Randolph Frederick Pausch was an American educator, professor of computer science, human-computer interaction, and design at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was born on October 23, 1960, and died on July 25, 2008.
In September 2006, Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He received a terminal diagnosis in August 2007 and was told that he had “three to six months of good health left.” On September 18, 2007, he delivered a motivational lecture at Carnegie Mellon with the catchy title “The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams,” which resulted in other media appearances and a popular YouTube video. The Last Lecture, a book he co-authored, hit the New York Times best-seller list.
93 Randy Pausch Quotes
- “If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy?”
2. “No matter how bad things are, you can always make things worse.”
3. “People are more important than things.”
3. “Don’t complain; just work harder.”
4. “If you can find an opening, you can probably find a way to float through it.”
5. “Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer.”
6. “Luck is where preparation meets opportunity.”
7. “Its important to have specific dreams. Dream Big. Dream without fear.”
8. “Focus on other people, not on yourself.”
9. “We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.”
10. “If I only had three words of advice, they would be, Tell the Truth. If got three more words, I’d add, all the time.”
Inspirational Randy Pausch Quotes
11. “When we’re connected to others, we become better people.”
12. “It’s not how hard you hit. It’s how hard you get hit…and keep moving forward.”
13. “If you have a question, then find the answer.”
14. “Follow your passions, believe in karma, and you won’t have to chase your dreams, they will come to you.”
15. “A good apology is like antibiotic, a bad apology is like rubbing salt in the wound.”
16. “No matter how bad things are, you can always make things worse. At the same time, it is often within your power to make them better”
17. “Not everything needs to be fixed”
18. “The key question to keep asking is, Are you spending your time on the right things? Because time is all you have. ”
19. “When there’s an elephant in the room introduce him.”
20. “I’ve always admired people who are over-prepared.”
21. “Luck is indeed where preparation meets opportunity.”
Famous Randy Pausch Quotes
21. “Complaining does not work as a strategy.”
22. “Find the best in everybody. Just keep waiting no matter how long it takes.”
23. “Time is all you have and you may find one day that you have less than you think.”
24. “People lie for lots of reasons, often because it seems like a way to get what they want with less effort.”
25. “Have something to bring to the table, because that will make you more welcome.”
26. “When you’re screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they’ve given up on you.”
27. “Never lose the child like wonder. It’s just too important. It’s what drives us. Help others.”
28. “Many people might expect the talk to be about dying. But it had to be about living.”
29. “if you offer wisdom from a third party, it seems less arrogant and more acceptable.”
30. “The person who failed often knows how to avoid future failures. The person who knows only success can be more oblivious to all the pitfalls.”
31. “Go on those trips you’ve always wanted to take,” the woman advised other care-givers. “Live in the moment.”
Randy Pausch Quotes About Life
32. “Take Time Out. It’s not a real vacation if you’re reading email or calling in for messages.”
33. “Walls aren’t put in our life to stop us, they are there to test how much we really want somthing.”
34. “A lot of people want a shortcut. I find the best shortcut is the long way, which is basically two words: work hard.”
35. “Let other people finish their sentences when they’re talking.”
36. “I’m dying and I’m having fun.”
37. “Failure is not just acceptable, it’s often essential.” The Last Lecture”
38. “Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted .”
39. “If I work hard enough, there will be things I can do tomorrow that I can’t do today.”
40. “Not everything needs to be fixed.”
41. “We can’t change the cards we’re dealt, just how we play the hand.”
42. “Go out and do for others what somebody did for you.”
43. “Just because you’re in the driver’s seat, doesn’t mean you have to run people over.”
44. “Don’t Obsess Over What People Think”
45. “If you love her, support her.”
46. “Kids need to know their parents love them. Their parents don’t need to be alive for that to happen.”
47. “Do not tell people how to live their lives. Just tell them stories and they will figure out how those stories apply to them.”
