporation may have stifled Jobs' most sought after asset, his creative mind. Freed from corporate claws, Jobs immediately started a new venture, NeXt; his second computer start-up company.
37. "I end up not buying a lot of things. Because I find them ridiculous."
Where: The Independent, Oct. 29, 2005.
All the money in the world and still not materialistic. Or, what would excite a man who would rather create the same product only better?
36. "My job is to not be easy on people. My job is to make them better. My job is to pull things together from different parts of the company and clear the ways and get the resources for the key projects. And to take these great people we have and to push them and make them even better, coming up with more aggressive visions of how it could be."
Where: Fortune, March, 2008.
A perfectionist himself, Jobs steadfastly sought to employ only other perfectionists at Apple. Once formed, Jobs' next duty required him to get all the perfections to set aside their egos and work as a successful team innovating together.
35. That's been one of my mantras -- focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end, because once you get there, you can move mountains.
Where: BusinessWeek, May 25, 1998
Making consumer friendly products was the backbone to Apple's success; but it's harder than it appears. In a recently discovered 1983 speech at the Center for Design Innovation, Jobs envisioned a "computer in a book" that the owner could learn to use in 20 minutes. A very simple concept on its face; however if his vision in fact was the iPad, then that vision took nearly 30 years to execute.
34. "I have a very simple life. I have my family and I have Apple and Pixar. And I don't do much else."
Where: "Steve Jobs," by Walter Isaacson, Oct. 24, 2011
Appears to be a fairly busy life for most people: simultaneously running the top-grossing animation studio and Apple. At least he didn't have to run NeXt at the same time (Jobs sold NeXt to Apple in 1996 for just under one-half billion dollars.)
33. "If anybody's going to make our products obsolete, I want it to be us."
Where: As reported in Wired, Sep. 27, 2011.
Apple continues to be at the forefront of implementing novel features in their products. Jobs' foreward thinking mentality left the competition struggling to keep up with consumer demand for such features after Apple's introduction. Apple continues to be the lead pioneer of the technology frontier
32. "In the broadest context, the goal is to seek enlightenment - however you define it."
Where: Rolling Stone, June 16, 1994.
Jobs' gratification from his work was very personal to him, describing his goal ambiguously as seeking enlightenment. One thing is for sure, however; he did not find gratification from his wealth.
31. "But then, the rewarding thing isn't merely to start a company or to take it public. It's like when you're a parent. Although the birth experience is a miracle, what's truly rewarding is living with your child and helping him grow up."
Where: Fortune, Jan., 2000.
Commenting on the number of internet start-ups, Jobs cautioned against start-up owners cashing in on their company and losing control of their creation. To Jobs, the satisfaction from building a company didn't come from the money, but the ability to nuture and cultivate company to achieve further success.
30. "I don't want to see us descend into a nation of bloggers. I think we need editorial oversight now more than ever. Anything we can do to help newspapers find new ways of expression that will help them get paid, I am all for."
Where: All Things Digital Conference, 2010
Providing the average citizen with a tool for global expression was simultaneously revolutionary and dangerous. Editorial standards guiding traditional print media journalist do not exist in a world of bloggers. Although Jobs helped create the resources for bloggers, podcasters, and the like, he still appreciated the need for a system checks and balances.
29. "You know, I've got a plan that could rescue Apple. I can't say any more than that it's the perfect product and the perfect strategy for Apple. But nobody there will listen to me."
Where: Fortune, Sep. 18, 1995
Prior to returning to Apple, Jobs appeared to be willing to help put Apple back on the map. Eventually, Apple was willing to listen, and for that, we thank them.
28. "Technology is nothing. What's important is that you have a faith in people, that they're basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they'll do wonderful things with them. It's not the tools that you have faith in - tools are just tools. They work, or they don't work. It's people you have faith in or not."
Where: Rolling Stone, June 16, 1994.
Referring to previous remarks on how technology can empower people, Job's kept his faith in how people would use the technology as a tool. His faith did not lie with humans becoming dependent on technology as it was presented to them, but with humans employing the basic tools technology offered to make drastic changes in the world.
27. I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong. I'm going to destroy Android because it's a stolen product. I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this.
Where: "Steve Jobs," by Walter Isaacson, Oct. 24, 2011
The Commander-in-Chief of Apple would be happy to know of his posthumous victory over Samsung in theromonuclear war. As we previously reported, https://www.complex.com/tech/2012/08/apple-wins-lawsuit-against-samsung-jury-awards-apple-1-billion, a U.S. District Court ruled in favor of Apple finding Samsung infringed seven Apple patents; including the use of Google's Android software in Samsung smartphones
26. When you're a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you're not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You'll know it's there, so you're 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.
