第一篇:乔布斯演讲我不是百分之百喜欢那个人
我不是百分之百喜欢那个人,不过绝对是佩服那个人的。
乔布斯谈生命故事:被苹果公司解雇是最棒的事情
提起生命,乔布斯曾在美国斯坦福大学毕业典礼上发表过演讲,讲述了他生命中的三个故事。
基于生命体验的演讲,无华丽之色,却真诚动人。
■你要坚信,你现在所经历的,将在你未来的生命中串联起来。正是这种信仰让我没有失去希望,它使我的人生与众不同
斯坦福大学是世界上最好的大学之一,今天能参加各位的毕业典礼,我备感荣幸。(尖叫声)我没有从大学毕业,说句实话,此刻算是我人生中离“大学毕业”最近的一刻了。(笑声)今天,我想告诉你们我生命中的三个故事,并非什么了不得的大事件,只是三个小故事而已。
第一个故事,是关于串起生命中的点点滴滴。
我在里德大学呆了6个月就退学了,但之后仍作为旁听生混了18个月后才真正离开。
我为什么要退学呢?故事要从我出生之前开始说起。我的生母是一名年轻的未婚妈妈,当时她还是一所大学的在读研究生,于是决定把我送给别人收养。她坚持我应该被一对念过大学的夫妇收养。所以在我出生的时候,她已经为我被一
位律师和他的太太收养做好了所有的准备。但在最后一刻,这对夫妇改了主意,决定收养一个女孩。候选名单上的另外一对夫妇,也就是我的养父母,在一天午夜接到了一通电话:“有一个不请自来的男婴,你们想收养吗? ”他们回答:“当然想。”事后,我的生母才发现我的养母根本就没有从大学毕业,而我的养父甚至连高中都没有毕业,所以她拒绝签署最后的收养文件。直到几个月后,我的养父母保证会把我送到大学,她的态度才有所转变。
17年之后,我果然进了大学。但因为年幼无知,我选择了一所像斯坦福一样昂贵的大学。(笑声)我的父母都是工人,他们倾其所有资助我的学业。在6个月之后,我发现自己完全不知道这样念下去究竟有什么用。当时,我的人生漫无目标,为了念书,还花光了父母毕生的积蓄,所以我决定退学。我相信车到山前必有路。做这个决定的时候,我非常害怕,但现在回头去看,这是我这一生中做出的最正确的决定之一。(笑声)从我退学那一刻起,我就再也不用去上那些我毫无兴趣的必修课了,我开始旁听那些看来比较有意思的科目。
这件事情做起来一点都不浪漫。因为没有自己的宿舍,我只能睡在同学宿舍的地板上;一个可乐瓶的押金是5分钱,我靠收集空瓶换押金买吃的;在每个周日的晚上,我都会步行7英里穿越市区,去Hare Krishna神庙免费吃顿好的,我喜欢这顿牙祭。我跟随好奇心和直觉所做的事情,事后证明大多数都是极其珍贵的经验。
我举一个例子:那个时候,里德大学拥有大概是全美国最好的书法教育。整个校园里的每一张海报、每一个抽屉上的标签,都是漂亮的手写体。由于已经退学,不用再去上那些常规的课程,于是我选择了一门书法课程,想学学怎么写出一手漂亮字。在这门课上,我学习了各种衬线和无衬线字体,学习如何改变不同
字体组合之间的字间距,学习如何做出漂亮的版式。那是一种科学永远无法捕捉的充满美感、历史感和艺术感的微妙,我发现这太有意思了。
当时,我压根儿没想到这些知识会在我的生命中有什么实际运用价值,但是10年之后,当我们设计第一款Macintosh电脑时,这些东西全派上了用场。我把它们全部设计进去,这是第一台可以排出好看版式的电脑。如果当时我在大学里没有旁听这门课程,Macintosh就不会提供各种字体和等间距字体。自从视窗系统“山寨”了苹果系统以后,(鼓掌,大笑)所有的个人电脑都有了这些东西。如果我没有退学,我就不会去旁听书法课,而今天的个人电脑大概也就不会有出色的版式功能。当然我在念大学的那会儿,不可能有先见之明,把那些生命中的点点滴滴都串起来;但10年之后再回头看,生命的轨迹变得非常清楚。
再强调一次,你不可能充满预见地将生命的点滴串联起来,只有在回头看的时候,你才会发现这些点点滴滴之间的联系。所以,你要坚信,你现在所经历的,将在你未来的生命中串联起来。你不得不相信某些东西,你的直觉、命运、生活、机遇……正是这种信仰让我没有失去希望,它使我的人生与众不同。
■伟大的工作只会在岁月的酝酿中越陈越香。在终有所获之前,不要停下寻觅的脚步
我的第二个故事是关于爱与失去。
我是幸运的,在年轻时就知道了自己爱做什么。在20岁时,我就和沃兹在我父母的车库里开创了苹果公司。我们勤奋工作,只用了10年时间,它就从车
库里的两个小伙子成长为拥有4000名员工、价值达到20亿美元的企业。那个时候,我们最棒的产品Macintosh刚刚推出一年,而我才刚过30岁。
然后,我就被炒了鱿鱼。一个人怎么可以被自己所创立的公司解雇呢?(笑声)这么说吧,随着苹果的成长,我们请了一个原本以为很能干的家伙和我一起管理这家公司,在头一年左右,他干得还不错,但后来,我们对公司未来前景的看法出现了分歧,于是我们之间出现了矛盾。由于公司的董事会站在他那一边,所以在我30岁时,就被踢出了局。我失去了一直贯穿我整个成年生活的核心,那种打击是毁灭性的。
在头几个月,我真不知道要做些什么。我感到自己辜负了前辈企业家的期望——就像接力棒交到我的手里,而我却丢掉了。我成了人人皆知的失败者,我甚至想过逃离硅谷。然而有一种东西慢慢照亮了我:我依然爱着我所爱的东西。在苹果公司发生的一切丝毫没有改变我,一个比特(bit)都没有。虽然被抛弃了,但我的热忱不改。我决定重新开始。
当时我并没有看出来,但事实证明,我被苹果公司解雇是我这一生所经历过的最棒的事情。事业成功所伴随的那种沉重不见了,取而代之的是重回起跑线的那种新手的轻盈。每件事情都不再那么确定,我获得了解放,进而开始了我一生中最富有创造力的时期。
在接下来的5年里,我开创了一家叫做NeXT的公司,接着又建立了一家名叫皮克斯的公司,并与一位奇妙的女士共坠爱河,她后来成为了我的太太。皮克斯制作了世界上第一部全电脑动画电影《玩具总动员》,现在这家公司是世界上最成功的动画制作公司之一。(掌声)再后来,经过一次戏剧性的收购,苹
果公司买下了NeXT,于是我又回到了苹果公司,我们在NeXT研发出的技术成为推动苹果公司复兴事业的核心动力。我和劳伦斯也拥有了美满的家庭。
我非常肯定,如果没有被苹果公司炒掉,这一切都不可能在我身上发生。生活有时候就像一块板砖拍向你的脑袋,但不要丧失信心。热爱我所从事的工作,是一直支持我不断前进的唯一理由。你得找出你的最爱,对工作如此,对爱人亦是如此。工作将占据你生命中相当大的一部分,从事你认为具有非凡意义的工作,方能给你带来真正的满足感。而从事一份伟大工作的唯一方法,就是去热爱这份工作。如果你到现在还没有找到这样一份工作,那么就继续找。如同那些美好的爱情一样,伟大的工作只会在岁月的酝酿中越陈越香。所以,在你终有所获之前,不要停下寻觅的脚步。不要停下!
