第一篇:Steve Jobs 05年斯坦福大学毕业典礼的演讲词
Steve Jobs 05年斯坦福大学毕业典礼的演讲词
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.Thank you all very much.(斯坦福)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)我从来没有从大学毕业,说句实话,此时算是我离大学毕业最近的一刻。(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个月后才最终离开。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,于是决定把我送给其他人收养。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,她已经为我被一个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。侯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:“我们有了一个意料之外的男孩,你们是否想收养?”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,我真上了大学。但因为年幼无知,我选择了一所和斯坦福一样昂贵的大学,(笑声)我的父母都是工人阶级,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,也不知道大学对我能起到什么帮助,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。当时作这个决定的时候非常害怕,但现在回头去看,这是我这一生所作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,我只能睡在朋友房间的地板上;可乐瓶的押金是5分钱,我把瓶子还回去好用押金买吃的;在每个周日的晚上,我都会步行7英里穿越市区,到Hare Krishna教堂吃一顿大餐,我喜欢那儿的食物。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,里德大学提供了全美国最好的书法教育。整个校园的每一张海报,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,于是我选择了一个书法班,想学学怎么写出一手漂亮字。在这个班上,我学习了各种衬线和无衬线字体,如何改变不同字体组合之间的字间距,以及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,当我们的设计第一款Macintosh电脑的候,这些东西全派上了用场。我把它们全部设计进了 Mac,这是第一台可以排出好看版式的电脑。如果当时我大学里没有旁听这门课程的话,Mac就不会提供各种字体和等间距字体。自从视窗系统抄袭了Mac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,我就不会去书法班旁听,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;只有在你回头看的时候,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,因缘际会……正是这种信仰让我不会失去希望,它让我的人生变得与众不同。
我的第二个故事是关于爱与失去。
我是幸运的,在年轻的时候就知道了自己爱做什么。在我20岁的时候,就和沃兹在我父母的车库里开创了苹果电脑公司。我们勤奋工作,只用了10年的时间,苹果电脑就从车库里的两个小伙子扩展成拥有4000名员工,价值达到20亿美元的企业。而在此之前的一年,我们刚推出了我们最好的产品Macintosh电脑,当时我刚过而立之年。然后,我就被炒了鱿鱼。一个人怎么可以被他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,我们对公司未来的前景出现了分歧,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岁的时候,就被踢出了局。我失去了一直贯穿在我整个成年生活的重心,打击是毁灭性的。
在头几个月,我真不知道要做些什么。我觉得我让企业界的前辈们失望了,我失去了传到我手上的指挥棒。我遇到了戴维·帕卡德(普惠的创办人之一——译注)和鲍勃·诺伊斯(英特尔的创办人之一——译注),我向他们道歉,因为我把事情搞砸了。我成了人人皆知的失败者,我甚至想过逃离硅谷。但曙光渐渐出现,我还是喜欢我做过的事情。在苹果电脑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。我当时没有看出来,但事实证明,我被苹果开掉是我这一生所经历过的最棒的事情。成功的沉重被凤凰涅槃的轻盈所代替,每件事情都不再那么确定,我以自由之躯进入了我整个生命当中最有创意的时期。
在接下来的5年里,我开创了一家叫做NeXT的公司,接着是一家名叫Pixar的公司,并且接识了后来成为我妻子的曼妙女郎。Pixar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)后来经历一系列的事件,苹果买下了NeXT,于是我又回到了苹果,我们在NeXT研发出的技术在推动苹果复兴的核心动力。我和劳伦斯也拥有了美满的家庭。
我非常肯定,如果没有被苹果炒掉,这一切都不可能在我身上发生。对于病人来说,良药总是苦口。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惟一理由。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惟一方法,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。不要安于现状,当万事了于心的时候,你就会知道何时能找到。如同任何伟大的浪漫关系一样,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,不要停下你寻觅的脚步。不要停下。
第三个故事是关于死亡。
在17 岁的时候,我读过一句格言,好像是:“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。
提醒自己行将入土是我在面临人生中的重大抉择时,最为重要的工具。
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,提醒自己即将死去是避免掉入畏惧失去这个陷阱的最好办法。人赤条条地来,赤条条地走,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7:30我做了一个检查,扫描结果清楚地显示我的胰脏出现了一个肿瘤。我当时甚至不知道胰脏究竟是什么。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年要对你的子女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。
我整天都想着诊断结果。那天晚上做了一个切片检查,医生把一个内诊镜从我的喉管伸进去,穿过我的胃进入肠道,将探针伸进胰脏,从肿瘤上取出了几个细胞。我打了镇静剂,但我的太太当时在场,她后来告诉我说,当大夫们从显微镜下观察了细胞组织之后,都哭了起来,因为那是一非常罕见的,可以通过手术治疗的胰脏癌。我接受了手术,现在已经康复了。
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的经验之后,死亡对我来说只是一项有效的判断工具,并且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,也是希望能活着进去。(笑声)死亡是我们每个人的人生终点站,没人能够成为例外。生命就是如此,因为死亡很可能是生命最好的造物,它是生命更迭的媒介,送走耋耄老者,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。
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,它们可能已知道你其实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《全球目录》(The Whole Earth Catalog),它被我们那一代人奉为圭臬。这本杂志的创办人是一个叫斯图尔特·布兰德的家伙,他住在Menlo Park,距离这儿不远。他把这本杂志办得充满诗意。那是在60年代末期,个人电脑、桌面发排系统还没有出现,所以出版工具只有打字机、剪刀和宝丽来相机。这本杂志有点像印在纸上的Google,但那是在Google出现的35年前;它充满了理想色彩,内容都是些非常好用的工具和了不起的见解。
斯图尔特和他的团队做了几期《全球目录》,快无疾而终的时候,他们出版了最后一期。那是在70年代中期,我当时处在你们现在的年龄。在最后一期的封底有一张清晨乡间公路的照片,如果你喜欢搭车冒险旅行的话,经常会碰到的那种小路。在照片下面有一排字:物有所不足,智有所不明(Stay Hungry.Stay Foolish.)这是他们停刊的告别留言。物有所不足,智有所不明。我总是以此自诩。现在,在你们毕业开始新生活的时候,我把这句话送给你们。
第二篇:Steve Jobs 05年斯坦福大学毕业典礼的演讲词
Steve Jobs 05年斯坦福大学毕业典礼的演讲词
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.Thank you all very much.(斯坦福)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)我从来没有从大学毕业,说句实话,此时算是我离大学毕业最近的一刻。(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个月后才最终离开。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,于是决定把我送给其他人收养。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,她已经为我被一个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。侯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:“我们有了一个意料之外的男孩,你们是否想收养?”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,我真上了大学。但因为年幼无知,我选择了一所和斯坦福一样昂贵的大学,(笑声)我的父母都是工人阶级,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,也不知道大学对我能起到什么帮助,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。当时作这个决定的时候非常害怕,但现在回头去看,这是我这一生所作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,我只能睡在朋友房间的地板上;可乐瓶的押金是5分钱,我把瓶子还回去好用押金买吃的;在每个周日的晚上,我都会步行7英里穿越市区,到Hare Krishna教堂吃一顿大餐,我喜欢那儿的食物。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,里德大学提供了全美国最好的书法教育。整个校园的每一张海报,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,于是我选择了一个书法班,想学学怎么写出一手漂亮字。在这个班上,我学习了各种衬线和无衬线字体,如何改变不同字体组合之间的字间距,以及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,当我们的设计第一款Macintosh电脑的候,这些东西全派上了用场。我把它们全部设计进了 Mac,这是第一台可以排出好看版式的电脑。如果当时我大学里没有旁听这门课程的话,Mac就不会提供各种字体和等间距字体。自从视窗系统抄袭了Mac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,我就不会去书法班旁听,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;只有在你回头看的时候,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,因缘际会……正是这种信仰让我不会失去希望,它让我的人生变得与众不同。
我的第二个故事是关于爱与失去。
我是幸运的,在年轻的时候就知道了自己爱做什么。在我20岁的时候,就和沃兹在我父母的车库里开创了苹果电脑公司。我们勤奋工作,只用了10年的时间,苹果电脑就从车库里的两个小伙子扩展成拥有4000名员工,价值达到20亿美元的企业。而在此之前的一年,我们刚推出了我们最好的产品Macintosh电脑,当时我刚过而立之年。然后,我就被炒了鱿鱼。一个人怎么可以被他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,我们对公司未来的前景出现了分歧,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岁的时候,就被踢出了局。我失去了一直贯穿在我整个成年生活的重心,打击是毁灭性的。
在头几个月,我真不知道要做些什么。我觉得我让企业界的前辈们失望了,我失去了传到我手上的指挥棒。我遇到了戴维·帕卡德(普惠的创办人之一——译注)和鲍勃·诺伊斯(英特尔的创办人之一——译注),我向他们道歉,因为我把事情搞砸了。我成了人人皆知的失败者,我甚至想过逃离硅谷。但曙光渐渐出现,我还是喜欢我做过的事情。在苹果电脑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。
我当时没有看出来,但事实证明,我被苹果开掉是我这一生所经历过的最棒的事情。成功的沉重被凤凰涅槃的轻盈所代替,每件事情都不再那么确定,我以自由之躯进入了我整个生命当中最有创意的时期。
在接下来的5年里,我开创了一家叫做NeXT的公司,接着是一家名叫Pixar的公司,并且接识了后来成为我妻子的曼妙女郎。Pixar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)后来经历一系列的事件,苹果买下了NeXT,于是我又回到了苹果,我们在NeXT研发出的技术在推动苹果复兴的核心动力。我和劳伦斯也拥有了美满的家庭。
我非常肯定,如果没有被苹果炒掉,这一切都不可能在我身上发生。对于病人来说,良药总是苦口。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惟一理由。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惟一方法,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。不要安于现状,当万事了于心的时候,你就会知道何时能找到。如同任何伟大的浪漫关系一样,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,不要停下你寻觅的脚步。不要停下。
第三个故事是关于死亡。
在17 岁的时候,我读过一句格言,好像是:“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。
提醒自己行将入土是我在面临人生中的重大抉择时,最为重要的工具。
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,提醒自己即将死去是避免掉入畏惧失去这个陷阱的最好办法。人赤条条地来,赤条条地走,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7:30我做了一个检查,扫描结果清楚地显示我的胰脏出现了一个肿瘤。我当时甚至不知道胰脏究竟是什么。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年要对你的子女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。
我整天都想着诊断结果。那天晚上做了一个切片检查,医生把一个内诊镜从我的喉管伸进去,穿过我的胃进入肠道,将探针伸进胰脏,从肿瘤上取出了几个细胞。我打了镇静剂,但我的太太当时在场,她后来告诉我说,当大夫们从显微镜下观察了细胞组织之后,都哭了起来,因为那是一非常罕见的,可以通过手术治疗的胰脏癌。我接受了手术,现在已经康复了。
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的经验之后,死亡对我来说只是一项有效的判断工具,并且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,也是希望能活着进去。(笑声)死亡是我们每个人的人生终点站,没人能够成为例外。生命就是如此,因为死亡很可能是生命最好的造物,它是生命更迭的媒介,送走耋耄老者,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。
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,它们可能已知道你其实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《全球目录》(The Whole Earth Catalog),它被我们那一代人奉为圭臬。这本杂志的创办人是一个叫斯图尔特·布兰德的家伙,他住在Menlo Park,距离这儿不远。他把这本杂志办得充满诗意。那是在60年代末期,个人电脑、桌面发排系统还没有出现,所以出版工具只有打字机、剪刀和宝丽来相机。这本杂志有点像印在纸上的Google,但那是在Google出现的35年前;它充满了理想色彩,内容都是些非常好用的工具和了不起的见解。
斯图尔特和他的团队做了几期《全球目录》,快无疾而终的时候,他们出版了最后一期。那是在70年代中期,我当时处在你们现在的年龄。在最后一期的封底有一张清晨乡间公路的照片,如果你喜欢搭车冒险旅行的话,经常会碰到的那种小路。在照片下面有一排字:物有所不足,智有所不明(Stay Hungry.Stay Foolish.)这是他们停刊的告别留言。
物有所不足,智有所不明。我总是以此自诩。现在,在你们毕业开始新生活的时候,我把这句话送给你们。
第三篇:乔布斯斯坦福大学毕业典礼演讲稿
乔布斯斯坦福大学毕业典礼演讲稿
i am 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.today i want to tell you three stories from my life.that’s it.no big deal.just three stories.今天,我很荣幸能和你们一起参加毕业典礼,斯坦福大学是世界上最好的大学之一,乔布斯斯坦福大学毕业典礼演讲稿。说实话,(虽然)我从来没有从大学中毕业,但今天是我生命中离大学毕业最近的一天了。今天我想向你们讲述我生活中的三个故事。不说大道理,就是三个故事而已。
the first story is about connecting the dots.第一个故事是关于如何把生命中的点点滴滴串连起来。
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?
