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Steve Jobs

125 quotes

“Rolling Stone: It's been 10 years since the PC revolution started. Rational people can debate about whether technology has made the world a better place –”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We made the buttons on the screen look so good you'll want to lick them.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Mac OS X's Aqua user interface, as quoted in Fortune magazine (24 January 2000)
“You've baked a really lovely cake, but then you've used dog shit for frosting.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Steve Jobs commenting on a NeXT programmer's work, as quoted in The Second Coming of Steve Jobs (2000) by Alan Deutschman
“I would trade all of my technology for an afternoon with Socrates.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Newsweek (29 October 2001), "The Classroom Of The Future
“It will go down in history as a turning point for the music industry. This is landmark stuff. I can't overestimate it!”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the iPod and the iTunes Music Store, as quoted in Fortune magazine (12 May 2003)
“There are sneakers that cost more than an iPod.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the iPod's $300 price tag, as quoted in Newsweek (27 October 2003)
“People think it's this veneer — that the designers are handed this box and told, 'Make it look good!' That's not what we think design is. It's not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The Guts of a New Machine (30 November 2003)
“We don't believe it's possible to protect digital content … What's new is this amazingly efficient distribution system for stolen property called the Internet — and no one's gonna shut down the Internet. And it only takes one stolen copy to be on the Internet. And the way we expressed it to them is: Pick one lock — open every door. It only takes one person to pick a lock. Worst case: Somebody just takes the analog outputs of their CD player and rerecords it — puts it on the Internet. You'll never stop that. So what you have to do is compete with it.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Steve Jobs: The Rolling Stone Interview" in Rolling Stone (3 December 2003)
“The subscription model of buying music is bankrupt. I think you could make available the Second Coming in a subscription model and it might not be successful.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Steve Jobs: The Rolling Stone Interview" in Rolling Stone (3 December 2003)
“We used to dream about this stuff. Now we get to build it. It's pretty great.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Keynote address at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (June 2004)
“We think basically you watch television to turn your brain off, and you work on your computer when you want to turn your brain on.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview in Macworld magazine (February 2004)
“Why would I ever want to run Disney? Wouldn't it make more sense just to sell them Pixar and retire?”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Fortune (23 February 2004)
“The cure for Apple is not cost-cutting. The cure for Apple is to innovate its way out of its current predicament.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Apple Confidential 2.0: The Definitive History of the World's Most Colorful Company (2004) by Owen W. Linzmayer
“It wasn't that Microsoft was so brilliant or clever in copying the Mac, it's that the Mac was a sitting duck for 10 years. That's Apple's problem: Their differentiation evaporated.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Apple Confidential 2.0: The Definitive History of the World's Most Colorful Company (2004) by Owen W. Linzmayer
“I'm the only person I know that's lost a quarter of a billion dollars in one year.... It's very character-building.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Apple Confidential 2.0: The Definitive History of the World's Most Colorful Company (2004) by Owen W. Linzmayer
“I get asked a lot why Apple's customers are so loyal. It's not because they belong to the Church of Mac! That's ridiculous.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "The Seed of Apple's Innovation" in BusinessWeek (12 October 2004)
“I've always wanted to own and control the primary technology in everything we do.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "The Seed of Apple's Innovation" in BusinessWeek (12 October 2004)
“Mac OS X Tiger will come out long before Longhorn.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Comparing the progress of Mac OS X and what would eventually become known as Microsoft's Vista, at the MacWorld San Francisco keynote address (January 2005)
“Pixar is the most technically advanced creative company; Apple is the most creatively advanced technical company.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Fortune (21 February 2005)
“They are shamelessly copying us.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: About Microsoft and the operating system which would be released as Vista, as quoted in "Apple's Jobs swipes at Longhorn" om cNet News (21 April 2005)
“Because I'm the CEO, and I think it can be done.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On why he chose to override engineers who thought the iMac wasn't feasible, as quoted in TIME magazine (24 October 2005)<!-- * Click. Boom. Amazing!
