Randy Pausch Quotes

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. Because when he shows up, it’s too late to do all the things that you’re always gonna, kinda get around to."

It is not the things we do in life that we regret on our death bed. It is the things we do not. I assure you I've done a lot of really stupid things, and none of them bother me. All the mistakes, and all the dopey things, and all the times I was embarrassed — they don't matter. What matters is that I can kind of look back and say: Pretty much any time I got chance to do something cool I tried to grab for it — and that's where my solace comes from.

Find your passion and follow it. And if there is anything that I have learned in life, you will not find that passion in things. And you will not find that passion in money. Because the more things and the more money you have, the more you will just look around and use that as the metric — and there will always be someone with more.

Time must be explicitly managed, like money...Ask yourself if you are spending your time on the right things. Don't invest time on irrelevant details. It doesn't matter how well you polish the underside of the banister.

You can always change your plan, but only if you have one.

Goals, priorities and planning. Why am I doing this? What is the goal? Why will I succeed? What happens if I chose not to do it?

Clutter is death; it leads to thrashing.

You don’t find time for important things, you make it. Everything you do is an opportunity cost. Learn to say “No”.

Find your creative/thinking time. Defend it ruthlessly, spend it alone, maybe at home.

Identify why you aren’t enthusiastic.

No one is an island. You can accomplish a lot more with help.

If you haven’t got time to do it right, you don’t have time to do it wrong.

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

Delegation is not dumping. Grant authority with responsibility.

It’s not a vacation if you’re reading email.

Reinforce behavior you want repeated.

Turn money into time – especially important for people with kids.

Stories should be told for a reason...If you dispense your own wisdom, others often dismiss it. If you offer wisdom from a third party it seems less arrogant and more acceptable.

Engineering isn't about perfect solutions. It's about doing what you can with limited resources.

Have something to bring to the table because that will make you more valuable.

You've got to get the fundamentals down because otherwise the fancy stuff isn't going to work.

When you are screwing up and nobody says anything to you, that means they have given up on you.

Want to have a short phone call with someone? Call them at 11:55am right before lunch. They'll talk fast. You may think you are interesting but you are not more interesting than lunch.

We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.

I'm a big believer in to do lists. It helps break life into small sets.

Brick walls are there for a reason. They give us a chance to show how badly we want something...The brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough.

Give objectives, not procedures.

When there's an elephant in the room, introduce it.

An injured Lion wants to know that it can still roar.