我在里德学院读了六个月之后就退学了,但是在十八个月以后,我还经常去学校。我为什么要退学呢?
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.this was the start in my life.故事要从我的出生说起。我的亲生母亲是一名年轻未婚的大学毕业生。她决定让别人收养我,她十分想让大学毕业生收养我。所以在我出生前,她已经准备一切,让一位律师和他的妻子收养。但是她没有料到,在我出生后,律师夫妇突然决定要一个女孩。所以,我的养父养母(他们当时还在候选名单上)突然在半夜接到了一个电话:“我们有一个意外降生的男婴,你们想收养他吗?”他们回答说: “当然!” 但是我亲生母亲随后发现,我的养母从未上过大学,我的养父高中没毕业。于是她拒绝签订收养合同。但在几个月以后,因为我的养父养母答应她一定要让我上大学,她才心软同意了。
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 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.在十七岁那年,我的确上大学了。但我天真地选择了一个几乎和斯坦福大学一样贵的学校,我父母还处于工薪阶层,为了交学费,他们几乎耗光所有积蓄。六个月后,我几乎看不到在学校的价值。我不知道(我生命中)要追求什么,我也不知道学校是否能帮我找到答案。但在学校,我将花光我父母这一辈子的积蓄。所以,我决定退学,并且我相信车到山前必有路。(不可否认),我当时非常害怕,但现在回头来看,这个决定是我一生中最明智决定之一。在我做出退学决定后,我再也不用去上那些我丝毫没有兴趣的必修课,我开始去听那些看起来有趣的课程。
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:
这一点也不罗曼蒂克。没了宿舍,所以我要到朋友家睡地板;为了填饱肚子,我捡过值5美分的可乐罐;为了每周一顿的好一点的饭,每个星期天晚上,我穿街过巷,步行7英里到hare krishna教堂。我喜欢那里的饭菜。在好奇和直觉的引导下,我跌跌撞撞地遇到很多东西,这些后来被证明是无价瑰宝。我给你们举一个例子吧:
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 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.那时候,里德学院的书法课程也许是全美最好的。学校里的每个海报,抽屉上的每个标签,上面全都是漂亮的书法。因为我退学了,没有了正常的课程,所以我决定去上/书法课,去学学怎样写出漂亮的字。我学到了san serif 和serif字体,我学会了怎么样在不同的字母组合之中变化间距,还有怎么样做最好的版式。那种美感、真实感和艺术感,是科学永远不能捕捉到的,(我发现)那实在是太迷人了。
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, 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.当时这些东西似乎在我生命中没什么可用之处。但十年之后,当我们在设计第一台macintosh计算机的时候,就全部派上用场。我把当时我学的那些东西全都融入到mac。那是拥有漂亮字体的第一台计算机。如果我当时没有退学,我没机会沉迷于书法课程,mac就不会有种类繁多或的行距整齐的字体。如果windows没有抄袭mac,个人电脑很可能就不会这么多字体。如果我没有退学,我不会沉迷于书法课程,个人电脑很可能就不会这么多字体。当然了,我在学校的时候不可能把这些点点滴滴提前串连起来。但在十年之后回顾过去,这些东西历历在目。
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 would made all the difference.再说一次,你不可能把这些点点滴滴提前串连起来;你只能在回顾的时候把它们串连起来。所以你必须相信这些点点滴滴是和你的未来项链的。你必须要相信某些东西:直觉、命运、生命、因缘等等。这个方法从未让我失望过,它让我与众不同。
my second story is about love and loss.我的第二个故事是关于爱和失去。
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.我非常幸运,因为我在很早的时候就找到了我钟爱的东西。我在二十岁的时候,沃兹和我在父母的车库里面开创了苹果公司。我们努力工作,十年之后,苹果从只有两个的穷小子的车库公司,发展到了员工超过四千名、市值超过二十亿的大公司。在公司成立的第九年,我们刚刚发布了最好的产品——macintosh。我也快要到而立之年了。后来,我被炒鱿鱼了。你怎么可能被你自己创立的公司炒了鱿鱼呢? 在苹果快速成长的时候,我们雇用了一个很有天分的家伙和我一起管理这个公司,在最初的几年风调雨顺。但是后来我们对公司未来的看法有了分歧,最终我们吵了起来。当吵的不可开交的时候,董事会站在了他的那一边。所以在三十岁的时候,我被炒鱿鱼了。公开地把我扫地出门了。曾经是我整个生命的中心已经不再有了,这让我不知所措。
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 had been rejected, but i was still in love.and so i decided to start over.有几个月,我真是不知道该做些什么,演讲稿《乔布斯斯坦福大学毕业典礼演讲稿》。我觉得我很令上一代的企业家们很失望,因为我把他们交给我的接力棒弄丢了。我把事情搞砸了,我和(创办hp的)david packard和(创办intel的)bob noyce见面,并试图向他们道歉。在公众面前,我是个失败者,我甚至想过逃离硅谷。但我后来慢慢看到了曙光,我仍然喜爱我从事的一切。在苹果发生的**,并没有丝毫改变这一点。虽然我被驱逐了,但是我仍然钟爱我所做的事情。所以我决定从头再来。
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 of my life.我当时没有觉察,但是事后证明,被苹果扫地出门是我这一生经历的最好的事。因为,作为一个创业者的轻松感觉重新替代作为一个成功者的负重感,不要把每件事情都看得那么重。它(扫地出门)把我释放出来,让我进入了我生命中最有创造力的一个阶段。
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 worlds first computer animated feature film, toy story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world.in a remarkable turn of events, apple bought next, i returned to apple, and the technology we developed at next is at the heart of apple’s current renaissance.and laurene and i have a wonderful family together.在接下来的五年里,我创立了一个名叫next的公司,还有一个叫pixar的公司,还有和一位魅力女士相识并相爱,她后来成为我的妻子。pixar 制作了全球第一部由电脑制作的动画电影——“玩具总动员”,pixar现在也是全球上最成功的电脑制作工作室。在随后一系列运作中,苹果收购了next,我重返苹果。我们在next研发的技术是苹果重焕生机的关键。而且,我还和laurence共同建立了一个幸福完美的家庭。
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 hits 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 your 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.如果苹果没有开除我的话,我可以非常肯定,这其中的任何一件事情都不会发生的。虽然这剂良药的味道非常苦涩,但我这个病人需要它。虽然命运有时候会拿起板砖,猛拍你的脑袋。但你不要失去信仰。我很清楚,唯一使我一直走下去的,就是我钟爱着我从事的事。你必须去找到你所钟爱的东西。对于你的工作是如此,对于你的爱人亦如此。你的工作将会占据你的大部分生活时间,你惟一获得成就感方法就是相信你从事工作是高尚的;做高尚工作的惟一方法就是钟爱你的事业。如果你还没有找到,那么你要继续寻找,不要半途而废。心中有信念,你就会找到的。而且,这和其他任何事情一样,随着岁月流逝,它会越来越好。所以,不要半途而废,继续寻找。
my third story is about death.我的第三个故事是关于死亡的。
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.在我十七岁的时候,我曾看过一句名言:“如果你把每一天看成是生命中的最后一天,那么有一天你会发现你是正确的。”这句话我印象颇深。从那时开始已有33年了,每个早晨,我都会对着镜子问自己:“如果今天是我生命中的最后一天,你会不会完成你今天想做的事情呢?”如果连续几天的答案都是“不”的时候,我知道我要做些改变了。
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.谨记我随时死去,这是我一生中遇到的最有帮助的工具,它帮我做出了生命中重要的抉择。因为几乎所有的事情,包括所有的荣誉、所有的骄傲、来自难堪和失败所有的恐惧,这些在死亡面前统统消亡,剩下的爱是真正重要的东西。谨记我随时死去,这是我所知道的,来避开将要失去的一些东西的陷阱的最好方法。人生不带来,死不带去,我们没有理由不随心而安。
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.大概一年以前,我被诊断出癌症。早晨七点半,我做了一个检查,检查结果清楚地显示我胰腺有一个肿瘤。我当时甚至都不知道胰腺是什么东西。医生告诉我这是很可能一种无法治愈的癌症,我仅剩三到六个月的时间活在世上。我的医生建议我回家打理后事,这是医生对临终病人的标准程序。这也就是说,我必须在短短几个月之内,要把未来十年对你小孩说的话全部交待完;这也就是说,我要把事情安排妥当,让你的家人会尽可能轻松的生活;这也就是说,我要和他们说“再见了”。
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 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.我拿着那个诊断书过了一整天。那天晚上,我又作了一个活切片检查,医生把一个内窥镜从我的喉咙伸进去,穿过我的胃,进入我的肠道,在我的胰腺上的肿瘤上,用一根针取了一些细胞。我当时打了麻醉/药,不醒人事,但是我的妻子一直在那里。她后来告诉我,当医生在显微镜下观察这些细胞,最后他们发现这些细胞竟然是一种非常罕见的可以用手术治愈的胰腺癌症细胞,于是他们都大叫起来。我做了这个手术,现在我痊愈了。
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:
那是我和死神距离最近的一次,我也希望这是以后几十年中的最近一次。以前我只把死亡看作是个概念,但经历此事后,我可以更肯定地对你们说:
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.没人想死,即便人们想上天堂,也是想活着去那里。但是人必有一死,你我都无法逃脱。这也本该如此,因为“死亡”很可能就是“生命”中最杰出的发明。它是生命的轮回,它为新生事物清理道路。现在你们是新生的,但终有一天,你们将逐渐变老,直至谢幕。很抱歉,我讲的这么戏剧化,但这就是现实。
