Last night I went to bed sad. The world lost a visionary. A do-er. A creative genius. All too soon.

We found out while we were out having a fun dinner at Guu to celebrate my 29th birthday; I slipped away to the restroom and my husband checked his iPhone. An email from his dad said it all. And just like that, my husband had lost his hero.

We got home and told the world of our sadness using our multitude of apple devices (I’m a 2005 convert while my husband’s had macs since he was a kid). And went to bed sad.

I woke up sad. But then my newsfeed, twitter stream, pinterest board, and rss reader were full of inspiration. And I’m not feeling as sad anymore. The world lost a man too soon, but that man left behind a message. A message of change. A message of vision. A message of figuring out what you love to do and going out there and doing it. And for that, Steve, I thank you.

Remember friends.  Do what you love.  Make a difference in your own world.

WSJ – 1993

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful … that’s what matters to me.”

Stanford Commencement Address – 2005, text, video

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

…

“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.”

…

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life … 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.”

…

“On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.”

Think Different Campaign – 1997

“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 invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

We make tools for these kinds of people.

While some 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.”

*Thumbnail image from Texas Farmer’s Daughter found on Pinterest