Randy Pausch Quotes

You can't control the cards you're dealt, just how you play the hand.

What is the most appropriate thing to say to a friend who was about to die. He answered:”tell your friend that in his death, a part of you dies and goes with him. Whenever he goes, you also g. He will not be alone".

We don't beat the Reaper by living longer. We beat the Reaper by living well.

Believe nothing a man tells you and everything he shows you

Anybody can get chewed out. It's the rare person who says, oh my god, you were right. As opposed to, no wait, the reason is... We've all heard that

The questions are always more important than the answers.

Coach Graham rode you pretty hard, didn't he?" he said. I could barely muster a "yeah." That's a good thing," the assistant told me. When you're screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, it means they've given up on you.

You just have to decide if you're a Tigger or an Eeyore.

Anybody out there who is a parent, if your kids want to paint their bedrooms,as a favor to me, let them do it. It'll be OK.

Find the best in everybody, no matter how long you have to wait for them to show it

Experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer.

I feel like I'm waiting on something that isn't going to happen Don't complain; just work harder.

It's not how hard you hit. It's how hard you get hit... and keep moving forward.

Be good at something. It makes you valuable. Have something to bring to the table, because that will make you more welcome.

Advice is very easy to give, and even easier not to follow, so I don't fool with it.

You may not want to hear it, but your critics are often the ones telling you they still love you and care about you, and want to make you better.

A lot of people want a shortcut. I find the best shortcut is the long way, which is basically two words: work hard.

We have a finite amount of time. Whether short or long, it doesn't matter. Life is to be lived.

All my adult life I've felt drawn to ask long-married couples how they were able to stay together. All of them said the same thing: "We worked hard at it.

To be cliché, death is a part of life and it's going to happen to all of us. I have the blessing of getting a little bit of advance notice and I am able to optimize my use of time down the home stretch.

I've always admired people who are over-prepared.

The fact that fashion goes out of fashion and then comes back into fashion based solely on what a few people somewhere think they can sell, well to me, that’s insanity.

Believe nothing a man tells you and everything he shows you"....(Taken from a farewell video from a dying father to his infant daughter on dating)

When we're connected to others, we become better people.

Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress. When you're pissed off at someone and you're angry at them, you just haven't given them enough time. Just give them a little more time and they almost always will impress you.

There's a lot of talk these days about giving children self-esteem. It's not something you can give; it's something they have to build. Coach Graham worked in a no-coddling zone. Self-esteem? He knew there was really only one way to teach kids how to develop it: You give them something they can't do, they work hard until they find they can do it, and you just keep repeating the process.

Show gratitude. Gratitude is a simple but powerful thing.

Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls aren't there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to show us how badly we want things.

It's not helpful if we spend every day dreading tomorrow ~Jai

Tradition, history and respect; that kind of qualities I admire, that I want to see preserved. Time is the only commodity that matters. Being successful doesn't make you manage your time well; managing your time well makes you successful. Goals, Priorities, and Planning. Why am I doing this? What is the goal? Why will I succeed? What happen if I chose not to do it? 'Good judgement comes from experience, experience comes from bad judgement'.

I didn't know there was a dying-professor section at the bookstore.

Read at least one book a month. This is self-serving, obviously. It's a proven fact that people who read buy more books than people who don't read. In truth, I wish you'd read ten books a month, or at least buy that many.

Be willing to apologize. Proper apologies have three parts: 1) What I did was wrong. 2) I'm sorry that I hurt you. 3) How do I make it better? It's the third part that people tend to forget. Apologize when you screw up and focus on other people, not on yourself.

Earnestness is highly underestimated. It comes from the core, while hip is trying to impress you on the surface.

Because you’re such a good salesman, and if you go work for a company, they’re going to use you as a salesman. If you’re going to be a salesman, you might as well be selling something worthwhile, like education

Do not tell people how to live their lives. Just tell them stories and they will figure out how those stories apply to them.

Brick walls let us prove how badly we want our dream and they stop those who don't want it enough. Brick walls let us show our dedication.