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.人生有限,所以不要把时间浪费在重复其他人的生活上;不要被教条束缚,那意味着你的思维和其他人没什么不一样;不要被其他人喧嚣的观点掩盖你真正的内心的声音。还有最重要的是,你要有勇气去跟随你直觉和心灵,因为它们在某种程度上已经知道你想要成为什么样子。所有其他的事情都是次要的。
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.在我年轻的时候,有一本振聋发聩的杂志叫做《全球目录》,它是我们那一代人的圣经之一。它是由一位叫stewart brand的家伙在离这里不远的门罗帕克主刊的,他神奇般地将这本书带到了这个世界。那是六十年代后期,也就是在个人电脑出现之前,这本书完全是用靠打字机、剪刀还有偏光相机做出来的。它有点像用软皮包装的google,它比google早三十五年出现,它是理想主义的,其中包含了许多灵巧的工具和伟大的见解。
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.stewart和他的团队出版了几期的《全球目录》,当它完成了自己使命的时候,他们发布了最后一期的。那是在七十年代的中期,我正好是你们这个的年纪。在最后一期的封底上,有一张乡村公路清晨的照片(如果你有冒险精神的话,你可以自己找到这条路的),在照片下方有这样一句话:“求知若饥,虚心若愚。”这是他们停刊的告别语。“求知若饥,虚心若愚。”我总是希望自己能够那样。现在,在你们即将毕业,开始新的征程的时候,我也希望你们能这样:
stay hungry.stay foolish.求知若饥,虚心若愚。
thank you all very much
非常感谢你们!
第四篇:奥普拉在斯坦福大学2008毕业典礼演讲稿
脱口秀女王奥普拉在斯坦福大学2008毕业典礼上的演讲
Thank you, President Hennessy, and to thetrustees and the faculty, to all of the parents and grandparents, to you, the Stanford graduates.Thank you for letting me share this amazing day with you.Hennessy校长,全体教员,家长,还有斯坦福的毕业生门,非常感谢你们。感谢你们让我和你们分享这美好的一天。
I need to begin by letting everyone in on a little secret.The secret is that Kirby Bumpus, Stanford Class of '08, is my goddaughter.So, I was thrilled when President Hennessy asked me to be your Commencement speaker, because this is the first time I've been allowed on campus since Kirby's been here.我决定透漏一个小秘密给大家来作为这次演讲的开始。这个秘密就是Kirby Bumpus,斯坦福2008年的毕业生,是我的义女。所以当Hennessy校长让我来做演讲时,我受宠若惊,因为自从Kirby来这上学以来,这是我第一次被允许到斯坦福来。
You see, Kirby's a very smart girl.She wants people to get to know her on her own terms, she says.Not in terms of who she knows.So, she never wants anyone who's first meeting her to know that I know her and she knows me.So, when she first came to Stanford for new student orientation with her mom, I hear that they arrived and everybody was so welcoming, and somebody came up to Kirby and they said, “Ohmigod, that's Gayle King!” Because a lot of people know Gayle King as my BFF [best friend forever].正如你们知道的那样Kirby是一个非常聪明的女孩。她说,她希望大家通过她自己的努力了解她,而不是她认识谁。因此她从来不希望每一个第一次见到她的人知道她认识我。当她和她妈妈第一次来到斯坦福参加开学典礼时,我听说每个人都十分热情。他们说:“我的天啊,那是Gayle King”。因为很多人都知道Gayle King是我最好的朋友。
And so somebody comes up to Kirby, and they say, “Ohmigod, is that Gayle King?” And Kirby's like, “Uh-huh.She's my mom.”And so the person says, “Ohmigod, does it mean, like, you know Oprah Winfrey?”And Kirby says, “Sort of.”
有些人走到Kirby面前,对Kirby说:“我的天啊,那是Gayle King吗?”Kirby说:“嗯,她是我妈妈。”然后人们说:“我的天啊,难道说,你认识Oprah Winfrey。”Kirby说:“有点吧。”
I said, “Sort of? You sort of know me?” Well, I have photographic proof.I have pictures which I can e-mail to you all of Kirby riding horsey with me on all fours.So, I more than sort-of know Kirby Bumpus.And I'm so happy to be here, just happy that I finally, after four years, get to see her room.There's really nowhere else I'd rather be, because I'm so proud of Kirby, who graduates today with two degrees, one in human bio and the other in psychology.Love you, Kirby Cakes!That's how well I know her.I can call her Cakes.我说:“有一点。你有一点认识我”。我还有照片为证。我可以把Kirby 和我骑马时的照片e-mail给你们。因此我不仅仅只是有点认识Kirby Bumpus。我非常高兴来到这里,因为四年来我第一次来到她的寝室。我为Kirby感到自豪,因为她获得了人类生物学和心理学的双学位。这就是我多么的了解她。我可以叫她Cakes。
And so proud of her mother and father, who helped her get through this time, and her brother, Will.I really had nothing to do with her graduating from Stanford, but every time anybody's asked me in the past couple of weeks what I was doing, I would say, “I'm getting ready to go to Stanford.” 我为她的父母感到骄傲,她的父母给了她很大帮助,还有她的哥哥Will。我对Kirby大学四年真的没有什么帮助。但是在过去的几周里,每当人们问我在做什么时,我都会说:“我正准备去斯坦福”
I just love saying “Stanford.” Because the truth is, I know I would have never gotten my degree at all, 'cause I didn't go to Stanford.I went to Tennessee State University.But I never would have gotten my diploma at all, because I was supposed to graduate back in 1975, but I was short one credit.And I figured, I'm just going to forget it, 'cause, you know, I'm not going to march with my class.Because by that point, I was already on television.I'd been in television since I was 19 and a sophomore.Granted, I was the only television anchor person that had an 11 o'clock curfew doing the 10 o'clock news.我就是喜欢这样说Stanford(用一种奇怪的语调)。因为这是真的,我知道根本不会拿到我的学位,因为我没有去斯坦福念书。我去了Tennessee 州立大学。但是我本来不会拿到我的毕业证,因为我本应该在1975年毕业,但是我少了一个学分。我认为我还是会忘了这件事。你们知道,我不会比得上我的同班同学。因为我已经上了电视。我在19岁还是大学二年级的时候就已经上了电视。我是唯一一个电视节目主持人,虽然有11点的宵禁,却做着10点钟的新闻。
Seriously, my dad was like, “Well, that news is over at 10:30.Be home by 11.” But that didn't matter to me, because I was earning a living.I was on my way.So, I thought, I'm going to let this college thing go and I only had one credit short.But, my father, from that time on and for years after, was always on my case, because I did not graduate.He'd say, “Oprah Gail”—that's my middle name—“I don't know what you're gonna do without that degree.” And I'd say, “But, Dad, I have my own television show.” 严肃地说,我爸爸告诉我,“好吧,新闻10:30结束。11点之前到家。”但是这对我并不重要,因为我已经自食其力了。我在走我自己的路。所以我想,我不能让关于我大学的那件事就这么过去,我还少一个学分。但是我的父亲从那时起却成了问题。由于我没有毕业,他总是说:“Oprah Gail(我的中间名字),我不知道没有学位你能做些什么。”然后我说:“但是,爸爸,我已经有我自己的电视节目啦。”
And he'd say, “Well, I still don't know what you're going to do without that degree.” And I'd say, “But, Dad, now I'm a talk show host.” He'd say, “I don't know how you're going to get another job without that degree.”