■记住自己将不久于人世,这是我在作出人生重大选择时的一个最重要的参考工具
我的第三个故事是关于死亡。
17岁时,我读过一句格言:“如果你把每一天都当成你生命里的最后一天,你将在某一天发现原来一切皆在掌握之中。”(笑声)这句话从我读到之日起,就对我产生了深远的影响。在过去的33年里,我每天早晨都对着镜子问自己:“如果今天是我生命中的末日,我还愿意做我今天本来应该做的事情吗? ”当一连好多天答案都否定的时候,我就知道做出改变的时候到了。
记住自己将不久于人世,这是我在作出人生重大选择时的一个最重要的参考工具。
因为所有的事情——外界的期望、所有的尊荣、对尴尬和失败的惧怕——在面对死亡的时候,都将烟消云散,只留下真正重要的东西。在我所知道的各种方法中,记住你终将死去是帮助你避开“我可能会失去×××”思维陷阱的最佳方法。财富名利生不带来,死不带去,没有理由不听从你内心的呼唤。
大约一年前,我被诊断出癌症。在早晨7点半,我做了一个检查,扫描结果清楚地显示我的胰脏内出现了一个肿瘤。我当时甚至不知道胰脏是什么。医生告诉我,几乎可以确定这是一种不治之症,顶多还能活3至6个月。大夫建议我回家,把诸事安排妥当,这是医生对临终病人的标准用语。这意味着,你得把你今后10 年要对孩子说的话用几个月的时间说完;这意味着,你得把一切都安排妥当,尽可能减少你的家人在你身后的负担;这意味着,向众人告别的时间到了。
一整天,我的脑子里只有这个判决。那天晚上,我做了一个切片检查。我打了镇静剂,但我太太当时在场,她后来告诉我,当大夫们从显微镜下观察了细胞组织之后,都哭了起来,因为发现这是一种非常罕见的、可以通过手术治疗的胰脏癌。我接受了手术,现在已经康复。(掌声)
这是我最接近死亡的一次,我希望在随后的几十年里,都不要有比这一次更接近死亡的经历。在经历了这次与死神擦肩而过之后,死亡对我来说只是一项有效的判断工具,并且和只是一个纯粹的理性概念时相比,我能够更肯定地告诉你们以下事实:没人想死;即使想去天堂的人,也希望能活着进去。(笑声)死亡是我们每个人的人生终点站,没人能够例外。死亡很可能是生命最好的造物,它是生命更迭的媒介,送走耄耋老者,给新生代让路。现在你们还是新生代,但不久的将来,你们也将逐渐老去,被送出人生的舞台。很抱歉说得这么富有戏剧性,但生命就是如此。
记住,你们的时间有限,所以不要把时间浪费在别人的生活里。不要被条条框框束缚,否则你就生活在他人思考的结果里。不要让他人的观点所发出的噪音淹没你内心的声音。最为重要的是,要有遵从你的内心和直觉的勇气,它们可能已经知道你想成为一个什么样的人,其他事物都是次要的。
在我年轻的时候,有一本非常棒的杂志叫《环球百科目录》,它被我们那一代人奉为圭臬。可惜的是,《环球百科目录》出版了数期,生命就走到了尽头。那是上世纪70年代中期,我正是你们这个年纪,这本杂志出版了最后一期。封底有一张清晨乡间公路的照片,照片下面有一行字:“求知若渴,虚怀若愚。(Stay hungry,stay foolish.)”我一直希望自己做到这样。现在,在你们毕业开始新生活的时候,我把这句话送给你们。
求知若渴,虚怀若愚。
谢谢大家!(掌声)
第二篇:我喜欢的那个人是你散文
看过赵老师的《拯救爱情》,跟随着故事里的情节,仿佛也回到了从前……
二十年前的那天,我刚刚从北京回来,还没有走进家门,还没有来得及卸下满身的疲惫;临街住的张妈妈拦住我说:“如晨,放假了?暂时不会走吧!”
“恩,大概一个月吧!”
“那好,那好,帮张妈妈一个忙好?”
