Quotes from The Last Lecture

Randy Pausch ·  206 pages

Rating: (261K votes)


“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.”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture


“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture


“When it comes to men who are romantically interested in you, it’s really simple. Just ignore everything they say and only pay attention to what they do.”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture


“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.”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture


“The key question to keep asking is, Are you spending your time on the right things? Because time is all you have. ”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture



“No matter how bad things are, you can always make things worse.”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture


“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.”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture


“Look, I'm going to find a way to be happy, and I'd really love to be happy with you, but if I can't be happy with you, then I'll find a way to be happy without you.”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture


“Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other.”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture


“Luck is where preparation meets opportunity. ”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture



“Time is all you have and you may find one day that you have less than you think.”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture


“It's not how hard you hit. It's how hard you get hit...and keep moving forward.”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture


“Too many people go through life complaining about their problems. I've always believed that if you took one tenth the enrgy you put into complaining and applied it to solving the problem, you'd be surprised by how well things can work out.”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture


“Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And it won't make us happier.”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture


“A lot of people want a shortcut. I find the best shortcut is the long way, which is basically two words: work hard.”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture



“Find the best in everybody. Just keep waiting no matter how long it takes. No one is all evil. Everybody has a good side, just keep waiting, it will come out.”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture


“When we're connected to others, we become better people.”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture


“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.”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture


“The questions are always more important than the answers.”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture


“A good apology is like antibiotic, a bad apology is like rubbing salt in the wound.”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture



“People are more important than things.”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture


“You can always change you plan, but only if you have one.”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture


“No job is beneath you.

You ought to be thrilled you got a job in the mailroom And when you get there, here's what you do: Be really great at sorting mail. ”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture


“There's a lot of talk these days about giving children self-esteem. It's not something you can give; it's something they have to build. Coach Graham worked in a no-coddling zone. Self-esteem? He knew there was really only one way to teach kids how to develop it: You give them something they can't do, they work hard until they find they can do it, and you just keep repeating the process.”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture


“Are you a Tigger or an Eyore?”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture



“All my adult life I've felt drawn to ask long-married couples how they were able to stay together. All of them said the same thing: "We worked hard at it.”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture


“I know you're smart. But everyone here is smart. Smart isn't enough. The kind of people I want on my research team are those who will help everyone feel happy to be here. ”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture


“The person who failed often knows how to avoid future failures. The person who knows only success can be more oblivious to all the pitfalls.”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture


“If you took one-tenth the energy you put into complaining and applied it to solving the problem, you'd be surprised by how well things can work out... Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And it won't make us happier.”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture


“Give yourself permission to dream. Fuel your kids' dreams too. Once in a while, that might even mean letting them stay up past their bedtimes.”
― Randy Pausch, quote from The Last Lecture



About the author

Randy Pausch
Born place: in The United States
Born date October 23, 1960
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Popular quotes

“−Decirle a la gente lo que quiere oír solo para que se sientan mejor no es mejor que mentir”
― Megan Hart, quote from Naked


“You need to forgive me. Now that really blew her away. Forgive God? This idea is going to cause some readers to freak out. Just listen for a moment. If you are holding something in your heart against Jesus—the loss of someone you love, a painful memory from your past, simply the way your life has turned out—if you are holding that against Jesus, well, then, it is between you and Jesus. And no amount of ignoring it or being faithful in other areas of your life is going to make it go away. In order to move forward, you are going to need to forgive Jesus for whatever these things are. “But Jesus doesn’t need our forgiveness!” you protest. I didn’t say he did. I said that you need to forgive Jesus—you need it. Let me be clear: To forgive a person, we pardon a wrong done to us; “Forgiving” Jesus means to release the hurt and resentment we hold against him. This comes before understanding. We don’t often know why things have happened the way they have in our lives. What we do know is that we were hurt, and part of that hurt is toward Jesus, because in our hearts we believe he let it happen. Again, this is not the time for sifting theological nuances, but this is why it is so important for you to look at the world the way Jesus did—as a vicious battle with evil. When you understand you have an enemy that has hated your guts ever since you were a child, it will help you not to blame this stuff on God. Anyhow, the facts are it happened, we are hurt that it happened, and part of us believes Jesus should have done something about it and didn’t. That is why we need to “forgive” him. We do so in order that this part of us can draw near him again, and receive his love. Perhaps part of the fruit of that restoration will be that Jesus will then be able to explain to us why things happened the way they did. This is often the case. But whether we receive this or not, we know we need Jesus far more than we need understanding. And so we forgive—meaning, we release the offense we feel towards him.”
― John Eldredge, quote from Beautiful Outlaw: Experiencing the Playful, Disruptive, Extravagant Personality of Jesus


“It is the hard journey that leads to a greater destiny. You can never rise if you never have anything to rise above.”
― Dannika Dark, quote from Sterling


“I avoided my own friends and acquaintances, yet the loneliness of my existence was insupportable.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Pale Horse


“Standing on the bare ground,--my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into infinite space,--all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or parcel of God.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, quote from Nature and Selected Essays


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