他说:“好吧,但是我还是不知道没有那个学位你能干什么。”我说:“但是,爸爸,现在我已经是脱口秀的主持人了”。他还是说:“我不知道没有那个学位你怎么去找其他的工作。”
So, in 1987, Tennessee State University invited me back to speak at their commencement.By then, I had my own show, was nationally syndicated.I'd made a movie, had been nominated for an Oscar and founded my company, Harpo.But I told them, I cannot come and give a speech unless I can earn one more credit, because my dad's still saying I'm not going to get anywhere without that degree.在1987年,Tennessee州立大学邀请我回去做他们的毕业典礼演讲。在那时,我已经有了自己的电视节目,并加入了国家联合会。我制作了一部电影,并被奥斯卡提名,而且成立了我自己的公司Harpo。可我告诉他们,我不能去演讲除非我得到那一个学分,因为我爸爸总是说没了那学位我将一事无成。
So, I finished my coursework, I turned in my final paper and I got the degree.And my dad was very proud.And I know that, if anything happens, that one credit will be my salvation.因此,我完成了我的课程,上交了我的毕业论文,然后拿到了学位。我的爸爸非常的骄傲。从此我知道,无论什么事发生,那一个学分是我的救世主
But I also know why my dad was insisting on that diploma, because, as B.B.King put it, “The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take that away from you.” And learning is really in the broadest sense what I want to talk about today, because your education, of course, isn't ending here.In many ways, it's only just begun.但是我知道为什么我爸爸总是坚持让我获得文凭,因为,正如B.B.King所说:“关于学习的美好在于别人不会把知识从你身上拿走”学习正是我今天想说的,因为你们的教育并没有在这里结束。在很多情况下,这才是刚刚开使。
The world has so many lessons to teach you.I consider the world, this Earth, to be like a school and our life the classrooms.And sometimes here in this Planet Earth school the lessons often come dressed up as detours or roadblocks.And sometimes as full-blown crises.And the secret I've learned to getting ahead is being open to the lessons, lessons from the grandest university of all, that is, the universe itself.这个世界将会教会你们很多。我认为这个世界,这个地球,就像一个学校和我们人生的教室。有时这些课程会是弯路和障碍。有时会充满危机。我所学的应付这一切的秘密就是去勇于面对,正如我们面对大学课程一样。
It's being able to walk through life eager and open to self-improvement and that which is going to best help you evolve, 'cause that's really why we're here, to evolve as human beings.To grow into more of ourselves, always moving to the next level of understanding, the next level of compassion and growth.我们能够充满激情的去生活和自我提高,这就是我们存在的意义。不断自我提高,去追求人生的更高境界,去追求更高级别的怜悯和自我提高。
I think about one of the greatest compliments I've ever received: I interviewed with a reporter when I was first starting out in Chicago.And then many years later, I saw the same reporter.And she said to me, “You know what? You really haven't changed.You've just become more of yourself.” 我记得我所受到的最大的赞扬就是当我刚刚在芝加哥开始工作时,我采访了一个记者。很多年以后我们又见面了。她对我说:“你知道吗?你一点也没有变。你变得更为自我了。”
And that is really what we're all trying to do, become more of ourselves.And I believe that there's a lesson in almost everything that you do and every experience, and getting the lesson is how you move forward.It's how you enrich your spirit.And, trust me, I know that inner wisdom is more precious than wealth.The more you spend it, the more you gain.这就是我们一直努力在做的,去做我们自己。我坚信你们会从每一件做过的事上学到经验,这样你们就会取得进步。这样你们丰富了心灵。相信我,内在的智慧比外在的财富更加珍贵。你越是使用它,你就得到更多。
So, today, I just want to share a few lessons—meaning three—that I've learned in my journey so far.And aren't you glad? Don't you hate it when somebody says, “I'm going to share a few,” and it's 10 lessons later? And, you're like, “Listen, this is my graduation.This is not about you.” So, it's only going to be three.今天我想和大家分享我人生的三个经验。你们难道不觉得高兴吗?你们是否会反感,当有人对你说:“我想分享一些”但事实上却是10个经验。你们肯定在想:“听着,这是我的毕业典礼,不是你的”。因此这里只有三个经验我想和大家分享。
The three lessons that have had the greatest impact on my life have to do with feelings, with failure and with finding happiness.这三个经验对我的人生产生了很大影响,它们是关于感情,失败和追求幸福。
A year after I left college, I was given the opportunity to co-anchor the 6 o'clock news in Baltimore, because the whole goal in the media at the time I was coming up was you try to move to larger markets.And Baltimore was a much larger market than Nashville.So, getting the 6 o'clock news co-anchor job at 22 was such a big deal.It felt like the biggest deal in the world at the time.当我离开大学一年后,在Baltimore我得到了一个共同主持6点新闻的机会。在那时媒体界的最大目标就是获得更大的市场,而Baltimore是一个比Nashville大得多的市场,因此在22岁时得到这个机会对我来说非常重要。它那时对我来说它仿佛是世界上最重要的事。
And I was so proud, because I was finally going to have my chance to be like Barbara Walters, which is who I had been trying to emulate since the start of my TV career.So, I was 22 years old, making $22,000 a year.And it's where I met my best friend, Gayle, who was an intern at the same TV station.And once we became friends, we'd say, “Ohmigod, I can't believe it!You're making $22,000 and you're only 22.Imagine when you're 40 and you're making $40,000!” 我非常自豪,因为我终于有机会去效法barbara Walters。而她正是我从业以来一直效法的对象。那时我22岁,每年挣22,000美元。我遇到了在电视台做实习生的Gayle,我们立刻成了好朋友。我们说:“我的天啊,真难以置信。你在22岁时挣每年能挣22,000美元。想象一下吧,当你40岁时你每年就会挣40,000美元”
When I turned 40, I was so glad that didn't happen.当我真的40岁时,我很高兴这并没有成真。
So, here I am, 22, making $22,000 a year and, yet, it didn't feel right.It didn't feel right.The first sign, as President Hennessy was saying, was when they tried to change my name.The news director said to me at the time, “Nobody's going to remember Oprah.So, we want to change your name.We've come up with a name we think that people will remember and people will like.It's a friendly name: Suzie.” 这就是我,22岁时每年挣22,000美元,然而,这种感觉并不好。首先,正如Hennessy校长所说,当他们试图让我改名字。那时导演对我说:“没人会记住Oprah这个名字。因此我们想让你改名字。我们已经为你想了一个大家都会记住和喜欢的名字——Suzie。”
Hi, Suzie.Very friendly.You can't be angry with Suzie.Remember Suzie.But my name wasn't Suzie.And, you know, I'd grown up not really loving my name, because when you're looking for your little name on the lunch boxes and the license plate tags, you're never going to find Oprah.Suzie,一个很友善的名字。你不会厌恶Suzie。记住Suzie吧。但是我的名字不是Suzie。你们可以看到,自小我就不怎么喜欢我的名字。因为当你在午餐箱和牌号寻找你的名字时,你永远也不会找Oprah。
So, I grew up not loving the name, but once I was asked to change it, I thought, well, it is my name and do I look like a Suzie to you? So, I thought, no, it doesn't feel right.I'm not going to change my name.And if people remember it or not, that's OK.我从小就不怎么喜欢我的名字,但是当我被告知去改名字时,我想,好吧,那时我的名字,但是Suzie真的适合我吗?因此我想,它并不适合我。我不会改我的名字。我也不介意人们是否记得住我的名字,这没什么大不了的。
And then they said they didn't like the way I looked.This was in 1976, when your boss could call you in and say, “I don't like the way you look.” Now that would be called a lawsuit, but back then they could just say, “I don't like the way you look.” Which, in case some of you in the back, if you can't tell, is nothing like Barbara Walters.So, they sent me to a salon where they gave me a perm, and after a few days all my hair fell out and I had to shave my head.And then they really didn't like the way I looked.Because now I am black and bald and sitting on TV.Not a pretty picture.然后他们还对我说他们不喜欢我的长相。那是在1976年,你的老板可以那么说。但是如果是现在的话,那就是一件很严重的事了。可是那时他们还是说:“我不喜欢你的造型。”我根本不像Barbara Walters。于是他们把我送到沙龙,给我烫了发。可是几天后我的头发一团糟。我不得不剃光我的头发。此时他们更不喜欢我的造型了。因为作为一个光头黑人坐在摄影机前,我肯定不漂亮的。
But even worse than being bald, I really hated, hated, hated being sent to report on other people's tragedies as a part of my daily duty, knowing that I was just expected to observe, when everything in my instinct told me that I should be doing something, I should be lending a hand.比光头更令我讨厌的是我不得不把播报别人遭受的痛苦作为我的日常工作。我深知我期待去观察,我的内心告诉我,我应该做些什么了。我需要为他人提供帮助。
So, as President Hennessy said, I'd cover a fire and then I'd go back and I'd try to give the victims blankets.And I wouldn't be able to sleep at night because of all the things I was covering during the day.正如Hennessy校长所说的那样,我播报了一起火灾,然后应当去给受害者拿毯子。由于白天播报的那些新闻导致我晚上难以入睡。
And, meanwhile, I was trying to sit gracefully like Barbara and make myself talk like Barbara.And I thought, well, I could make a pretty goofy Barbara.And if I could figure out how to be myself, I could be a pretty good Oprah.I was trying to sound elegant like Barbara.And sometimes I didn't read my copy, because something inside me said, this should be spontaneous.So, I wanted to get the news as I was giving it to the people.So, sometimes, I wouldn't read my copy and it would be, like, six people on a pileup on I-40.Oh, my goodness.与此同时我尽量表现的优雅一些,使我更像Barbara。我认为我可能会成为一个傻傻的Barbara。如果我做回我自己,我就会成为一个很棒的Oprah。我努力像Barbara那样优雅。有时我并不读我的稿件,因为我的内心告诉我这是不自主的。所以我想为大家播报一些我想要的新闻。有时,我不会播报像6个人在连环车祸中受伤这类的新闻。哦,我的天啊。
And sometimes I wouldn't read the copy—because I wanted to be spontaneous—and I'd come across a list of words I didn't know and I'd mispronounce.And one day I was reading copy and I called Canada “ca nada.” And I decided, this Barbara thing's not going too well.I should try being myself.有时出于内心的本能,我不会去播报一些新闻。我还会遇到一些不认识的和念错的词。一天当我播新闻时,我把加拿大读错了。我想这样下去学Barbara可不大好。我应该做回我自己。
