Randy Pausch Quotes

If I work hard enough, there will be things I can do tomorrow that I can't do today.

The person who failed often knows how to avoid future failures.

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.

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.

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.

"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" - From The Last Lecture Randy Pauch

Your critics are the ones telling you they still love you and care. Worry when you do something badly and nobody bothers to tell you.

The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.

If you love her, support her.

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.

Did you figure out the second head fake? This talk's not for you. It's for my kids.

I don't believe in the no-win scenario

No matter how bad things are, you can always make things worse.

Don't bail. The best of the gold’s at the bottom of barrels of crap.