“帮忙?啥忙……”
“唉!就是,我们家工厂里的事情。这不,有个工人临时有事暂时不能来上班了,毛巾又等着走合同,一时半会也找不到工人!你看看,这不急死人?所以,张妈妈恳求你来帮几天忙。”看着张妈妈焦急的样子,心里即便有一百个不情愿,还是点头应允了。
纺织是我们这里唯一的产业,那个年代有自己的工厂也是很不易的一件事情。张爸爸是镇上农行的出纳,所以利用贷款的便利也开了一家毛巾纺织工厂。我们两家相隔不是很远,大概三十米左右的距离。张爸爸和父亲是一起长大的发小,感情和关系都很好,因此我们两家走的也比较近。
回到家,父母都不在。推开我的念月居,还和走时一样,除了多了些灰尘没有一丝的改变。念月居,是我自己的房间,一般没有我的允许,别人是不能私自进入的,包括我的父母和兄嫂。房间很简单,一张桌子,一张席梦思床,还有一套单人沙发。床头上挂着,一张素描,还有一些饰品小挂件;房门上写着三个醒目的大字’念月居‘。把简单的行囊放到沙发上,随手拿了一本书,看着,等待着家人的归来。
晚饭很丰富。吃饭的时候,把答应张妈妈的事情说了出来。妈妈说“自己家的工厂还有那么的事情要忙,怎么还要去帮别人。”“孩子答应了,就让她去吧!谁家还没有个急事的时候!"爸爸头也不抬的说道。”就是,爸爸说的对,谁家没有求人的时候,再也说了,张妈妈又不是外人。“哥哥吃着饭菜含糊不清的对着母亲说着。母亲看看大家,说的也在理就没有在吱声。
第二天,早早去了张妈妈家。工作的地方很小而且很简陋,除了机器只供两个人走动;其余的工人都在南边的大房间里。和我同屋的工人叫“可欣”,很凑巧的是,她也刚刚从北京回来;所以我们之间更多了一些聊天的话题,她今年20岁,足足大了我两岁。
工作不但繁琐而且还要两班倒,分白班和夜班,工作时间是12个小时,说实话真的很累;白天还好,尤其到了晚上后半夜困得要死。既然答应张妈妈了,就要坚持。晚上半夜累了,我和可欣就会休息一个小时,彼此聊聊天,吃吃饭,很快就会过去;晚上吃的饭菜,通常都是白天吃剩的,或者小卖部买的泡面。
有一天,下雨,可欣没有来。张妈妈可能怕我一个人害怕,就让我回家,明天再来。刚要走,张妈妈的儿子’宇阳‘说:“别走,晚上,我来陪你,我也会的……”我,张了张嘴巴欲言又止,心中愤怒的骂着:管你什么事情啊!好不容易休息一晚,还让你的一句话泡汤了。除了用眼睛狠狠的瞪着他,也没有其他的办法了。
张妈妈一共有四个孩子而且都是男孩,宇阳是张妈妈的三儿子也是哥哥的好朋友;我们从小一起长大,他秉性聪明冷漠却很心软,所有一起和他长大的女孩子都很怕他,除了我之外。因为,我从来没有觉得他有什么可怕的,虽然他脾气很暴躁,嘴巴也很毒。他今年20岁,有了一个和我同岁的女朋友,那个女朋友我认识,是我们本家一个哥哥的内外甥女;长得一般,除了身材还算可以,长得没有太出众的地方。
晚上工作的时候,我保持着沉默,不想理他,总觉得,如果不是他的多嘴,现在的我应该美美的在家睡觉。宇阳可能觉察到我不高兴,说些笑话来讨好我。半夜习惯性的关掉机器休息吃饭。他看看我的饭盒都是一些白天的剩饭,回屋拿了一些蛋糕塞在我的手里。“对不起,我不喜欢吃。”我很不领情的把蛋糕还给了他,“不喜欢,也给我吃。”他很生气的把饭盒抢了过去,拿着倒掉在屋外的垃圾里。看着他即将发怒的样子,我很乖巧的吃了起来;他一口,我一口,吃着彼此笑了起来。
晚上很冷,虽是夏天,可能是下雨的原因吧!他问我困?我说不困。然后他找了一块木板放在门口,说困死了要睡一会。“困了,你就回屋?干嘛在这里睡,很冷的……”
“我回屋了,你不是就害怕了……”他温柔的看着我。
“哦,那你不怕冷,就睡吧!”伪装成很冷漠的样子,继续我的工作。可能见不得别人受苦,天气这么冷,他就那样的睡着了。到他的房间,拿了一件衣服盖在他身上。从来没有看过他睡觉后的样子,虽然大家一起长大,更没有仔细的看过他;说实话,他睡着的样子真的很好看,浓浓的眉毛,性感的嘴唇……不知道为什么?我的心却有了莫名的慌乱。
“喂,看够了没有……”突然他睁开了眼睛,坏坏的笑着……吓得我当时就是一愣,不知道说什么好,脸颊烧的火辣的疼。
不知道为什么?从那天起总是刻意的回避着他,好像真的干了什么见不得人的事情。我越是这样,他越是有事没事的接近我;有时候,遇到白天下雨可欣不来时,他也会默默地陪伴我。那种感觉很美,即便没有更多的语言交流。还有一件更离奇的事情,每当晚上我打开饭盒的时候,从家带的剩饭剩菜没有了,有的只是刚刚换上的,热腾腾的的饭菜,还有水果之类的东西。虽然很疑惑,但是不敢问。
有一天,他突然对我说;“你有喜欢的人?”我呆滞的看着他没有回答。是啊!我有自己喜欢的人?或者是有的。
又过了几天,还不见工人回来,我很着急的告诉张妈妈,“如果工人还是不来,我也是要走的,因为我有很多作业没有完成。”可能是张妈妈告诉了他,我要离开的信息吧!
那天,就我们两个,没有其他人;他就这样安静的坐在我的身边,什么也不说,闷着头,抽着烟……
“唉!不说话坐这里干嘛?”我很生气的看着他。
“你说干嘛!你真的要离开?”他抬起头气愤的看着我。
“是的,有什么稀奇的?你老人家,今天蛮清闲的呀!不去看你的女朋友坐我这里干嘛?”狠狠的瞪着他的眼睛。
“怎么……吃醋了,如果真的吃醋了,就跟我好了……”
“跟你个大头鬼。“说着,抬腿就给了他一脚,那一脚可能很重,他生气了,瞪了我一眼,什么也没有说;站起来踢翻了板凳,愤怒的走了。看着他离开的背影,我哭了,我多么想告诉他;我是有自己喜欢的人了,那个男人不是别人,就是你!
