Pausch Quotes & Sayings

I sure got their attention. That's always the first step to solving an ignored problem. — Randy Pausch

Apologies are not pass/fail. — Randy Pausch

It's very important to know when you're in a pissing match. And it's very important to get out of it as quickly as possible. — Randy Pausch

Don't complain; just work harder. — Randy Pausch

We can't change it. We have to decide how we'll respond. — Randy Pausch

The best gift an educator can give, to get somebody to become self-reflective. — Randy Pausch

I've found that a substantial fraction of many people's days is spent
worrying about what others think of them. If nobody ever worried
about what was in other people's heads, we'd all be 33 percent more
effective in our lives and on our jobs. — Randy Pausch

Chemo days make me tired, though it's hard to say that's because of the chemo when you have kids who have inherited their dad's usual energy level. — Randy Pausch

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

To-Do lists help us break life into small steps. — Randy Pausch

Not everything has to be fixed. — Randy Pausch

Advice is very easy to give, and even easier not to follow, so I don't fool with it. — Randy Pausch

I've said my piece. My time now is entirely focused on family. — Randy Pausch

When we're connected to others, we become better people. — Randy Pausch

Kids need to know their parents love them. Their parents don't need to be alive for that to happen. — Randy Pausch

Self-steam ? He knew there was really one way to teach kids how to develop it : You give them something they can't do, they work hard until they can do it, and you keep repeating the process. — Randy Pausch

Sometimes you can't pay it back, so you just have to pay it forward. — Randy Pausch

Never lose the childlike wonder. Show gratitude ... Don't complain; just work harder ... Never give up. — Randy Pausch

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

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. — Randy Pausch

Don't finish someone's sentences. And talking louder or faster doesn't make your idea any better. — Randy Pausch

Find the best in everybody, no matter how long you have to wait for them to show it — Randy Pausch

If you wait long enough," he said, "people will surprise and impress you. — Randy Pausch

The questions are always more important than the answers. — Randy Pausch

Show gratitude. Gratitude is a simple but powerful thing. — Randy Pausch

No job should, be beneath us. And if you can't(or won't) sort mail, Where is the proof that you can do anything? — Randy Pausch

Cancer didn't change me at all. I know lots of people talk about the life revelation. I didn't have that. — Randy Pausch

There is more than one way to measure profits and losses. On every level, institutions can and should have a heart. — Randy Pausch

You may not want to hear it, but your critics are often the ones telling you they still love you and care about you, and want to make you better. — Randy Pausch

Jai handles me by being frank. — Randy Pausch

Call home at least once a week. It's a proven fact that we call home less the older we get. And that's wrong. It should be the other way around. As we get older, our parents get older. — Randy Pausch

Walls aren't put in our life to stop us, they are there to test how much we really want somthing. — Randy Pausch

Find the best in everybody. Wait long enough, and people will surprise and impress you. It might even take years, but people will show you their good side. Just keep waiting. — Randy Pausch

Remember how quickly our field [computer science] changes. That's why you want to focus on learning things that don't change: how to work well with other people, how to carefully assess a client's real - as opposed to perceived - needs, and things like that. — Randy Pausch

What he said was: "You obviously don't know where the bar should be, and you're only going to do a disservice by putting it anywhere." And boy was that good advice. Because what he said was, you obviously don't know where the bar should be, and you're only going to do them a disservice by putting it anywhere. — Randy Pausch

We now live in an age when parents praise every child as a genius. And here's my mother, figuring "alert" ought to suffice as a compliment. — Randy Pausch

Anybody out there who is a parent, if your kids want to paint their bedrooms,as a favor to me, let them do it. It'll be OK. — Randy Pausch

I am dying soon, and I am choosing to have fun today, tomorrow and every other day I have left. — Randy Pausch

When they talk of building self-esteem, they often resort to empty flattery rather than character-building honesty. I've heard so many people talk of downward spiral in our educational system, and I think one key factor is that there is too much stroking and too littke real feedback. — Randy Pausch

A parent's job is to encourage kids to develop a joy for life and a great urge to follow their own dreams. — Randy Pausch

Everyone has to contribute to the common good. To not do so can be described in one word: selfish. — Randy Pausch

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

I'm a professor. I know that people in research labs can do miraculous things if they're given the resources. — Randy Pausch

It's not how hard you hit. It's how hard you get hit ... and keep moving forward. — Randy Pausch

When you're frustrated with people, when they've made you angry, it just may be because you haven't given them enough time. — Randy Pausch

Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals. You've got to get the fundamentals down because otherwise the fancy stuff isn't going to work. — Randy Pausch

There should be some lessons learned and how you can use the stuff you hear today to achieve your dreams or enable the dreams of others. And as you get older, you may find that "enabling the dreams of others" thing is even more fun. — Randy Pausch

Educators best serve students by helping them be more self-reflective. The only way any of us can improve - as Coach Graham taught me - is if we develop a real ability to assess ourselves. If we can't accurately do that, how can we tell if we're getting better or worse? — Randy Pausch

