Randy Pausch Quotes - Page 2

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

No job is beneath you. You ought to be thrilled you got a job in the mailroom And when you get there, here's what you do: Be really great at sorting mail.

Never lose the child-like wonder. It’s just too important. It’s what drives us. Help others.

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.

It's not about how to achieve your dreams, it's about how to lead your life, ... If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself, the dreams will come to you.

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

When there’s an elephant in the room introduce him.

I know you're smart. But everyone here is smart. Smart isn't enough. The kind of people I want on my research team are those who will help everyone feel happy to be here.

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

Just because you're in the driver's seat, doesn't mean you have to run people over.

Find the best in everybody. Wait long enough, and people will surprise and impress you. It might even take years, but people will show you their good side. Just keep waiting.

We don't beat the reaper by living longer, but by living well, and living fully - for the reaper will come for all of us. The question is: what do we do between the time we're born and the time he shows up.

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

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

Being successful doesn't make you manage your time well. Managing your time well makes you successful!

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

When you do the right thing, good stuff has a way of happening.

Proper apologies have three parts: 1) What I did was wrong. 2) I feel badly that I hurt you. 3) How do I make this better?

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

Another way to be prepared is to think negatively. Yes, I'm a great optimist. but, when trying to make a decision, I often think of the worst case scenario. I call it 'the eaten by wolves factor.' If I do something, what's the most terrible thing that could happen? Would I be eaten by wolves? One thing that makes it possible to be an optimist, is if you have a contingency plan for when all hell breaks loose. There are a lot of things I don't worry about, because I have a plan in place if they do.

The size of your audience doesn't matter. What's important is that your audience is listening.

Show gratitude. Gratitude is a simple but powerful thing.

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

When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody's bothering to tell you anymore, that's a very bad place to be. Your critics are the ones telling you they still love you and care.

You will not find your passion in things and you will not find your passion in money. The more things and the more money you have, the more you will look around and use that as the metric and there will be someone with more.