我是个很倔强的女孩,没有道歉,没有解释……第二天就这么安静的走了,没有告诉父母,没有告诉他;一走就是八年。
看过《拯救的爱情》感慨万千,如果当初的我不是那么的任性,如果当初的我有足够的胆量去表白,是不是我们今天的结局,就不是痛苦而是快乐!也许人生本就没有如果,错过了就已经错过;如果时光可以倒流,我定会大胆的告诉他,我喜欢那个人是你,是你……
第三篇:他不是你喜欢的那种人,却是你喜欢的那个人杂文随笔
未来的他,还没来之前,你一定设想过无数个你们相遇的场景,你会为他设下许多标准,但最后与你牵手的往往是标准之外的那个。
沉默小姐,性格比较内向,不太爱说话,很多时候她扮演的角色都是倾听者,当然,她也是个很被动的人,即使遇到喜欢的人,也只是躲在某个角落默默地喜欢着。
她一直都不太喜欢聚会,觉得那种氛围不太适合自己,即使去了也只能是当旁观者。那次,能够出现在聚会,是因为闺蜜给她扔了一句话:“我们等到你来才开始,无论多久都等你。”她明白闺蜜这样做的目的,她也不希望因自己而闹得大家都不愉快,所以就赴约了。
她刚打开门,就看到热闹先生在唱歌,一下子被他的声音吸引了,进去后,她选了一个没有人的角落,静静地看着他唱歌,自己也一边跟着唱,也许是太投入了,连闺蜜走到身旁都不知道,闺蜜问:“那么喜欢他吗?他真的有那么好吗?”她什么话也没说,只是点了点头。
其实,她喜欢他已有一年多了,每次她都只是默默地看着他,她选择默默地喜欢,对于她来说这是个秘密。不过,这个秘密就在游戏中被发现了,她输了,接受了真心话,所以秘密也不再是秘密。闺蜜知道后,对她说:“喜欢就说出来,无论结果怎样,至少不会让自己后悔。”她都懂,只是她少了一点勇气。
那次聚会,和热闹先生交换了WeChat,慢慢地有了一些交流,她对他的喜欢也多了一点。不久,热闹先生就约了沉默小姐,这也算是他们的第一次约会,热闹先生根据她的爱好选择了一部文艺的电影,看完电影,她提议去咖啡厅坐坐聊聊天。刚开始,有些尴尬,她不知道该说些什么,表情看上去也有些紧张,热闹先生多半是看出来她的紧张,就用了一个笑话来打破尴尬的气氛。
沉默小姐渐渐放下紧张感,开始和他聊起来,越聊越发觉他真的很有趣,以至于她舍不得和他说再见。最后,热闹先生把她送回家,看着她进电梯才离开。这一天,她被满满的快乐幸福包围着,让她觉得有些不真实。她回到家,洗漱完后,给热闹先生发了短信:“谢谢你对我的照顾,今天我很开心,谢谢你。晚安。”
第一次约会后,两个人交流的次数越来越频繁了,从发短信变成了煲电话粥,有时候还会聊到对方睡着了,听着对方的呼吸声,那感觉仿佛是有了你便有了世界。有一天,沉默小姐坐在操场的一棵树下,带着一边的耳机,听着歌心情看起来很不错,热闹先生走到她的身旁便坐下来,微微一笑,说:“看你心情挺不错的诶,有什么开心的事让我也开心开心。”她回:“哪有什么开心的事,就是听着歌感觉很温暖。”她说完后,热闹先生把另一边的耳机戴在自己的耳朵上,听了一会,说:“是感觉很不错,那这首歌叫什么呢?”她脱口而出:“《爱不解释》。”他马上接了她的话:“是的,爱不解释,就如我喜欢你,喜欢没有太多的理由,感觉对了就在一起,我希望我能走进你的心,你愿意吗?”
她愣了一会,说:“你知道吗?其实我喜欢你很久了,我一直选择默默的喜欢你,如果没有那次聚会,就没有现在的我们。她们和我说,你并不是我喜欢的那种人,也许我也不是你喜欢的那种人,但刚好我们都是彼此喜欢的那个人,我觉得这就够了。和你接触的这段时间,我是有被你的细心照顾所感动,对你的喜欢也是多了些,总之很开心遇见你,希望接下来我不会让你失望。”说完,两个人对视了一眼,热闹先生牵起她的手,耳机里仍在循环《爱不解释》。
一年之后,热闹先生被周围的人称为“别人家的男朋友”。他会在她需要的时候出现,无论是在身边还是异地,都会尽量给她足够的安全感。会在她上完体育课,给她送水;在她来例假时,给她煮红糖水和送暖宝宝;在她闹情绪时,他也总有方法hold住她的情绪。当身边的人都在夸赞他时,他却说:“其实,这些东西都是相对的,并不是只有我在付出,其实她也给予了我很多。无论爱情友情还是亲情,我们都会期待喜欢的人给予回应,因为有了回应才有继续的动力。”
在没遇见他之前,你会设下许多条条框框;在遇见他时,那些所谓的标准已不再重要,因为,他不是你喜欢的那种人,却是你喜欢的那个人。
第四篇:乔布斯演讲
史蒂夫-乔布斯的2005年斯坦福大学毕业典礼演说辞
Thank you.I'm honored to be with you today for your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world.Truth be told, I never graduated from college and this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation.谢谢大家。很荣幸能和你们,来自世界最好大学之一的毕业生们,一块儿参加毕业典礼。老实说,我大学没有毕业,今天恐怕是我一生中离大学毕业最近的一次了。
Today I want to tell you three stories from my life.That's it.No big deal.Just three stories.The first story is about connecting the dots.今天我想告诉大家来自我生活的三个故事。没什么大不了的,只是三个故事而已。第一个故事,如何串连生命中的点滴。
I dropped out of Reed College after the first six months but then stayed around as a drop-in for another eighteen months or so before I really quit.So why did I drop out? It started before I was born.My biological mother was a young, unwed graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption.She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife, except that when I popped out, they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl.So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking, “We've got an unexpected baby boy.Do you want him?” They said, “Of course.” My biological mother found out later that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school.She refused to sign the final adoption papers.She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would go to college.我在里得大学读了六个月就退学了,但是在十八个月之后--我真正退学之前,我还常去学校。为何我要选择退学呢?这还得从我出生之前说起。我的生母是一个年轻、未婚的大学毕业生,她决定让别人收养我。她有一个很强烈的信仰,认为我应该被一个大学毕业生家庭收养。于是,一对律师夫妇说好了要领养我,然而最后一秒钟,他们改变了注意,决定要个女孩儿。然后我的排在收养人名单中的养父母在一个深夜接到电话,“很意外,我们多了一个男婴,你们要吗?”“当然要!”但是我的生母后来又发现我的养母没有大学毕业,养父连高中都没有毕业。她拒绝在领养书上签字。几个月后,我的养父母保证会让我上大学,她妥协了。This was the start in my life.And seventeen years later, I did go to college, but I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition.After six months, I couldn't see the value in it.I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, and no idea of how college was going to help me figure it out, and here I was, spending all the money my parents had saved their entire life.So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK.It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back, it was one of the best decisions I ever made.The minute I dropped out, I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me and begin dropping in on the ones that looked far more interesting.这是我生命的开端。十七年后,我上大学了,但是我很无知地选了一所差不多和斯坦福一样贵的学校,几乎花掉我那蓝领阶层养父母一生的积蓄。六个月后,我觉得不值得。我看不出自己以后要做什么,也不晓得大学会怎样帮我指点迷津,而我却在花销父母一生的积蓄。所以我决定退学,并且相信没有做错。一开始非常吓人,但回忆起来,这却是我一生中作的最好的决定之一。从我退学的那一刻起,我可以停止一切不感兴趣的必修课,开始旁听那些有意思得多的课。
It wasn't all romantic.I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms.I returned Coke bottles for the five-cent deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the seven miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.I loved it.And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.Let me give you one example.事情并不那么美好。我没有宿舍可住,睡在朋友房间的地上。为了吃饭,我收集五分一个的旧可乐瓶,每个星期天晚上步行七英里到哈尔-克里什纳庙里改善一下一周的伙食。我喜欢这种生活方式。能够遵循自己的好奇和直觉前行后来被证明是多么的珍贵。让我来给你们举个例子吧。
