Randy Pausch

“Anyone who knows me well will tell you that arrogance is one of my flaws.”

“The metaphor I've used is... somebody's going to push my family off a cliff pretty soon, and I won't be there to catch them. And that breaks my heart. But I have some time to sew some nets to cushion the fall. So, I can curl up in a ball and cry, or I can get to work on the nets.”

“Never lose the childlike wonder. Show gratitude... Don't complain; just work harder... Never give up.”

“When you're screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they've given up on you.”

“My mother took great relish in introducing me as 'This is my son - he's a doctor but not the kind that helps people.'”

“Smelling a crayon takes you right back to childhood. When I need to go back in time, I put it under my nose and take another hit.”

“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.”

“If I could only give three words of advice, they would be, 'Tell the truth.' If I got three more words, I'd add, 'All the time.'”

“I've never understood pity and self-pity as an emotion.”

“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.”

“I'm dying, and I'm having fun.”

“I'm hanging in there, trying to spend as much quality time with my wife and kids as possible, and though it's very frustrating to know I won't beat the cancer, there's a great satisfaction in knowing that I'm walking off the field with no regrets.”

“I’d compare college tuition to paying for a personal trainer at an athletic club. We professors play the roles of trainers, giving people access to the equipment (books, labs, our expertise) and after that, it is our job to be demanding.”

“I think the only advice I can give you on how to live your life well is, first off, remember... it's not the things we do in life that we regret on our deathbed, it is the things we do not.”

“I think that we all stand on the dartboard of life. Roughly 30,000 people a year are going to catch a dart labeled pancreatic cancer, and that's unfortunate. It's not what I would have chosen. But I in no way feel like I deserved it.”

“Wait long enough, and people will surprise and impress you.”

“There's nothing about my life that I would have changed.”

“Never, ever underestimate the importance of having fun.”

“חשבתי הרבה על האופן שבו אני מגדיר את עצמי: כמורה, כמדען מחשבים, כבעל, כאב, כבן, כחבר, כאח, כאב רוחני לתלמידי. כל אלה היו תפקידים רבי ערך בעיני.”

“לא קניתי את הסדרה האחרונה של כרכי האנציקלופדיה של וורלד בוק. למעשה, אחרי שנבחרתי להיות אחד ממחבריה, אני מאמין עכשיו שוויקיפדיה היא מקור מידע מוצלח מאוד, כי אני יודע מהי רמתה של בקרת האיכות באנציקלופדיות אמיתיות.”