I don't believe in the no-win scenario — Randy Pausch

Halfhearted or insincere apologies are often worse than not apologizing at all because recipients find them insulting. If you've done something wrong in your dealings with another person, it's as if there's an infection in your relationship. A good apology is like an antibiotic; a bad apology is like rubbing salt I the wound. — Randy Pausch

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

You can almost always find something in common with another person, and from there, it's much easier to address issues where you have differences. Sports cut across boundaries of race and wealth. And if nothing else, we all have the weather in common. — Randy Pausch

Who remembers that it was Kirk who introduced us to the cell phone? — Randy Pausch

Sometimes, all you have to do is ask. — Randy Pausch

Never, ever underestimate the importance of having fun. — Randy Pausch

Smart isn't enough. The kind of people I want on my research team are those who will help everyone else feel happy to be here. p118 — Randy Pausch

Don't Obsess Over What People Think — Randy Pausch

You will need to find your passion. Don't give up on finding it because then all you're doing is waiting for the Reaper. — Randy Pausch

My coach knew there was only one way to develop (self esteem): You give children something they can't do, they work hard until they find they can do it, and you just keep repeating the process. — Randy Pausch

We don't beat the reaper by living longer, we beat the reaper by living well and living fully. — Randy Pausch

Time is all you have and you may find one day that you have less than you think. — Randy Pausch

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

There are more ways than one to measure profits and losses. — Randy Pausch

I've always admired people who are over-prepared. — Randy Pausch

Believe nothing a man tells you and everything he shows you ... (Taken from a farewell video from a dying father to his infant daughter on dating) — Randy Pausch

The key question to keep asking is, Are you spending your time on the right things? Because time is all you have. — Randy Pausch

If I only had three words of advice, they would be, Tell the Truth. If got three more words, I'd add, all the time. — Randy Pausch

Are you a fun-loving Tigger or a sad-sack Eeyore? Pick a camp. I think it's clear where I stand on the great Tigger/Eeyore debate! — Randy Pausch

[Jim Graham] had been a linebacker at Penn State, and was seriously old-school. I mean, really old-school; like he thought the forward pass was a trick play. — Randy Pausch

Treat the Disease, Not the Symptom.... — Randy Pausch

Throughout my academic career, I'd given some pretty good talks. But being considered the best speaker in the computer science department is like being known as the tallest of the Seven Dwarfs. — Randy Pausch

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

Each of us must decide: Am I a fun-loving Tigger or am I a sad-sack Eeyore? Pick a camp. — Randy Pausch

Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other. — Randy Pausch

(It's easy to look smart when you're parroting smart people.) — Randy Pausch

Never lose the child like wonder. It's just too important. It's what drives us. Help others. — Randy Pausch

Fuel your kids' dreams. Sometimes, that means letting them stay up past their bedtimes. — Randy Pausch

The brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough. They are there to stop the other people! — Randy Pausch

Tenacity got me over the brick wall. — Randy Pausch

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

One thing that makes it possible to be an optimist is if you have a contingency plan for when all hell breaks loose. — Randy Pausch

Anyone who knows me well will tell you that arrogance is one of my flaws. — Randy Pausch

When there's an elephant in the room introduce him. — Randy Pausch

No matter how bad the circumstance it could always be worse. — Randy Pausch

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. — Randy Pausch

It was a hot summer night, and I had the soundtrack to Disney's The Lion King blasting on my stereo. Tears actually began streaming down my face as I drove past the building. Here I was, the grown-up version of that wide-eyed eight-year-old at Disneyland. I had finally arrived. I was an Imagineer. — Randy Pausch

One of the greatest life lessons I've learned has been to dream new dreams. When a dream is fulfilled, it shouldn't become a straitjacket, constricting a person's evolution and progress. Instead, it should be a stepping-stone to the next thing. When a dream shatters, you should pick up the pieces and create a new one. It won't be the same as the broken one, but you can hope it will be as vibrant and as exciting. — Jai Pausch

Take Time Out. It's not a real vacation if you're reading email or calling in for messages. — Randy Pausch

Tenacity is a virtue, but it's not always crucial for everyone to observe
how hard you work at something. — Randy Pausch

We've placed a lot of emphasis in this country on the idea of people's rights. That's how it should be, but it makes no sense to talk about rights without also talking about responsibilities. — Randy Pausch

you're only as good as your word, — Randy Pausch

For Jai and me, our dented cars became a statement in our marriage. Not everything needs to be fixed. — Randy Pausch

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. — Randy Pausch

People lie for lots of reasons, often because it seems like a way to get what they want with less effort. — Randy Pausch

I always thought every day was a gift, but now I am looking for where to send the thank you note. — Randy Pausch

Want to have a short phone call with someone? Call them at 11:55 a.m., right before lunch. They'll talk fast. You may think you are interesting, but you are not more interesting than lunch. — Randy Pausch

All my life, I've been very aware that time is finite. — Randy Pausch

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

You don't beat the grim reaper by living longer; you beat the grim reaper by living better. — Randy Pausch

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