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country.Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer was beautifully hand-calligraphed.Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this.I learned about serif and sans-serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great.It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.当时的里得大学提供可能是全国最好的书法指导。校园中每一张海报,抽屉上的每一张标签,都是漂亮的手写体。由于我已退学,不用修那些必修课,我决定选一门书法课上上。在这门课上,我学会了“serif”和“sans-serif”两种字体、学会了怎样在不同的字母组合中改变字间距、学会了怎样写出好的字来。这是一种科学无法捕捉的微妙,楚楚动人、充满历史底蕴和艺术性,我觉得自己被完全吸引了。
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life.But ten years later when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me, and we designed it all into the Mac.It was the first computer with beautiful typography.If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts, and since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them.一开始实在看不出所有这些会对我的实际生活应用有任何帮助。但是十年后当我们在设计苹果第一台电脑的时候,这些东西都跑出来了,我把它们全都设计到了电脑里。那是第一台有漂亮字体的电脑。如果我从来没有选过那门课,苹果电脑就不会有那些漂亮的字型,又因为微软是完全拷贝苹果,很有可能,个人电脑就不会有这些漂亮的字体了。
If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on that calligraphy class and personals computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do.如果我没有退学,我就不会去修那门写字课,个人电脑就不会像现在这样有令人愉悦的字体了。
Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college, but it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later.Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward.You can only connect them looking backwards, so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.You have to trust in something--your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever--because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference.当然,当我还在大学时向前预测是完全不可能把这些点滴串联起来的,然而十年后再回顾时,就显得很明朗了。再说一遍,往前看,是连接不起这些点滴的,只有往后看才行。所以你必须相信,那些点点滴滴,会在你未来的生命里,以某种方式串联起来。你必须相信一些东西--你的勇气、宿命、生活、因缘,随便什么--因为相信这些点滴能够一路连接会给你带来循从本觉的自信,它使你走离平凡,变得与众不同。
My second story is about love and loss.I was lucky.I found what I loved to do early in life.Woz and I started Apple in my parents' garage when I was twenty.We worked hard and in ten years, Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4,000 employees.We'd just released our finest creation, the Macintosh, a year earlier, and I'd just turned thirty, and then I got fired.How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew, we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so, things went well.But then our visions of the future began to diverge, and eventually we had a falling out.When we did, our board of directors sided with him, and so at thirty, I was out, and very publicly out.What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.I really didn't know what to do for a few months.I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down, that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me.I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly.I was a very public failure and I even thought about running away from the Valley.But something slowly began to dawn on me.I still loved what I did.The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit.I'd been rejected but I was still in love.And so I decided to start over.第二个故事是关于爱与失的。我很幸运。很早就发现自己喜欢做的事情。我二十岁的时候就和沃茨在父母的车库里开创了苹果公司。我们工作得很努力,十年后,苹果公司成长为拥有四千名员工,价值二十亿的大公司。我们只是推出了最好的创意,Macintosh操作系统,在这之前的一年,也就是我刚过三十岁,我被解雇了。你怎么可能被一个亲手创立的公司解雇?事情是这样的,在公司成长期间,雇佣了一个我们认为非常聪明,可以和我一起经营公司的人。一年后,我们对公司未来的看法产生分歧,董事长站在了他的一边。于是,在我三十岁的时候,我出局了,很公开地出局了。我整个成年生活的焦点没了,这很要命。一开始的几个月我真的不知道该干什么。我觉得我让公司的前一代创建者们失望了,我把传给我的权杖给弄丢了。我与戴维德-帕珂德和鲍勃-诺埃斯见面,试图为这彻头彻尾的失败道歉。我败得如此之惨以至于我想要逃离这儿。有个东西在慢慢地叫醒我。我还爱着我从事的行业。这次失败一点儿都没有改变这一点。我被逐了,但我仍爱着。我决定从新开始。
I didn't see it then, but it turned out that 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 in my life.During the next five years I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife.Pixar went on to create the world's first computer-animated feature film, “Toy Story,” and is now the most successful animation studio in the world.当时我没有看出来,但事实证明“被苹果开除”是发生在我身上最好的事。成功的重担被重新起步的轻松替代,对任何事情都不再特别看重。这让我感觉如此自由,进入一生中最有创造力的阶段。接下来的五年,我创立了一个叫NeXT的公司,接着又建立了Pixar,然后与后来成为我妻子的女人相爱。Pixar出品了世界第一个电脑动画电影:“玩具总动员”,现在它已经是世界最成功的动画制作工作室了。
In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT and I returned to Apple and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance, and Lorene and I have a wonderful family together.在一系列的成功运转后,苹果收购了NeXT,我又回到了苹果。我们在NeXT开发的技术在苹果的复兴中起了核心作用,另外劳琳和我组建了一个幸福的家庭。