But at the same time, my dad was saying, “Oprah Gail, this is an opportunity of a lifetime.You better keep that job.” And my boss was saying, “This is the nightly news.You're an anchor, not a social worker.Just do your job.” 但那是我爸爸却对我说:“这是你一生的机会。你最好继续那份工作。”我的老板也说:“这是晚间新闻。你是播报员,不是福利工作者。还是做你的本职工作吧。”
So, I was juggling these messages of expectation and obligation and feeling really miserable with myself.I'd go home at night and fill up my journals, 'cause I've kept a journal since I was 15—so I now have volumes of journals.So, I'd go home at night and fill up my journals about how miserable I was and frustrated.Then I'd eat my anxiety.That's where I learned that habit.我歪曲了这些期待和义务,并感觉很糟。晚上回到家后我会记日记。自从15岁时我就开始记日记了,于是现在我已经有了好几卷日记。我晚上回到家后,我会记录下我是多么的不幸和沮丧。然后我消除了焦虑。这就是我如何养成了那个习惯。
And after eight months, I lost that job.They said I was too emotional.I was too much.But since they didn't want to pay out the contract, they put me on a talk show in Baltimore.And the moment I sat down on that show, the moment I did, I felt like I'd come home.I realized that TV could be more than just a playground, but a platform for service, for helping other people lift their lives.And the moment I sat down, doing that talk show, it felt like breathing.It felt right.And that's where everything that followed for me began.8个月后我失去了那份工作。他们说我太情绪化了。但因为他们不想违背合约,他们就让我去Baltimore主持一档脱口秀节目。从我开始主持那档节目的一刻开始,我感觉好像回到了家一样。我意识到电视不应该仅仅是一个娱乐场,更应该是一个以服务为目的的平台,以帮助他人更好的生活。当我开始主持节目的时间侯,就像呼吸一样。感觉好极啦。这就是我工作的真正开始。
And I got that lesson.When you're doing the work you're meant to do, it feels right and every day is a bonus, regardless of what you're getting paid.这就是我学到的经验。当你做的是一份你喜欢的工作时,那感觉棒极了。无论你能挣到多少钱,你都会有很大收获。
It's true.And how do you know when you're doing something right? How do you know that? It feels so.What I know now is that feelings are really your GPS system for life.When you're supposed to do something or not supposed to do something, your emotional guidance system lets you know.The trick is to learn to check your ego at the door and start checking your gut instead.Every right decision I've made—every right decision I've ever made—has come from my gut.And every wrong decision I've ever made was a result of me not listening to the greater voice of myself.这是真的。但是你怎么知道你所做的是对的呢?你怎么知道呢?我所知道的就是你的内心是你人生的导航系统。当你应该或者不应该改做某事时,你的内心会告诉你怎样去做。关键是去面对你自己,面对你自己的内心。我所做过的所有正确选择都是源自我内心的。我所做过的所有错误选择都是因为没有听取来自我内心的声音。
If it doesn't feel right, don't do it.That's the lesson.And that lesson alone will save you, my friends, a lot of grief.Even doubt means don't.This is what I've learned.There are many times when you don't know what to do.When you don't know what to do, get still, get very still, until you do know what to do.如果感觉不好,就不要去做。这就是我的经验。我的朋友,这个经验会帮你避免很多痛苦。甚至怀疑都意味着不要去做。这就是我所学到的。有很多次当你不知道如何去做时,什么也不要做,直到你知道怎么做为止。
And when you do get still and let your internal motivation be the driver, not only will your personal life improve, but you will gain a competitive edge in the working world as well.Because, as Daniel Pink writes in his best-seller, A Whole New Mind, we're entering a whole new age.And he calls it the Conceptual Age, where traits that set people apart today are going to come from our hearts—right brain—as well as our heads.It's no longer just the logical, linear, rules-based thinking that matters, he says.It's also empathy and joyfulness and purpose, inner traits that have transcendent worth.当你什么也不要做时,让你的内心作为驱动力。不仅仅你的个人生活会提高,你在工作中也会获得竞争力。正如Daniel Pink在他的畅销书A Whole New Mind中所说的那样,我们进入了一个新时代,一个他称之为概念时代的时代。人们的内心使人与人之间产生隔阂。他说,重要的不仅仅是逻辑上的,线性的,直尺式的思维方式。移情,快乐,目标和内部特质同样也有卓越的价值。
These qualities bloom when we're doing what we love, when we're involving the wholeness of ourselves in our work, both our expertise and our emotion.当我们做自己喜欢的事时,当我们全身心的投入到工作中时,这些特质就会焕发生机。
So, I say to you, forget about the fast lane.If you really want to fly, just harness your power to your passion.Honor your calling.Everybody has one.Trust your heart and success will come to you.因此我对你说,忘掉那些快车道吧。如果你真的像飞翔,就把你的力量投入到你的激情当中。尊重你内心的召唤。每一个人都会有的。相信你的心灵,你会成功的。
So, how do I define success? Let me tell you, money's pretty nice.I'm not going to stand up here and tell you that it's not about money, 'cause money is very nice.I like money.It's good for buying things.那么我是如何定义成功的呢?让我告诉你,钱很美好。我不会告诉你们成功与钱无关,因为钱是好东东。我喜欢钱。它能买东西。
But having a lot of money does not automatically make you a successful person.What you want is money and meaning.You want your work to be meaningful.Because meaning is what brings the real richness to your life.What you really want is to be surrounded by people you trust and treasure and by people who cherish you.That's when you're really rich.So, lesson one, follow your feelings.If it feels right, move forward.If it doesn't feel right, don't do it.但是拥有很多钱并不能使你自然而然的成为一个成功者。你想要的是钱和意义。你想你的工作更有意义。因为有意义使你的生活更加充实。你所希望得到的是被信任你珍视你的人包围。这才是你真正富有的时候。因此,第一个经验,跟随你的心灵。如果感觉对了,就继续前进。如果感觉不对,就不要做了。
Now I want to talk a little bit about failings, because nobody's journey is seamless or smooth.We all stumble.We all have setbacks.If things go wrong, you hit a dead end—as you will—it's just life's way of saying time to change course.So, ask every failure—this is what I do with every failure, every crisis, every difficult time—I say, what is this here to teach me? And as soon as you get the lesson, you get to move on.If you really get the lesson, you pass and you don't have to repeat the class.If you don't get the lesson, it shows up wearing another pair of pants—or skirt—to give you some remedial work.现在我想谈谈失败。没有人他的一生是一帆风顺的。我们都会遇到困难,受到挫折。如果事情出错了,你进入了死胡同,这正是生活在告诉你是时候改变了。所以,每当遇到困难和危机时,我都会问它教会了我什么?只要你吸取了教训,你就会继续前进。如果你真正吸取了教训,你就会顺利通过考验,不用再取经受失败了。如果你没有吸取教训,它会以另外一种形式给出现在你面前并给你一些补救。
And what I've found is that difficulties come when you don't pay attention to life's whisper, because life always whispers to you first.And if you ignore the whisper, sooner or later you'll get a scream.Whatever you resist persists.But, if you ask the right question—not why is this happening, but what is this here to teach me?—it puts you in the place and space to get the lesson you need.我注意到当你没有仔细对待生活的细节时,困难就会出现。因为生活总是提前低声的告戒你。如果你忽视了这个低声的告诫,过不了多久你就会得到一个惊声尖叫,无论你怎样反抗。但是如果你不去想为什困难会发生,而是去反思困难会教给我什么时,你就会学到你需要的东西。
My friend Eckhart Tolle, who's written this wonderful book called A New Earth that's all about letting the awareness of who you are stimulate everything that you do, he puts it like this: He says, don't react against a bad situation;merge with that situation instead.And the solution will arise from the challenge.Because surrendering yourself doesn't mean giving up;it means acting with responsibility.我的朋友Eckhart Tolle。他写了一本非常棒的书,名叫A New Earth。这本书就是关于让你的意识激励你去做事。他说,不要去反抗困境,相反,要融入到其中。事情会变的越来越好的。因为暂时的屈服并不意味着放弃,它意味着一种责任感。
Many of you know that, as President Hennessy said, I started this school in Africa.And I founded the school, where I'm trying to give South African girls a shot at a future like yours—Stanford.And I spent five years making sure that school would be as beautiful as the students.I wanted every girl to feel her worth reflected in her surroundings.So, I checked every blueprint, I picked every pillow.I was looking at the grout in between the bricks.I knew every thread count of the sheets.I chose every girl from the villages, from nine provinces.And yet, last fall, I was faced with a crisis I had never anticipated.I was told that one of the dorm matrons was suspected of sexual abuse.你们当中很多人都知道,正如Hennessy校长所说,我在非洲创办了一个学校。我希望给南非的女孩们一个像你们一样的未来。我花了5年时间来确保学校会像学生们一样好。我想让每一个女孩感觉到自己的价值受到重视。所以我检查了每一个设计图,亲自挑选每个枕头,甚至检查砖块间的水泥。我知道每一个细节。每一学生都是我从9个省的村落里亲自选出来的。然而,去年的秋天我却遇到了一个我从未预料的危机。我被告知有一名宿舍管理员涉嫌性虐待。
That was, as you can imagine, devastating news.First, I cried—actually, I sobbed—for about half an hour.And then I said, let's get to it;that's all you get, a half an hour.You need to focus on the now, what you need to do now.So, I contacted a child trauma specialist.I put together a team of investigators.I made sure the girls had counseling and support.And Gayle and I got on a plane and flew to South Africa.你们可以想象得到这是多么令人沮丧的消息啊。首先,我哭了,啜泣了大约半个小时。然后我说,我们得面对它。一个半小时,这就是你全部所能得到的。你需要把注意力集中到现在,现在你因该做些什么。所以我联系了一位儿科创伤专家。我派了一队调查人员。我确定女孩们得到了安慰和支持。Gayle和我坐上飞机飞向南非。
And the whole time I kept asking that question: What is this here to teach me? And, as difficult as that experience has been, I got a lot of lessons.I understand now the mistakes I made, because I had been paying attention to all of the wrong things.I'd built that school from the outside in, when what really mattered was the inside out.So, it's a lesson that applies to all of our lives as a whole.What matters most is what's inside.What matters most is the sense of integrity, of quality and beauty.I got that lesson.And what I know is that the girls came away with something, too.They have emerged from this more resilient and knowing that their voices have power.整个过程中我都在问自己:“这件事教会了我什么?”虽然这个经历十分困难,但是我学到了很多。我意识到自己所犯的错误,因为我一直以来都把注意力集中在错事上。我从外向内建造了那所学校,然而正真对我有意义的是从内向外的去建造它。最重要的是我对正直,品质和美好的理解。我学到了那个教训。我也明白女孩们也学到了一些事。她们从中恢复了过来并意识到她们的声音是有影响力的。