“And one more thing...”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A phrase he has famously used in making announcements of products towards the end of many of his presentations, as quoted in "How to Wow 'Em Like Steve Jobs" in BusinessWeek magazine (6 April 2006)
“I think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what's next.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Jobs: Iconoclast and salesman" by Brian Williams, at MSNBC (25 May 2006)
“You know, you keep on innovating, you keep on making better stuff. And if you always want the latest and greatest, then you have to buy a new iPod at least once a year.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Jobs: Iconoclast and salesman" by Brian Williams, at MSNBC (25 May 2006)
“Our friends up north spend over five billion dollars on research and development and all they seem to do is copy Google and Apple.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Microsoft, at the Worldwide Developer's Conference (August 2006)
“Look at the design of a lot of consumer products — they're really complicated surfaces. We tried to make something much more holistic and simple. When you first start off trying to solve a problem, the first solutions you come up with are very complex, and most people stop there. But if you keep going, and live with the problem and peel more layers of the onion off, you can often times arrive at some very elegant and simple solutions. Most people just don't put in the time or energy to get there. We believe that customers are smart, and want objects which are well thought through.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the design of the iPod, as quoted in Newsweek (14 October 2006)
“We had the hardware expertise, the industrial design expertise and the software expertise, including iTunes. One of the biggest insights we have was that we decided not to try to manage your music library on the iPod, but to manage it in iTunes. Other companies tried to do everything on the device itself and made it so complicated that it was useless.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the design of the iPod, as quoted in Newsweek (14 October 2006)
“I've seen the demonstrations on the Internet about how you can find another person using a Zune and give them a song they can play three times. It takes forever. By the time you've gone through all that, the girl's got up and left! You're much better off to take one of your earbuds out and put it in her ear. Then you're connected with about two feet of headphone cable.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: When asked whether he was concerned over Microsoft Zune's wireless capability, as a product competing with Apple's iPod, as quoted in Newsweek (14 October 2006)
“I make 50 cents for showing up … and the other 50 cents is based on my performance.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On his famous $1 annual salary, at the annual Apple shareholder meeting in 2007, as quoted in "Jobs: 'I make fifty cents just for showing up'" in AppleInsider (10 May 2007)
“A lot of companies have chosen to downsize, and maybe that was the right thing for them. We chose a different path. Our belief was that if we kept putting great products in front of customers, they would continue to open their wallets.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with the New York Times (5 June 2007)
“I wish developing great products was as easy as writing a check. If that was the case, Microsoft would have great products.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On why he delayed the Leopard OS in favor of developing the iPhone rather than hiring more developers, at the annual Apple stockholder's meeting (10 May 2007) as quoted in "Apple's Jobs brushes aside backdating concerns…
“It's like giving a glass of ice water to somebody in hell!”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On how Apple is the largest developer for Microsoft Windows due to the popularity of its iTunes software, at the All Things Digital Conference 5 (30 May 2007), on stage with Bill Gates, Kara Swisher and Walter Mossberg.
“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Used in the Apple "Think Different" marketing campaign and sometimes attributed to Kerouac on the internet, perhaps because it evokes his famous quote from On the Road: "The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones…
Also quoted by: Jack Kerouac (misattributed)
“Yes, it's true.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the plans for Apple Computer, Inc. to begin using Intel processors in its Macintosh computers during 2006 and 2007. About twenty two minutes into his address. Rumors of such plans had existed for years, but had been …
“So Mac OS X is cross-platform by design, right from the very beginning. So Mac OS X is singing on Intel processors, and I'd just like to show you right now. As a matter of fact... this system I've been using here... Let go have a look... [reveals that the system he had been using for the presentation was running Mac OS X 10.4.1 on a machine using a 3.6 GHz Pentium 4 processor] So.. we've been running on an Intel machine all morning.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We intend to release Leopard at the end of 2006 or early 2007, right around the time when Microsoft is expected to release Longhorn.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well-worn path and that will make all the difference.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 1980 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The original version of the "live each day" quote goes back at least to 1980, when the film Breaker Morant featured the following version (see the transcript here): "Live every day as if it were going to be your last. O…
“Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We’ve got a great week plan for you. You know, this year we’ve got 42 hundred registered attendees. This is the largest WWDC ever so thank you very much for making this a record event for us.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are folks here from 48 different countries.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you have a chance to go to New York I really encourage to go visit the store. This is one of the fifty-seven we now have.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Last quarter alone we hosted 17 million visitors throughout our stores.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Last quarter, we had our best Mac quarter ever. We shipped 1.33 million Macs last quarter. We are really, really happy about this, but even better, was the growth rate because the growth rate was dramatically faster than the rest of the industry which means we are gaining market share.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything. It's very fortunate if you can work on just one of these in your career. … Apple's been very fortunate in that it's introduced a few of these.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Well, what we're going to do is get rid of all these buttons, and just make a giant screen—a giant screen. Now, how are we going to communicate (with) this? We don't want to carry around a mouse, right? So what are we going to do? Oh, a stylus, right? We're going to use a stylus. No. —No. Who wants a stylus? You have to get them and put them away and you lose them. Yuck! Nobody wants a stylus. So let's not use a stylus.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And boy, have we patented it.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source