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple.It was awful-tasting medicine but I guess the patient needed it.Sometimes life's going to hit you in the head with a brick.Don't lose faith.I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did.You've got to find what you love, and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers.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, and don't settle.As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it, and like any great relationship it just gets better and better as the years roll on.So keep looking.Don't settle.我非常确信,如果我没有被苹果炒掉,这些就都不会发生。这个药的味道太糟了,但是我想病人需要它。有些时候,生活会给你迎头一棒。不要丧失信心。我确信唯一让我一路走下来的是我对自己所做事情的热爱。你必须去找你热爱的东西,对工作如此,对你的爱人也是这样的。工作会占据你生命中很大的一部分,你只有相信自己做的是伟大的工作,你才能怡然自得。如果你还没有找到,那么就继续找,不要停。全心全意地找,当你找到时,你会知道的。就像任何真诚的关系,随着时间的流逝,只会越来越紧密。所以继续找,不要停。
My third story is about death.When I was 17 I read a quote that went something like “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, 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.Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important thing 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.我的第三个故事关于死亡。我十七岁的时候读到过一句话“如果你把每一天都当作最后一天过,有一天你会发现你是正确的”。这句话给我留下了深刻的印象。从那以后,过去的三十三年,每天早上我都会对着镜子问自己:“如果今天是我的最后一天,我会不会做我想做的事情呢?”当答案持续否定一些次数后,我知道我需要改变一些东西了。提醒自己就要死了是我遇见的最大的帮助,帮我作了生命中的大决定。因为几乎任何事——所有的荣耀、骄傲、对难堪和失败的恐惧——在死亡面前都会消隐,留下真正重要的东西。提醒自己就要死亡是我知道的最好的方法,用来避开担心失去某些东西的陷阱。你已经赤裸裸了,没有理由不听从于自己的心愿。
About a year ago, I was diagnosed with cancer.I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas.I didn't even know what a pancreas was.The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months.My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctors' code for “prepare to die.” It means to try and tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next ten years to tell them, in just a few months.It means to make sure that everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family.It means to say your goodbyes.大约一年前,我被诊断出患了癌症。我早上七点半作了扫描,清楚地显示在我的胰腺有一个肿瘤。我当时都不知道胰腺是什么东西。医生们告诉我这几乎是无法治愈的,还有三到六个月的时间。我的医生建议我回家,整理一切。在医生的辞典中,这就是“准备死亡”的意思。就是意味着把要对你小孩说十年的话在几个月内说完;意味着把所有东西搞定,尽量让你的家庭活得轻松一点;意味着你要说“永别”了。
I lived with that diagnosis all day.Later that evening I had a biopsy where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor.I was sedated but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope, the doctor started crying, because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery.I had the surgery and, thankfully, I am fine now.我整日都与诊断书待在一起。那天晚上我做了一个活切片检查,他们将一个内窥镜伸进我的喉咙,穿过胃,直达小肠,用一根针在我的胰腺肿瘤上取了几个细胞。我当时服了镇定剂,但是我的妻子告诉我,那些医生在显微镜下看到细胞的时候开始尖叫,因为发现这竟然是一种非常罕见的可用手术治愈的胰腺癌症。我做了手术,谢天谢地,我痊愈了。
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades.Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept.No one wants to die, even people who want to go to Heaven don't want to die to get there, and yet, death is the destination we all share.No one has ever escaped it.And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life.It's life's change agent;it clears out the old to make way for the new.right now, the new is you.But someday, not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away.Sorry to be so dramatic, but it's quite true.Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking.Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice, heart and intuition.They somehow already know what you truly want to become.Everything else is secondary.这是我最接近死亡的时候,我也希望是我未来几十年里最接近死亡的一次。这次死里逃生让我比以往只知道死亡是一个有用而纯粹书面概念的时候更确信地告诉你们,没有人愿意死,即使那些想上天堂的人们也不愿意通过死亡来达到他们的目的。但是死亡是每个人共同的终点,没有人能够逃脱。也应该如此,因为死亡很可能是生命最好的发明。它去陈让新。现在,你们就是“新”。但是有一天,不用太久,你们有会慢慢变老然后被清除。抱歉,这很戏剧性,但却是真的。你们的时间是有限的,不要浪费在重复别人的生活上。不要被教条束缚,那意味着会和别人思考的结果一块儿生活。不要被其他人的喧嚣观点掩盖自己内心真正的声音。你的直觉和内心知道你想要变成什么样子。所有其他东西都是次要的。When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalogue, which was one of the bibles of my generation.It was created by a fellow named Stuart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch.This was in the late Sixties, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and Polaroid cameras.it was sort of like Google in paperback form thirty-five years before Google came along.It was idealistic, overflowing with neat tools and great notions.Stuart and his team put out several issues of the The Whole Earth Catalogue, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue.It was the mid-Seventies and I was your age.On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous.Beneath were the words, “Stay hungry, stay foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off.“Stay hungry, stay foolish.” And I have always wished that for myself, and now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.Stay hungry, stay foolish.我年轻的时候,有一份叫做“完整地球目录”的好杂志,是我们这一代人的圣经之一。它是一个叫斯纠华特-布兰得,住在离这不远的曼罗公园的家伙创立的。他用诗一般的触觉将这份杂志带到世界。那是六十年代后期,个人电脑出现之前,所以这份杂志全是用打字机、剪刀和偏光镜制作的。有点像软皮包装的google,不过却早了三十五年。它理想主义,全文充斥着灵巧的工具和伟大的想法。斯纠华特和他的小组出版了几期“完整地球目录”,在完成使命之前,他们出版了最后一期。那是七十年代中期,我和你们差不多大。最后一期的封底是一张清晨乡村小路的照片,如果你有冒险精神,可以自己找到这条路。下面有一句话,“保持饥饿,保持愚蠢”。这是他们的告别语,“保持饥饿,保持愚蠢”。我常以此勉励自己。现在,在你们即将踏上新旅程的时候,我也希望你们能这样。保持饥饿,保持愚蠢。