And their resilience and spirit have given me more than I could ever give to them, which leads me to my final lesson—the one about finding happiness—which we could talk about all day, but I know you have other wacky things to do.她们的恢复力和精神给了我很多东西,以至于比我给她们的还多。接下来是我最后的经验—关于寻找幸福,我可以谈论一整天,但是我有其他古怪的事要做。
Not a small topic this is, finding happiness.But in some ways I think it's the simplest of all.Gwendolyn Brooks wrote a poem for her children.It's called “Speech to the Young : Speech to the Progress-Toward.” And she says at the end, “Live not for battles won./ Live not for the-end-of-the-song./ Live in the along.” She's saying, like Eckhart Tolle, that you have to live for the present.You have to be in the moment.Whatever has happened to you in your past has no power over this present moment, because life is now.追求幸福并不是一个小话题。但在某种程度上来说它又是最简单的话题。Gwendolyn Brooks为她的孩子写了一首诗,诗名是Speech to the Young : Speech to the Progress-Toward.在诗的最后她说到,不要为了战胜而生活,不要为了歌曲的结尾而生活,要享受生活。她说,你应当为了现在而生活,无论过去发生了什么都不应该影响到现在,因为生活就是过好现在。
But I think she's also saying, be a part of something.Don't live for yourself alone.This is what I know for sure: In order to be truly happy, you must live along with and you have to stand for something larger than yourself.Because life is a reciprocal exchange.To move forward you have to give back.And to me, that is the greatest lesson of life.To be happy, you have to give something back.我想她还说过,去参与一些事。不要仅仅为了自己而生活。我可以非常肯定的是为了追求真正的快乐,你必须为了一些更有意义的事而生活。生活是互动的。为了前进,你必须后退。对于我而言,这是人生中最重要的经验。想要获得快乐你必须付出。
I know you know that, because that's a lesson that's woven into the very fabric of this university.It's a lesson that Jane and Leland Stanford got and one they've bequeathed to you.Because all of you know the story of how this great school came to be, how the Stanfords lost their only child to typhoid at the age of 15.They had every right and they had every reason to turn their backs against the world at that time, but instead, they channeled their grief and their pain into an act of grace.Within a year of their son's death, they had made the founding grant for this great school, pledging to do for other people's children what they were not able to do for their own boy.我知道你们已经很了解了,因为这个经验已经深深的融入了斯坦福。这个经验是Jane and Leland传承给你们的。因为你们所有的人都知道这座伟大的大学是如何建成的。斯坦福夫妇的独子在15岁时得了伤寒离开了他们。他们有权利和理由去恨这个世界,但是他们却用优雅的行动疏导了心中的悲伤。在他们儿子死后不到一年内,他们已经这所伟大的大学筹集了建设经费,并发誓要为别人的孩子做一些他们自己的孩子不能得到事。The lesson here is clear, and that is, if you're hurting, you need to help somebody ease their hurt.If you're in pain, help somebody else's pain.And when you're in a mess, you get yourself out of the mess helping somebody out of theirs.And in the process, you get to become a member of what I call the greatest fellowship of all, the sorority of compassion and the fraternity of service.这个经验非常明显,那就是,如果你受了伤,你需要帮助他人减轻伤痛。如果你感到痛苦,帮助他人减轻痛苦。如果你的生活一团糟,去帮助其他处在困难中的人摆脱困境。这样一来,你就变成了妇女联谊会或是互助会中最伟大的一个员。
The Stanfords had suffered the worst thing any mom and dad can ever endure, yet they understood that helping others is the way we help ourselves.And this wisdom is increasingly supported by scientific and sociological research.It's no longer just woo-woo soft-skills talk.There's actually a helper's high, a spiritual surge you gain from serving others.So, if you want to feel good, you have to go out and do some good.斯坦福夫妇遭受了世上父母所能遭受的最大痛苦,然而他们懂得通过帮助他人来帮助自己。这种智慧渐渐的被科学和社会学研究所证实。这不仅仅是某种软技能的谈话。这事实上是在帮助者的高度,一种从帮助别人而获得的精神大爆发。所以如果你想快乐,去帮助别人吧。
But when you do good, I hope you strive for more than just the good feeling that service provides, because I know this for sure, that doing good actually makes you better.So, whatever field you choose, if you operate from the paradigm of service, I know your life will have more value and you will be happy.但是当你做好事时,我希望你不仅仅是为了获得的快乐,因为我深知做好事可以让你变得更棒。所以无论你怎样选择,若你能以服务他人为榜样,我相信你的生活会更有价值,你也会更快乐。
I was always happy doing my talk show, but that happiness reached a depth of fulfillment, of joy, that I really can't describe to you or measure when I stopped just being on TV and looking at TV as a job and decided to use television, to use it and not have it use me, to use it as a platform to serve my viewers.That alone changed the trajectory of my success.我也很高兴做我的脱口秀节目,那种快乐是一种更深层次的成就感,我很难去表达和衡量。我决定以电视作为我的职业,我要用电视这个平台来为我的观众服务,而不是让电视利用我。这改变了我成功的轨迹。
So, I know this—that whether you're an actor, you offer your talent in the way that most inspires art.If you're an anatomist, you look at your gift as knowledge and service to healing.Whether you've been called, as so many of you here today getting doctorates and other degrees, to the professions of business, law, engineering, humanities, science, medicine, if you choose to offer your skills and talent in service, when you choose the paradigm of service, looking at life through that paradigm, it turns everything you do from a job into a gift.And I know you haven't spent all this time at Stanford just to go out and get a job.我知道无论你是否是一名演员,你都应该把你的才智贡献给能够鼓舞他人的事业。如果你是一名剖析家,你应当把你们的智慧投入到医治他人当中。无论你是否被召唤,你们中的很多人在经济,法律,人权,科学,医药方面都获得了诸如博士一类的学位,如果你们决定把你们的技能和智慧奉献给服务他人们,选择把服务他人作为榜样,你们的工作就会变成一种天赋。我知道你们在斯坦福所在的一切就是为了出去找一份工作。
You've been enriched in countless ways.There's no better way to make your mark on the world and to share that abundance with others.My constant prayer for myself is to be used in service for the greater good.你们在很多方面都得到了提高。没有其它更好的方式能够分享你的丰富的才智了。我永恒的祈祷就是让自己能够为他人提供更好的服务
So, let me end with one of my favorite quotes from Martin Luther King.Dr.King said, “Not everybody can be famous.” And I don't know, but everybody today seems to want to be famous.就让我引用马丁路德金的话来作为结束语吧。他说:“不是所有人都会出名。”我不知道,但似乎今天所有人都想出名。
But fame is a trip.People follow you to the bathroom, listen to you pee.It's just—try to pee quietly.It doesn't matter, they come out and say, “Ohmigod, it's you.You peed.” 但是成名也是一种代价。有些人会尾随你到卫生间,听你尿尿。你会尽量尿的轻一些。这没什么大不了的。他们会对你说:“我的天啊,是你!你尿尿啦。”
That's the fame trip, so I don't know if you want that.这就是成名的代价,我不知道你们是否喜欢。
So, Dr.King said, “Not everybody can be famous.But everybody can be great, because greatness is determined by service.” Those of you who are history scholars may know the rest of that passage.He said, “You don't have to have a college degree to serve.You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve.You don't have to know about Plato or Aristotle to serve.You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve.You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve.You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love.” 所以,正如马丁路德金所说,“不是所有人都会成名。但每个人都可以变的伟大,因为伟大是通过为他人服务而界定的。” 你们当中学历史的人可能会知道他接下来的话,“为别人提供服务,并不一定要有大学学历,并不一定要主谓一致,并不一定要认识柏拉图和亚里士多德,并不一定要会爱因斯坦的相对论,并不一定要了解热力学第二定律。你所需要的是一颗优雅的心灵和充满爱的灵魂。”
In a few moments, you'll all be officially Stanford's '08.不久你们就会正式成为斯坦福大学2008年的毕业生了。
You have the heart and the smarts to go with it.And it's up to you to decide, really, where will you now use those gifts? You've got the diploma, so go out and get the lessons, 'cause I know great things are sure to come.你们有聪明才智。你们将会决定如何利用它。说真的,你们将会如何利用它呢?你们拿到了学位。走向社会吧,我坚信伟大的事将会发生的。
You know, I've always believed that everything is better when you share it, so before I go, I wanted to share a graduation gift with you.Underneath your seats you'll find two of my favorite books.Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth is my current book club selection.Our New Earth webcast has been downloaded 30 million times with that book.And Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future has reassured me I'm in the right direction.你们知道,我一直坚信,如果你和他人分享,那么事情就会变得更好。所以在我离开之前,我想和大家分享一下毕业礼物。在你们的座位底下,你们会发现两本我最喜欢的书。Eckhart Tolle的A New Earth流行书俱乐部的精选品。我们的New Earth广播已经被下载3亿次。Daniel Pink的A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future 使我确定我在人生的正轨上。
I really wanted to give you cars but I just couldn't pull that off!Congratulations, '08!我真的想送大家轿车,只是开不过来!祝贺大家!08年的毕业生们!
第五篇:乔布斯2005年斯坦福大学毕业典礼演讲稿
乔布斯2005年斯坦福大学毕业典礼演讲稿
You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says
Jobs说,你必须要找到你所爱的东西。
这是苹果公司和Pixar动画工作室的CEO Steve Jobs于2005年6月12号在斯坦福大学的毕业典礼上面的演讲稿。
我今天很荣幸能和你们一起参加毕业典礼,斯坦福大学是世界上最好的大学之一。我从来没有从大学中毕业。说实话,今天也许是在我的生命中离大学毕业最近的一天了。今天我想向你们讲述我生活中的三个故事。不是什么大不了的事情,只是三个故事而已。
第一个故事是关于如何把生命中的点点滴滴串连起来。
我在Reed大学读了六个月之后就退学了,但是在十八个月以后——我真正的作出退学决定之前,我还经常去学校。我为什么要退学呢?
