Quotes from Randy Pausch

Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted...It's a phrase worth considering at every brick wall we encounter, and at every disappointment. It's also a reminder that failure is not just acceptable, it's often essential.

I always liked telling my students: "Go out do for others what somebody did for you

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 !

If other people owe you an apology, and your words of apology to them are proper and heartfelt, you still may not hear from them for a while. After all, what are the odds that they get to the right emotional place to apologize at the exact moment you do?

Whatever my accomplishments, all of things I loved were rooted in the dreams and goals I had as a child ... and in the ways I had managed to fulfill almost all of them. My uniqueness, I realized, came in the specifics of all the dreams -from incredibly meaningful to decidedly quirky- that defined my 46 years of life.

I know you're smart. But everyone here is smart. Smart isn't enough.

I was heartbroken, but I was not deterred. I would find a way around this brick wall.

I told her I had nothing against yoga or meditation. But I did think it's always best to try to treat the disease first. Her symptoms were stress and anxiety. Her disease was the money she owed. "Why

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.' People lie for lots of reasons, often because it seems like a way to get what they want with less effort. But like many short-term strategies, it's ineffective long-term. You run into people again later, and they remember you lied to them. And they tell lots of other people about it.

Luck is what happens when preparation meet opportunity

Brick walls are there for a reason. They give us a chance to show how badly we want something.

People are more important than things. A car, even a pristine gem like my new convertible, was just a thing.

I am going to keep having fun every day I have left because there is no other way of life. You just have to decide whether you are a Tigger or an Eeyore.

If you can't (or won't) sort mail, where is the proof that you can do anything?

The giant stuffed animals all found homes quickly. A few days later, I learned that one of the animals had been taken by a Carnegie Mellon who, like me, has cancer. After the lecture, she walked up and selected the giant elephant. I love the symbolism of that. She got the elephant in the room.

Money was never an issue in our house, mostly because my parents never saw a need to spend much.

being weightless is a sensation hard to fathom when you've been an earthling all your life

I had just two rules for their virtual reality worlds: No shooting violence and no pornography. I issued that decree mostly because those things have been done in computer games only about a zillion times, and I was looking for original thinking.

This is what it is. We can't change it. We just have to decide how we'll respond. We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.

I apologize for what I did, but you also need to apologize to me for what you've done." (That's not giving an apology. That's asking for one.)

It is not about achieving your dreams, but living your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you.

In fact, growing up, I thought there were two types of families: 1) Those who need a dictionary to get through dinner. 2) Those who don't. We were no. 1. Most every night, we'd end up consulting the dictionary, which we kept on a shelf just six steps from the table. "If you have a question," my folks would say, "then find the answer.

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.

Cancer didn't change me at all. I know lots of people talk about the life revelation. I didn't have that.