Randy Pausch Quotes

American professor of computer science, human-computer interaction and design

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Dr. Randy Pausch (October 23, 1960 – July 25, 2008) was a Professor of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, and Design at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States and a best-selling author, who achieved worldwide fame for his speech The Last Lecture at Carnegie Mellon University, after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and having only a few months to live.

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Alternative Names: Randy Frederick Pausch • Randy F. Pausch • Randolph Frederick Pausch

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somehow, with the passage of time, and the deadlines that life imposes, surrendering became the right thing to do

It's a thrill to fulfill your own childhood dreams, but as you get older, you may find that enabling the dreams of others is even more fun.

When you’ve had something for ten years that you hold so precious, it’s the toughest thing in the world to hand it over. And the only advice I can give you is, find somebody better than you to hand it to.

"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."

If you’re going to have childhood dreams you should have great parents who let you pursue them and express your creativity

Please don't die.

Don’t complain; just work harder.

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

If you have a question, then find the answer.

An injured lion wants to know if he can still roar.

Its important to have specific dreams. Dream Big. Dream without fear.

هناك العديد من الأشخاص دائمي الشكوى من المشاكل في حياتهم ، و أنا اعتقد أنهم لو سخروا عشر هذه الطاقة التي يستنفذونها في الشكوى واستعان وا بها في حل مشاكلهم ، لحقوا نجاحا مبهرا في حل تلك المشاكل.

As stated in the book, the First Penguin award went to students who went out on a limb and failed! This came "from the notion that when penguins are about to jump into water that might contain predators, well, somebody's got to be the first penguin." So, even if there are failures, it brings experience. Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer.

And he put his arm around my shoulders and we went for a little walk and he said, Randy, it’s such a shame that people perceive you as so arrogant. Because it’s going to limit what you’re going to be able to accomplish in life. What a hell of a way to word “you’re being a jerk.” [laughter] Right? He doesn’t say you’re a jerk. He says people are perceiving you this way and he says the downside is it’s going to limit what you’re going to be able to accomplish.

If you can find your footing between two cultures, sometimes you can have the best of both worlds.