故事从我出生的时候讲起。我的亲生母亲是一个年轻的,没有结婚的大学毕业生。她决定让别人收养我, 她十分想让我被大学毕业生收养。所以在我出生的时候,她已经做好了一切的准备工作,能使得我被一个律师和他的妻子所收养。但是她没有料到,当我出生之后,律师夫妇突然决定他们想要一个女孩。所以我的生养父母(他们还在我亲生父母的观察名单上)突然在半夜接到了一个电话:“我们现在这儿有一个不小心生出来的男婴,你们想要他吗?”他们回答道:“当然!”但是我亲生母亲随后发现,我的养母从来没有上过大学,我的父亲甚至从没有读过高中。她拒绝签这个收养合同。只是在几个月以后,我的父母答应她一定要让我上大学,那个时候她才同意。
在十七岁那年,我真的上了大学。但是我很愚蠢的选择了一个几乎和你们斯坦福大学一样贵的学校, 我父母还处于蓝领阶层,他们几乎把所有积蓄都花在了我的学费上面。在六个月后, 我已经看不到其中的价值所在。我不知道我想要在生命中做什么,我也不知道大学能帮助我找到怎样的答案。但是在这里,我几乎花光了我父母这一辈子的所有积蓄。所以我决定要退学,我觉得这是个正确的决定。不能否认,我当时确实非常的害怕, 但是现在回头看看,那的确是我这一生中最棒的一个决定。在我做出退学决定的那一刻, 我终于可以不必去读那些令我提不起丝毫兴趣的课程了。然后我还可以去修那些看起来有点意思的课程。但是这并不是那么罗曼蒂克。我失去了我的宿舍,所以我只能在朋友房间的地板上面睡觉,我去捡5美分的可乐瓶子,仅仅为了填饱肚子, 在星期天的晚上,我需要走七英里的路程,穿过这个城市到Hare Krishna寺庙(注:位于纽约Brooklyn下城),只是为了能吃上饭——这个星期唯一一顿好一点的饭。但是我喜欢这样。我跟着我的直觉和好奇心走, 遇到的很多东西,此后被证明是无价之宝。让我给你们举一个例子吧:
Reed大学在那时提供也许是全美最好的美术字课程。在这个大学里面的每个海报, 每个抽屉的标签上面全都是漂亮的美术字。因为我退学了, 没有受到正规的训练, 所以我决定去参加这个课程,去学学怎样写出漂亮的美术字。我学到了san serif 和serif字体, 我学会了怎么样在不同的字母组合之中改变空格的长度, 还有怎么样才能作出最棒的印刷式样。那是一种科学永远不能捕捉到的、美丽的、真实的艺术精妙, 我发现那实在是太美妙了。
当时看起来这些东西在我的生命中,好像都没有什么实际应用的可能。但是十年之后,当我们在设计第一台Macintosh电脑的时候,就不是那样了。我把当时我学的那些家伙全都设计进了Mac。那是第一台使用了漂亮的印刷字体的电脑。如果我当时没有退学, 就不会有机会去参加这个我感兴趣的美术字课程,Mac就不会有这么多丰富的字体,以及赏心悦目的字体间距。那么现在个人电脑就不会有现在这么美妙的字型了。当然我在大学的时候,还不可能把从前的点点滴滴串连起来,但是当我十年后回顾这一切的时候,真的豁然开朗了。
再次说明的是,你在向前展望的时候不可能将这些片断串连起来;你只能在回顾的时候将点点滴滴串连起来。所以你必须相信这些片断会在你未来的某一天串连起来。你必须要相信某些东西:你的勇气、目的、生命、因缘。这个过程从来没有令我失望(let me down),只是让我的生命更加地与众不同而已。
我的第二个故事是关于爱和损失的。
我非常幸运, 因为我在很早的时候就找到了我钟爱的东西。Woz和我在二十岁的时候就在父母的车库里面开创了苹果公司。我们工作得很努力, 十年之后, 这个公司从那两个车库中的穷光蛋发展到了超过四千名的雇员、价值超过二十亿的大公司。在公司成立的第九年,我们刚刚发布了最好的产品,那就是Macintosh。我也快要到三十岁了。在那一年, 我被炒了鱿鱼。你怎么可能被你自己创立的公司炒了鱿鱼呢? 嗯,在苹果快速成长的时候,我们雇用了一个很有天分的家伙和我一起管理这个公司, 在最初的几年,公司运转的很好。但是后来我们对未来的看法发生了分歧, 最终我们吵了起来。当争吵不可开交的时候, 董事会站在了他的那一边。所以在三十岁的时候, 我被炒了。在这么多人的眼皮下我被炒了。在而立之年,我生命的全部支柱离自己远去, 这真是毁灭性的打击。
在最初的几个月里,我真是不知道该做些什么。我把从前的创业激情给丢了, 我觉得自己让与我一同创业的人都很沮丧。我和David Pack和Bob Boyce见面,并试图向他们道歉。我把事情弄得糟糕透顶了。但是我渐渐发现了曙光, 我仍然喜爱我从事的这些东西。苹果公司发生的这些事情丝毫的没有改变这些, 一点也没有。我被驱逐了,但是我仍然钟爱它。所以我决定从头再来。
我当时没有觉察, 但是事后证明, 从苹果公司被炒是我这辈子发生的最棒的事情。因为,作为一个成功者的极乐感觉被作为一个创业者的轻松感觉所重新代替: 对任何事情都不那么特别看重。这让我觉得如此自由, 进入了我生命中最有创造力的一个阶段。
在接下来的五年里, 我创立了一个名叫NeXT的公司, 还有一个叫Pixar的公司, 然后和一个后来成为我妻子的优雅女人相识。Pixar 制作了世界上第一个用电脑制作的动画电影——“”玩具总动员”,Pixar现在也是世界上最成功的电脑制作工作室。在后来的一系列运转中,Apple收购了NeXT, 然后我又回到了Apple公司。我们在NeXT发展的技术在Apple的复兴之中发挥了关键的作用。我还和Laurence 一起建立了一个幸福的家庭。
我可以非常肯定,如果我不被Apple开除的话, 这其中一件事情也不会发生的。这个良药的味道实在是太苦了,但是我想病人需要这个药。有些时候, 生活会拿起一块砖头向你的脑袋上猛拍一下。不要失去信心。我很清楚唯一使我一直走下去的,就是我做的事情令我无比钟爱。你需要去找到你所爱的东西。对于工作是如此, 对于你的爱人也是如此。你的工作将会占据生活中很大的一部分。你只有相信自己所做的是伟大的工作, 你才能怡然自得。如果你现在还没有找到, 那么继续找、不要停下来、全心全意的去找, 当你找到的时候你就会知道的。就像任何真诚的关系, 随着岁月的流逝只会越来越紧密。所以继续找,直到你找到它,不要停下来!
我的第三个故事是关于死亡的。
当我十七岁的时候, 我读到了一句话:“如果你把每一天都当作生命中最后一天去生活的话,那么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。从那时开始,过了33年,我在每天早晨都会对着镜子问自己:“如果今天是我生命中的最后一天, 你会不会完成你今天想做的事情呢?”当答案连续很多
次被给予“不是”的时候, 我知道自己需要改变某些事情了。
“记住你即将死去”是我一生中遇到的最重要箴言。它帮我指明了生命中重要的选择。因为几乎所有的事情, 包括所有的荣誉、所有的骄傲、所有对难堪和失败的恐惧,这些在死亡面前都会消失。我看到的是留下的真正重要的东西。你有时候会思考你将会失去某些东西,“记住你即将死去”是我知道的避免这些想法的最好办法。你已经赤身裸体了, 你没有理由不去跟随自己的心一起跳动。
大概一年以前, 我被诊断出癌症。我在早晨七点半做了一个检查, 检查清楚的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。医生告诉我那很可能是一种无法治愈的癌症, 我还有三到六个月的时间活在这个世界上。我的医生叫我回家, 然后整理好我的一切, 那就是医生准备死亡的程序。那意味着你将要把未来十年对你小孩说的话在几个月里面说完.;那意味着把每件事情都搞定, 让你的家人会尽可能轻松的生活;那意味着你要说“再见了”。
我整天和那个诊断书一起生活。后来有一天早上我作了一个活切片检查,医生将一个内窥镜从我的喉咙伸进去,通过我的胃, 然后进入我的肠子, 用一根针在我的胰腺上的肿瘤上取了几个细胞。我当时很镇静,因为我被注射了镇定剂。但是我的妻子在那里, 后来告诉我,当医生在显微镜地下观察这些细胞的时候他们开始尖叫, 因为这些细胞最后竟然是一种非常罕见的可以用手术治愈的胰腺癌症。我做了这个手术, 现在我痊愈了。
那是我最接近死亡的时候, 我还希望这也是以后的几十年最接近的一次。从死亡线上又活了过来, 死亡对我来说,只是一个有用但是纯粹是知识上的概念的时候,我可以更肯定一点地对你们说:
没有人愿意死, 即使人们想上天堂, 人们也不会为了去那里而死。但是死亡是我们每个人共同的终点。从来没有人能够逃脱它。也应该如此。因为死亡就是生命中最好的一个发明。它将旧的清除以便给新的让路。你们现在是新的, 但是从现在开始不久以后, 你们将会逐渐的变成旧的然后被清除。我很抱歉这很戏剧性, 但是这十分的真实。
你们的时间很有限, 所以不要将他们浪费在重复其他人的生活上。不要被教条束缚,那意味着你和其他人思考的结果一起生活。不要被其他人喧嚣的观点掩盖你真正的内心的声音。还有最重要的是, 你要有勇气去听从你直觉和心灵的指示——它们在某种程度上知道你想要成为什么样子,所有其他的事情都是次要的。
当我年轻的时候, 有一本叫做“整个地球的目录”振聋发聩的杂志,它是我们那一代人的圣经之一。它是一个叫Stewart Brand的家伙在离这里不远的Menlo Park书写的, 他象诗一般神奇地将这本书带到了这个世界。那是六十年代后期, 在个人电脑出现之前, 所以这本书全部是用打字机,、剪刀还有偏光镜制造的。有点像用软皮包装的google, 在google出现三十五年之前:这是理想主义的,其中有许多灵巧的工具和伟大的想法。
Stewart和他的伙伴出版了几期的“整个地球的目录”,当它完成了自己使命的时候, 他们做出了最后一期的目录。那是在七十年代的中期, 你们的时代。在最后一期的封底上是清晨乡村公路的照片(如果你有冒险精神的话,你可以自己找到这条路的),在照片之下有这样一段话:“保持饥饿,保持愚蠢。”这是他们停止了发刊的告别语。“保持饥饿,保持愚蠢。”我总是希望自己能够那样,现在, 在你们即将毕业,开始新的旅程的时候, 我也希望你们能这样:
保持饥饿,保持愚蠢。
Thank you all very much.非常感谢你们。
乔布斯2005年在斯坦福大学的演讲及读后感
今天,很荣幸来到各位从世界上最好的学校之一毕业的毕业典礼上。我从来没从大学毕业过,说实话,这是我离大学毕业最近的一刻。
今天,我只说三个故事,不谈大道理,三个故事就好。
第一 个故事,是关于人生中的点点滴滴如何串连在一起。
我在里德学院(Reed College)待了六个月就办休学了。到我退学前,一共休学了十八个月。那么,我为什么休学?