Where: Rolling Stone, 3 Dec. 3, 2003.
Steve's obsession with quality design and products will always be a part of his legend. Sweating the details, regardless as to whether they are, or could be known to the end user, was imperative. Jobs did not settle for less than providing the consumer with a quality product, through and through.
25. You know, my main reaction to this money thing is that it's humorous, all the attention to it, because it's hardly the most insightful or valuable thing that's happened to me.
Where: Playboy, Feb., 1985
One could say it's easy to denounce the importance of money when you are a multi-billionaire, but throughout Jobs' career, he never emphasized his achievements in terms of how much money he earned. His focus remained on bettering society through simple yet valuable technology, loving what he did, and sharing that love with society through his products.
24. "For the past 33 years, 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."
Where: Stanford University Commencement Speech, 2005
A good philosophy to live by in general and very telling of the reason for his departure from Apple in 1985. After many disagreements with CEO John Sculley and the board of directors, Jobs must have hit his maximum amount morning "No's."
23. "Sometimes I believe in God, sometimes I don't. I think it's 50-50 maybe. But ever since I've had cancer, I've been thinking about it more. And I find myself believing a bit more. I kind of – maybe it's 'cause I want to believe in an afterlife. That when you die, it doesn't just all disappear. The wisdom you've accumulated. Somehow it lives on, but sometimes I think it's just like an on-off switch. Click and you're gone. And that's why I don't like putting on-off switches on Apple devices."
Where: "Steve Jobs," by Walter Isaacson, 2011.
A 50-50 belief in a God may equal a 50-50 chance of just plain death or some greater afterlife, but the fear of the former inspired possibly the most distinguishing aesthetic feature on Apple products.
22. "We're always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it's only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important."
Where: BusinessWeek, Oct. 12 2004
Jobs' approach to systemizing innovation was to maintain an environment that advocated improvised innovation. Impromptu brainstorming sessions promoted the sharing of new ideas, but to reach the diamond, Jobs would thoroughly sift through the dirt.
21. "I would trade all of my technology for an afternoon with Socrates."
Where: Newsweek, Oct. 28, 2001.
Jobs' characteristics as an innovator, progressiver thinker, visionary, whichever adjective you choose, easily puts this quote into context. After all, Socrates would have pushed Jobs to analyze even greater issues and think of more efficient solutions: "I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think." - Socrates
20. "We don't get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? So this is what we've chosen to do with our life. We could be sitting in a monastery somewhere in Japan."
Where: Fortune, March, 2008.
It is no secret that Jobs strived for perfection, not just to live up to his potential. In the few years preceding his death, interviews tend to reveal that Jobs, whether intentionally or not, sought to reaffirm that he lived his life doing what he loved to do; striving for excellence, however it may be judged.
19. "Innovation 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."
Where: Fortune, Nov., 1998
Focusing on having a strong team in lieu of investing money into research and development was central to Apple's success and a result of Jobs' philosophy. Apple chose not to invest its revenue into R&D and opted for impromtu hallway meetings between two or more innovators, brainstorming solutions to everyday issues.
18. I wish [Bill Gates] the best, I really do. I just think he and Microsoft are a bit narrow. He'd be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an ashram when he was younger.
Where: The New York Times, Jan. 12, 1997
Possibly the only quote necessary to win over the majority of teenage tech consumers, Jobs was never one to hide his youthful indiscretions; believing that such experiences were necessary to his professional success. He even lauded his expermental drug use, crediting it for opening up his mind to creativity and innovation.
17. "We made the buttons on the screen look so good you'll want to lick them."
Where: Fortune, Jan. 4, 2000
Referring to Mac OS X's Aqua user interface, Jobs could sell water to a well, but his products continuously sold themselves. I still licked them though, just once.
16. "Because I'm the CEO, and I think it can be done."
Where: TIME, Oct. 24, 2005
Maintaining his great conviction in his own ingenuity, this quote was in response to his decision to veto Apple's engineer's belief that the iMac wasn't a feasible concept.
15. "What a computer is to me is it's the most remarkable tool that we have ever come up with. It's the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds."
Where: "Memory and Imagination: New Pathways to the Library of Congress," 1991
Jobs viewed the computer as a tool to get our minds working, creating, and progressing. The utility of the computer was not in the machine itself as produced for the consumer; the utility was in the person and what their imagination could achieve through using the computer.