Thank you all, very much.非常感谢。
第五篇:乔布斯演讲
史蒂夫乔布斯在斯坦福大学的演讲稿
'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world.I never graduated from college.Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation.Today I want to tell you three stories from my life.That's it.No big deal.Just three stories.The first story is about connecting the dots.I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit.So why did I drop out? It started before I was born.My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption.She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife.Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl.So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: “We have an unexpected baby boy;do you want him?” They said: “Of course.” My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school.She refused to sign the final adoption papers.She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.And 17 years later I did go to college.But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition.After six months, I couldn't see the value in it.I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out.And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life.So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK.It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made.The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting。It wasn't all romantic.I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.I loved it.And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.Let me give you one example: Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country.Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed.Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this.I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great.It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life.But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me.And we designed it all into the Mac.It was the first computer with beautiful typography.If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts.And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them.If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do.Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college.But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward;you can only connect them looking backwards.So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.My second story is about love and loss.I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life.Woz 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 4000 employees.We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30.And then I got fired.How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well.But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out.When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him.So at 30 I was out.And very publicly out.What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.I really didn't know what to do for a few months.I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs downthese 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.About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer.I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas.I didn't even know what a pancreas was.The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months.My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die.It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months.It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family.It means to say your goodbyes.I lived with that diagnosis all day.Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor.I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery.I had the surgery and I'm fine now.This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades.Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:No one wants to die.Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there.And yet death is the destination we all share.No one has ever escaped it.And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life.It is Life's change agent.It clears out the old to make way for the new.Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away.Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking.Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice.And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.They somehow already know what you truly want to become.Everything else is secondary.When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation.It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch.This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras.It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue.It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age.On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous.Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry.Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off.Stay Hungry.Stay Foolish.And I have always wished that for myself.And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.Stay Hungry.Stay Foolish.史蒂夫&S226;乔布斯(Steve Jobs)今2005年6 月在斯坦福大学的演讲在经过了一个夏天之后依然为人所提及。这位苹果电脑公司(Apple Computer)和皮克斯动画公司(Pixar Animation Studios)首席执行官在演讲中谈到了他生活中的三次体验,这三次体验不仅在斯坦福大学的毕业生、也在硅谷乃至其他地方的技术同行中引起了巨大反响。他们将他的演讲登在互联网上,在博客上展开讨论,通过电子邮件互相发送,在全球传阅。我们在此刊登全文,以飨还没有看到该演讲的读者。