这得从我出生前讲起。
我的亲生母亲当时是个研究生,年轻未婚妈妈,她决定让别人收养我。她强烈觉得应该让有大学毕业的人收养我,所以我出生时,她就准备让我被一对律师夫妇收养。但是这对夫妻到了最后一刻反悔了,他们想收养女孩。所以在等待收养名单上的一对夫妻,我的养父母,在一天半夜里接到一通电话,问他们“有一名意外出生的男孩,你们要认养他吗?”而他们的回答是“当然要”。后来,我的生母发现,我现在的妈妈从来没有大学毕业,我现在的爸爸则连高中毕业也没有。她拒绝在认养文件上做最后签字。直到几个月后,我的养父母保证将来一定会让我上大学,她的态度才软化。
十七年后,我上大学了。但是当时我无知地选了一所学费几乎跟史丹佛一样贵的大学,我那工人阶级的父母将所有积蓄都花在我的学费上。六个月后,我看不出念这个书的价值何在。那时候,我不知道这辈子要干什么,也不知道念大学能对我有什么帮助,只知道我为了念这个书,花光了我父母这辈子的所有积蓄,所以我决定休学,相信船到桥头自然直。
当时这个决定看来相当可怕,可是现在看来,那是我这辈子做过最好的决定之一。
当我休学之后,我再也不用上我没兴趣的必修课,把时间拿去听那些我有兴趣的课。
这一点也不浪漫。我没有宿舍,所以我睡在友人家里的地板上,靠着回收可乐空罐的退费五分钱买吃的,每个星期天晚上得走七哩的路绕过大半个镇去印度教的Hare Krishna神庙吃顿好料,我喜欢Hare Krishna神庙的好料。
就这样追随我的好奇与直觉,大部分我所投入过的事务,后来看来都成了无比珍贵的经历(And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on)。举个例来说。
当时里德学院有着大概是全国最好的书写教育。校园内的每一张海报上,每个抽屉的标签上,都是美丽的手写字。因为我休学了,可以不照正常选课程序来,所以我跑去上书写课。我学了serif与sanserif字体,学到在不同字母组合间变更字间距,学到活字印刷伟大的地方。书写的美好、历史感与艺术感是科学所无法掌握的,我觉得这很迷人。
我没预期过学这些东西能在我生活中起些什么实际作用,不过十年后,当我在设计第一台麦金塔时,我想起了当时所学的东西,所以把这些东西都设计进了麦金塔里,这是第一台能印刷出漂亮东西的计算机。
如果我没沉溺于那样一门课里,麦金塔可能就不会有多重字体跟等比例间距字体了。又因为Windows抄袭了麦金塔的使用方式,因此,如果当年我没有休学,没有去上那门书写课,大概所有的个人计算机都不会有这些东西,印不出现在我们看到的漂亮的字来了。当然,当我还在大学里时,不可能把这些点点滴滴预先串连在一起,但在十年后的今天回顾,一切就显得非常清楚。
我再说一次,你无法预先把点点滴滴串连起来;只有在未来回顾时,你才会明白那些点点滴滴是如何串在一起的(you can‘t connect the dots looking forward;you can only connect them looking backwards)。所以你得相信,眼前你经历的种种,将来多少会连结在一起。你得信任某个东西,直觉也好,命运也好,生命也好,或者因果报应。这种作法从来没让我失望,我的人生因此变得完全不同。我的第二个故事,是有关爱与失去。
我很幸运-年轻时就发现自己爱做什么事。我二十岁时,跟Steve Wozniak在我爸妈的车库里开始了苹果计算机的事业。我们拼命工作,苹果计算机在十年间从一间车库里的两个小伙子扩展成了一家员工超过四千人、市价二十亿美金的公司,在那事件之前一年推出了我们最棒的作品-麦金塔计算机(Macintosh),那时我才刚迈入三十岁,然后我被解雇了。
我怎么会被自己创办的公司给解雇了?
嗯,当苹果计算机成长后,我请了一个我以为在经营公司上很有才干的家伙来,他在头几年也确实干得不错。可是我们对未来的愿景不同,最后只好分道扬镳,董事会站在他那边,就这样在我30岁的时候,公开把我给解雇了。我失去了整个生活的重心,我的人生就这样被摧毁。
有几个月,我不知道要做些什么。我觉得我令企业界的前辈们失望-我把他们交给我的接力棒弄丢了。我见了创办HP的David Packard跟创办Intel的Bob Noyce,跟他们说很抱歉我把事情给搞砸了。我成了公众眼中失败的示范,我甚至想要离开硅谷。
但是渐渐的,我发现,我还是喜爱那些我做过的事情,在苹果计算机中经历的那些事丝毫没有改变我爱做的事。虽然我被否定了,可是我还是爱做那些事情,所以我决定从头来过。
当时我没发现,但现在看来,被苹果计算机开除,是我所经历过最好的事情。成功的沉重被从头来过的轻松所取代,每件事情都不那么确定,让我自由进入这辈子最有创意的年代。
接下来五年,我开了一家叫做NeXT的公司,又开一家叫做Pixar的公司,也跟后来的老婆(Laurene)谈起了恋爱。Pixar接着制作了世界上第一部全计算机动画电影,玩具总动员(Toy Story),现在是世界上最成功的动画制作公司。然后,苹果计算机买下了NeXT,我回到了苹果,我们在NeXT发展的技术成了苹果计算机后来复兴的核心部份。
我也有了个美妙的家庭。
我很确定,如果当年苹果计算机没开除我,就不会发生这些事情。这帖药很苦口,可是我想苹果计算机这个病人需要这帖药。有时候,人生会用砖头打你的头。不要丧失信心。我确信我爱我所做的事情,这就是这些年来支持我继续走下去的唯一理由(I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did)。
你得找出你的最爱,工作上是如此,人生伴侣也是如此。
你的工作将占掉你人生的一大部分,唯一真正获得满足的方法就是做你相信是伟大的工作,而唯一做伟大工作的方法是爱你所做的事(And the only way to do great work is to love what you do)。如果你还没找到这些事,继续找,别停顿。尽你全心全力,你知道你一定会找到。而且,如同任何伟大的事业,事情只会随着时间愈来愈好。所以,在你找到之前,继续找,别停顿。
我的第三个故事,是关于死亡。
当我十七岁时,我读到一则格言,好像是“把每一天都当成生命中的最后一天,你就会轻松自在。(If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you‘ll most certainly be right)”
这对我影响深远,在过去33年里,我每天早上都会照镜子,自问:“如果今天是此生最后一日,我今天要做些什么?”每当我连续太多天都得到一个“没事做”的答案时,我就知道我必须有所改变了。提醒自己快死了,是我在人生中面临重大决定时,所用过最重要的方法。因为几乎每件事-所有外界期望、所有的名声、所有对困窘或失败的恐惧-在面对死亡时,都消失了,只有最真实重要的东西才会留下(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 everythingthese things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important)。提醒自己快死了,是我所知避免掉入畏惧失去的陷阱里最好的方法。人生不带来、死不带去,没理由不能顺心而为。
一年前,我被诊断出癌症。我在早上七点半作断层扫描,在胰脏清楚出现一个肿瘤,我连胰脏是什么都不知道。医生告诉我,那几乎可以确定是一种不治之症,预计我大概活不了三到六个月。医生建议我回家,好好跟亲人们聚一聚,这是医生对临终病人的标准建议。那代表你得试着在几个月内把你将来十年想跟小孩讲的话讲完。那代表你得把每件事情搞定,家人才会尽量轻松。那代表你得跟人说再见了。我整天想着那个诊断结果,那天晚上做了一次切片,从喉咙伸入一个内视镜,穿过胃进到肠子,将探针伸进胰脏,取了一些肿瘤细胞出来。我打了镇静剂,不醒人事,但是我老婆在场。她后来跟我说,当医生们用显微镜看过那些细胞后,他们都哭了,因为那是非常少见的一种胰脏癌,可以用手术治好。所以我接受了手术,康复了。
这是我最接近死亡的时候,我希望那会继续是未来几十年内最接近的一次。经历此事后,我可以比先前死亡只是纯粹想象时,要能更肯定地告诉你们下面这些:
没有人想死。即使那些想上天堂的人,也想活着上天堂。
但是死亡是我们共同的终点,没有人逃得过。这是注定的,因为死亡很可能就是生命中最棒的发明,是生命交替的媒介,送走老人们,给新生代开出道路。现在你们是新生代,但是不久的将来,你们也会逐渐变老,被送出人生的舞台。抱歉讲得这么戏剧化,但是这是真的。
你们的时间有限,所以不要浪费时间活在别人的生活里。不要被教条所局限--盲从教条就是活在别人思考结果里。不要让别人的意见淹没了你内在的心声。最重要的,拥有追随自己内心与直觉的勇气,你的内心与直觉多少已经知道你真正想要成为什么样的人(have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.They somehow already know what you truly want to become),任何其它事物都是次要的。
在我年轻时,有本神奇的杂志叫做《Whole Earth Catalog》,当年这可是我们的经典读物。那是一位住在离这不远的Menlo Park的Stewart Brand发行的,他把杂志办得很有诗意。那是1960年代末期,个人计算机跟桌上出版还没出现,所有内容都是打字机、剪刀跟拍立得相机做出来的。杂志内容有点像印在纸上的平面Google,在Google出现之前35年就有了:这本杂志很理想主义,充满新奇工具与伟大的见解。
Stewart跟他的团队出版了好几期的《Whole Earth Catalog》,然后很自然的,最后出了停刊号。当时是1970年代中期,我正是你们现在这个年龄的时候。在停刊号的封底,有张清晨乡间小路的照片,那种你四处搭便车冒险旅行时会经过的乡间小路。
在照片下印了行小字:求知若饥,虚心若愚(Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish)。
那是他们亲笔写下的告别讯息,我总是以此自许。当你们毕业,展开新生活,我也以此祝福你们。求知若饥,虚心若愚(Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish)。
非常谢谢大家。