14. "I'm brutally honest, because the price of admission to being in the room with me is I get to tell you you're full of shit if you're full of shit, and you get to say to me I'm full of shit, and we have some rip-roaring fights. And that keeps the B players, the bozos, from larding the organization, only the A players survive. And the people who do survive, say, 'Yeah, he was rough.' They say things even worse than 'He cut in line in front of me,' but they say, 'This was the greatest ride I've ever had, and I would not give it up for anything."
Where: Fortune, Dec, 2011.
Jobs was never known not to speak his mind nor parse words when he spoke. He knew that in order to make Apple the best it could be, his job was to bring in only the A players. But hey, he also knew the rewards being on a team of A players yields.
13. The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste. They have absolutely no taste. And I don't mean that in a small way, I mean that in a big way, in the sense that they don't think of original ideas, and they don't bring much culture into their products.
Where: The Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires, PBS, June 1996.
Steve Jobs was always quick to throw jabs at his competitors, including, as here, Bill Gates. While Jobs valued the creative process of innovation, he believed Bill Gates' approach to creating a product was robotic: copy a system already in place and change the name tag.
12. 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.
Where: Inc. Magazine, April 1, 1989
The fickleness of us consumers kept Apple a step ahead. Where other companies chose to supply the same product with incremental improvements from the previous release, Apple paved new roads of innovation by predicting what consumers would desire by the time the product was ready for release.
11. "I 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 what's next."
Where: Msn.com, May 25, 2006
A prime example of Jobs' inherent progressive nature. Jobs' continued to strive to make better products for the consumer; implement new features with each new release that would serve a greater benefit than the previous release.
10. I'm the only person I know that's lost a quarter of a billion dollars in one year.... It's very character-building.
Where: "Apple Confidential 2.0: The Definitive History of the World’s Most Colorful Company," 2004
What's a quarter bill to me, could please remind me?' Steve Jobs doubtfully needed to be reminded, but he wasn't in it for the money. It may have been character-building for him -- in answering to shareholders -- but personally, money didn't mean much to Jobs.
9. Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.
Where: Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Feb. 5, 2006
Depends on how many people are on base. As a perfectionist, Jobs never slacked when it came to producing quality products, regardless if such attention to detail impacted output.
8. "I was worth about over a million dollars when I was 23 and over ten million dollars when I was 24, and over a hundred million dollars when I was 25 and... it wasn't that important - because I never did it for the money."
Where: "The Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires", PBS, June 1996
I don't think I'd 'do it for the money' either if I was getting paid like that. You have to admire his ability to continue innovate, create, and progress after becoming so successful at such a young age.
7. "We don't get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? And we've all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it."
Where: Fortune, March 7, 2008
Do what you love and love what you do. Jobs' passion for his work manifested itself in the products he developed. He channeled his obsession with innovation, development, and possbility into a job that he loved.
6. 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."
Where: Wired, Feb. 1996
The consumer is always right...in most cases, anyway. Jobs realized that the consumer does not always know what they want until the product is placed in their hands. However, by keeping a watchful eye on the everyday consumer, not just techies, Jobs continuously provided the average consumer with simple, yet useful, technology.
5. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it.
Where: Stanford University Commencement Speech, 2005
Inspiration at its best. Jobs didn't settle or compromise his convictions, even when such adherence resulted in his ousting from the company he founded. His persistence in following his dreams and bringing them to life remains admired by many and recognized by all.
4. It's more fun to be a pirate than join the Navy.
Where: "Odyssey: Pepsi to Apple," 1987
Isn't it? To clarify, Jobs was not referring to piracy, as he realized the practice of unauthorized reproduction of digital content was insurpressible and damaging to all content providers, hence the development of iTunes. This quote exemplifies Jobs' approach to running a corporation. Pirates don't operate under a bureaucracy, hindered by multiple layers of administration. Jobs preferred and a free-thinking establishment fostering creativity, innovation, and implementation.
3. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.
Where: Stanford University Commencement Speech, 2005
During his poignant 2005 Standford University commencement speech, Steve Jobs told three stories about his life. Each individual story, taken as a whole, amounted to a mini-autobiography touching on life, love, loss, and death. Although each story was elaborate and detailed, his message to that graduating class boiled down to four simple words: 'Don't Waste Your Life'
2. "When you grow up you tend to get told the world is the way it is and you're life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family, have fun, save a little money."That's a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use."Once you learn that, you'll never be the same again."
Where: Interview with Santa Clara Valley Historical Association, 1994
This may be a lot to take in, but this was one of the rare instances where you saw what really drove one of the most ingenius men of our generation. A man who truly believed anything, absolutely anything, was possible.
1. "Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything -- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure -- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. 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. ... Stay hungry. Stay foolish."
Where: Stanford University Commencement Speech, 2005
Stay hungry. Stay foolish.