很荣幸和大家一道参加这所世界上最好的一座大学的毕业典礼。我大学没毕业,说实话,这是我第一次离大学毕业典礼这么近。今天我想给大家讲三个我自己的故事,不讲别的,也不讲大道理,就讲三个故事。
第一个故事讲的是点与点之间的关系。我在里德学院(Reed College)只读了六个月就退学了,此后便在学校里旁听,又过了大约一年半,我彻底离开。那么,我为什么退学呢?
这得从我出生前讲起。我的生母是一名年轻的未婚在校研究生,她决定将我送给别人收养。她非常希望收养我的是有大学学历的人,所以把一切都安排好了,我一出生就交给一对律师夫妇收养。没想到我落地的霎那间,那对夫妇却决定收养一名女孩。就这样,我的养父母─当时他们还在登记册上排队等著呢─半夜三更接到一个电话: “我们这儿有一个没人要的男婴,你们要么?”“当然要”他们回答。但是,我的生母后来发现我的养母不是大学毕业生,我的养父甚至连中学都没有毕业,所以她拒绝在最后的收养文件上签字。不过,没过几个月她就心软了,因为我的养父母许诺日后一定送我上大学。年后,我真的进了大学。当时我很天真,选了一所学费几乎和斯坦福大学一样昂贵的学校,当工人的养父母倾其所有的积蓄为我支付了大学学费。读了六个月后,我却看不出上学有什么意义。我既不知道自己这一生想干什么,也不知道大学是否能够帮我弄明白自己想干什么。这时,我就要花光父母一辈子节省下来的钱了。所以,我决定退学,并且坚信日后会证明我这样做是对的。当年做出这个决定时心里直打鼓,但现在回想起来,这还真是我有生以来做出的最好的决定之一。从退学那一刻起,我就可以不再选那些我毫无兴趣的必修课,开始旁听一些看上去有意思的课。那些日子一点儿都不浪漫。我没有宿舍,只能睡在朋友房间的地板上。我去退还可乐瓶,用那五分钱的押金来买吃的。每个星期天晚上我都要走七英里,到城那头的黑尔-科里施纳礼拜堂去,吃每周才能享用一次的美餐。我喜欢这样。我凭著好奇心和直觉所干的这些事情,有许多后来都证明是无价之宝。我给大家举个例子: 当时,里德学院的书法课大概是全国最好的。校园里所有的公告栏和每个抽屉标签上的字都写得非常漂亮。当时我已经退学,不用正常上课,所以我决定选一门书法课,学学怎么写好字。我学习写带短截线和不带短截线的印刷字体,根据不同字母组合调整其间距,以及怎样把版式调整得好上加好。这门课太棒了,既有历史价值,又有艺术造诣,这一点科学就做不到,而我觉得它妙不可言。当时我并不指望书法在以后的生活中能有什么实用价值。但是,十年之后,我们在设计第一台 Macintosh 计算机时,它一下子浮现在我眼前。于是,我们把这些东西全都设计进了计算机中。这是第一台有这么漂亮的文字版式的计算机。要不是我当初在大学里偶然选了这么一门课,Macintosh 计算机绝不会有那么多种印刷字体或间距安排合理的字号。要不是 Windows 照搬了 Macintosh,个人电脑可能不会有这些字体和字号。要不是退了学,我决不会碰巧选了这门书法课,个人电脑也可能不会有现在这些漂亮的版式了。当然,我在大学里不可能从这一点上看到它与将来的关系。十年之后再回头看,两者之间的关系就非常、非常清楚了。你们同样不可能从现在这个点上看到将来;只有回头看时,才会发现它们之间的关系。所以,要相信这些点迟早会连接到一起。你们必须信赖某些东西─直觉、归宿、生命,还有业力,等等。这样做从来没有让我的希望落空过,而且还彻底改变了我的生活。
我的第二个故事是关于好恶与得失。幸运的是,我在很小的时候就发现自己喜欢做什么。我在 20 岁时和沃兹(Woz,苹果公司创始人之一 Wozon 的昵称─译注)在我父母的车库里办起了苹果公司。我们干得很卖力,十年后,苹果公司就从车库里我们两个人发展成为一个拥有 20 亿元资产、4,000 名员工的大企业。那时,我们刚刚推出了我们最好的产品─ Macintosh 电脑─那是在第 9 年,我刚满 30 岁。可后来,我被解雇了。你怎么会被自己办的公司解雇呢?是这样,随著苹果公司越做越大,我们聘了一位我认为非常有才华的人与我一道管理公司。在开始的一年多里,一切都很顺利。可是,随后我俩对公司前景的看法开始出现分歧,最后我俩反目了。这时,董事会站在了他那一边,所以在 30 岁那年,我离开了公司,而且这件事闹得满城风雨。我成年后的整个生活重心都没有了,这使我心力交瘁。
一连几个月,我真的不知道应该怎么办。我感到自己给老一代的创业者丢了脸─因为我扔掉了交到自己手里的接力棒。我去见了戴维帕卡德(David Packard,惠普公司创始人之一─译注)和鲍勃;诺伊斯(Bob Noyce,英特尔公司创建者之一─译注),想为把事情搞得这么糟糕说声道歉。这次失败弄得沸沸扬扬的,我甚至想过逃离硅谷。但是,渐渐地,我开始有了一个想法─我仍然热爱我过去做的一切。在苹果公司发生的这些**丝毫没有改变这一点。我虽然被拒之门外,但我仍然深爱我的事业。于是,我决定从头开始。
虽然当时我并没有意识到,但事实证明,被苹果公司炒鱿鱼是我一生中碰到的最好的事情。尽管前景未卜,但从头开始的轻松感取代了保持成功的沉重感。这使我进入了一生中最富有创造力的时期之一。在此后的五年里,我开了一家名叫 NeXT 的公司和一家叫皮克斯的公司,我还爱上一位了不起的女人,后来娶了她。皮克斯公司推出了世界上第一部用电脑制作的动画片《玩具总动员》(Toy Story),它现在是全球最成功的动画制作室。世道轮回,苹果公司买下 NeXT 后,我又回到了苹果公司,我们在 NeXT 公司开发的技术成了苹果公司这次重新崛起的核心。我和劳伦娜(Laurene)也建立了美满的家庭。我确信,如果不是被苹果公司解雇,这一切决不可能发生。这是一剂苦药,可我认为苦药利于病。有时生活会当头给你一棒,但不要灰心。我坚信让我一往无前的唯一力量就是我热爱我所做的一切。所以,一定得知道自己喜欢什么,选择爱人时如此,选择工作时同样如此。工作将是生活中的一大部分,让自己真正满意的唯一办法,是做自己认为是有意义的工作;做有意义的工作的唯一办法,是热爱自己的工作。你们如果还没有发现自己喜欢什么,那就不断地去寻找,不要急于做出决定。就像一切要凭著感觉去做的事情一样,一旦找到了自己喜欢的事,感觉就会告诉你。就像任何一种美妙的东西,历久弥新。所以说,要不断地寻找,直到找到自己喜欢的东西。不要半途而废。
我的第三个故事与死亡有关。17 岁那年,我读到过这样一段话,大意是:“如果把每一天都当作生命的最后一天,总有一天你会如愿以偿。”我记住了这句话,从那时起,33 年过去了,我每天早晨都对著镜子自问: “假如今天是生命的最后一天,我还会去做今天要做的事吗?”如果一连许多天我的回答都是“不”,我知道自己应该有所改变了。
让我能够做出人生重大抉择的最主要办法是,记住生命随时都有可能结束。因为几乎所有的东西─所有对自身之外的希求、所有的尊严、所有对困窘和失败的恐惧─在死亡来临时都将不复存在,只剩下真正重要的东西。记住自己随时都会死去,这是我所知道的防止患得患失的最好方法。你已经一无所有了,还有什么理由不跟著自己的感觉走呢。
大约一年前,我被诊断患了癌症。那天早上七点半,我做了一次扫描检查,结果清楚地表明我的胰腺上长了一个瘤子,可那时我连胰腺是什么还不知道呢!医生告诉我说,几乎可以确诊这是一种无法治愈的恶性肿瘤,我最多还能活 3 到 6 个月。医生建议我回去把一切都安排好,其实这是在暗示“准备后事”。也就是说,把今后十年要跟孩子们说的事情在这几个月内嘱咐完;也就是说,把一切都安排妥当,尽可能不给家人留麻烦;也就是说,去跟大家诀别。那一整天里,我的脑子一直没离开这个诊断。到了晚上,我做了一次组织切片检查,他们把一个内窥镜通过喉咙穿过我的胃进入肠子,用针头在胰腺的瘤子上取了一些细胞组织。当时我用了麻醉剂,陪在一旁的妻子后来告诉我,医生在显微镜里看了细胞之后叫了起来,原来这是一种少见的可以通过外科手术治愈的恶性肿瘤。我做了手术,现在好了。这是我和死神离得最近的一次,我希望也是今后几十年里最近的一次。有了这次经历之后,现在我可以更加实在地和你们谈论死亡,而不是纯粹纸上谈兵,那就是: 谁都不愿意死。就是那些想进天堂的人也不愿意死后再进。然而,死亡是我们共同的归宿,没人能摆脱。我们注定会死,因为死亡很可能是生命最好的一项发明。它推进生命的变迁,旧的不去,新的不来。现在,你们就是新的,但在不久的将来,你们也会逐渐成为旧的,也会被淘汰。对不起,话说得太过分了,不过这是千真万确的。
你们的时间都有限,所以不要按照别人的意愿去活,这是浪费时间。不要囿于成见,那是在按照别人设想的结果而活。不要让别人观点的聒噪声淹没自己的心声。最主要的是,要有跟著自己感觉和直觉走的勇气。无论如何,感觉和直觉早就知道你到底想成为什么样的人,其他都是次要的。
我年轻时有一本非常好的刊物,叫《全球概览》(The Whole Earth Catalog),这是我那代人的宝书之一,创办人名叫斯图尔特&S226;布兰德(Stewart Brand),就住在离这儿不远的门洛帕克市。他用诗一般的语言把刊物办得生动活泼。那是 20 世纪 60 年代末,还没有个人电脑和桌面印刷系统,全靠打字机、剪刀和宝丽莱照相机(Polaroid)。它就像一种纸质的 Google,却比 Google 早问世了 35 年。这份刊物太完美了,查阅手段齐备、构思不凡。斯图尔特和他的同事们出了好几期《全球概览》,到最后办不下去时,他们出了最后一期。那是 20 世纪 70 年代中期,我也就是你们现在的年纪。最后一期的封底上是一张清晨乡间小路的照片,就是那种爱冒险的人等在那儿搭便车的那种小路。照片下面写道: 好学若饥、谦卑若愚。那是他们停刊前的告别辞。求知若渴,大智若愚。这也是我一直想做到的。眼下正值诸位大学毕业、开始新生活之际,我同样愿大家:
Stay Hungry.Stay Foolish.好学若饥、谦卑若愚。