48. “You may not want to hear it, but your critics are often the ones telling you they still love you and care about you, and want to make you better. ”
49. “Treat the Disease, Not the Symptom”
50. “It’s not about the cards you’re dealt, but how you play the hand.”
A Must Read – The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
Every reader finds this book to be one of the most sought-after rare books. You might cry or laugh while reading this book, or even both at once!
The context is important. In his mid-forties at the time, the author, Professor Randy Pausch, received a pancreatic cancer diagnosis and was informed that he only had a few months to live. He had three young children and had been married for only eight years.
Randy and his wife Jai showed incredible strength in the face of this tragedy. They made the decision to make the most of his remaining time by relocating to a new city, organizing their affairs, and other measures. But the professor wanted to leave his students and, more importantly, his children with a special legacy: a lesson on realizing one’s childhood ambitions. The majority of this book is about the author’s conception of this “last lecture” and how it was eventually delivered to a large audience.
More Motivation Randy Pausch Quotes From Last Lecture
51. “You can always change your plan , but only if you have one”
52. “Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other.”
53. “I’ve always admired people who are over-prepared.”
54. “We didn’t buy much, but we thought about everything.”
55. “If she doesn’t really love you, then it’s over. And if she does love you, then love will win out.”
56. “No one is all evil. Everybody has a good side, just keep waiting, it will come out.”
57. “Tenacity is a virtue, but it’s not always crucial for everyone to observe how hard you work at something.”
58. “Another way to be prepared is to think negatively.”
59. “Your patience will be both appreciated and rewarded”
60. “You can always change your plan but only if you have one.”
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61. “It’s interesting, the secrets you decide to reveal at the end of your life.”
62. “And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer.”
63. “You’ve got to get the fundamentals down because otherwise the fancy stuff is not going to work.”
64. “Now matter how bad things are, you can always make things worse”
65. “Everyone has to contribute to the common good. To not do so can be described in one word: selfish.”
66. “The questions are always more important than the answers.”
67. “You’ve got to get the fundamentals down, because otherwise the fancy stuff is not going to work.”
Randy Pausch Quotes To Live By
68. “Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And it won’t make us happier.”
69. “Time must be explicitly managed, like money.”
70. “If you can dream it, you can do it.”
71. “Never make a decision until you have to.”
72. “Be good at something. It makes you valuable. Have something to bring to the table, because that will make you more welcome.”
73. “Ask yourself: Are you spending your time on the right things?”
74. “If you’re going to have childhood dreams you should have great parents who let you pursue them and express your creativity”
75. “You can always change you plan, but only if you have one.”
76. “It just proves that if you can find an opening, you can probably find a way to float through it.”
77. “Sometimes, all you have to do is ask, and it can lead to all your dreams coming true.”
78. “We can’t change it. We have to decide how we’ll respond.”
79. “Give yourself permission to dream. Fuel your kids’ dreams too. Once in a while, that might even mean letting them stay up past their bedtimes.”
80. “If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you.”
81. “you have a contingency plan for when all hell breaks loose.”
82. “We have a finite amount of time. Whether short or long, it doesn’t matter. Life is to be lived”
83. “Hard work is like compounded interest in the bank. The rewards build faster.”
84. “There are a lot of things I don’t worry about because I have a plan in place if they do.”
85. “Engineering isn’t about perfect solutions; it’s about doing the best you can with limited resources.”
86. “There are more ways than one to measure profits and losses.”
87. “There is more than one way to measure profits and losses. On every level, institutions can and should have a heart.”
88. “If you want something badly enough, do not give up!”
89. “Never, ever underestimate the importance of having fun.”
90. “Please don’t die.”
91. “I don’t suffer from an abundance of politeness.”
92. “The person who knows only success can be more oblivious to all the pitfalls.”
93. “Be prepared luck is truly where preparation meets opportunity”
Additional Read:
Randy Pausch: The Man Who Made Every Day Matter
Randy Pausch, 47, Dies; His ‘Last Lecture’ Inspired Many to Live With Wonder