Randy Pausch Quotes

• 

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

  Randy Pausch

  Topics in Advice

  Tags in Change, Dealt

• You can’t get there alone. People have to help you, and I do believe in karma. I believe in paybacks. You get people to help you by telling the truth, by being earnest.

  Randy Pausch

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Earnest, Karma

• Work hard. I got tenure a year early. Junior faculty members used to say to me: ‘Wow, what’s your secret?’ I said: ‘It’s pretty simple. Call me any Friday night in my office at 10 o’clock, and I’ll tell you.’

  Randy Pausch

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Call, Faculty

• There’s an academic tradition called the ‘Last Lecture.’ Hypothetically, if you knew you were going to die and you had one last lecture, what would you say to your students? Well, for me, there’s an elephant in the room. And the elephant in the room, for me, it wasn’t hypothetical.

  Randy Pausch

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Tradition, Lecture

• The particular way I’m going to die is not going to be particularly pleasant. It will probably be physically uncomfortable, and it won’t be an easy thing for my wife and kids to watch. I think it will be a real challenge to see if I can squeeze the lemons hard enough to still get lemonade the last few weeks.

  Randy Pausch

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Die, Pleasant

• 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.

  Randy Pausch

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Metaphor, Cliff

• If you are hopeful, if you are optimistic, other people want to help you. And if you are down in the dumps, other people may still help you, but I’ve noticed that they’re walking, not running, over to you.

  Randy Pausch

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Optimistic, Hopeful

• I’ve decided to tell my kids things like: ‘I love the way each of you tilted back your heads when you laughed.’ I will give them specific stuff they can grasp.

  Randy Pausch

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Grasp, Specific

• I’m not going to beat the cancer. I tried really hard… but sometimes you’re just not going to beat the thing… I wanted to walk off the stage and say anything I thought was important; I had my hour.

  Randy Pausch

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Thought, Important

• 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.

  Randy Pausch

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Frustrating, Field

• 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.

  Randy Pausch

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Regret, Remember

• 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.

  Randy Pausch

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Deserved, Roughly

• I played in football games where you walk off the field and the scoreboard didn’t end up the way you wanted. But you knew that you really did give it all. And the other team was too strong.

  Randy Pausch

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Games, Knew

• 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.

  Randy Pausch

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Having Fun, Decide

• Educators shouldn’t be afraid of cliches. You know why? Because kids don’t know most of them! They’re a new audience. And they’re inspired by cliches.

  Randy Pausch

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Audience, Inspired

• When men are romantically interested in you, it’s really simple. Just ignore everything they say and only pay attention to what they do.

  Randy Pausch

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Interested, Pay

• We have a finite amount of time. Whether short or long, it doesn’t matter. Life is to be lived.

  Randy Pausch

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Amount, Short

• We don’t beat the reaper by living longer, we beat the reaper by living well and living fully.

  Randy Pausch

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Fully, Longer

• Wait long enough, and people will surprise and impress you.

  Randy Pausch

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Impress, Surprise

• There’s nothing about my life that I would have changed.

  Randy Pausch

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Changed, Nothing

Randy Pausch (52)

Birth:	23rd October, 1960
Death:	25th July, 2008
Nationality:	American
Profession:	Author, Computer Scientist, Professor

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