Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.

check out the video version at http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/videos/51.html

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

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. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

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.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. 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.

My third story is about death.

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.

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.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

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.

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.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. 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.

Thank you all very much.

I WILL WAIT

A big flood hit a village. Everyone was evacuated and
fled for safety, except for one man who said, “God will
save me. I have faith.” As the water level rose, a jeep
came to rescue him but he refused help and said, “God
will save me. I have faith.” As the water level rose
further, he went up to the second story, and a boat
came to help him. Again he refused to go saying, “God
will save me. I have faith.” The water kept rising and
finally he climbed to the roof. A helicopter came to
rescue him, but he said, “God will save me. I have
faith.” Finally he drowned. When he came face to face
with his Maker he angrily commented, “I have complete
faith in you. Why did you ignore my prayers and let me
drown?” The Lord replied, “Who do you think sent the
jeep, the boat, and the helicopter?”

THE EAGLE AND THE OYSTER

Once there were two eggs discussing what they wanted to
be when they hatched. The first egg said, “I want to be
an oyster when I hatch. An oyster just lay in the water
and never has to make any decisions. The currents of
the ocean move it about, so it doesn’t have to plan.
The ocean water passing by brings its food. Whatever
the ocean provides is what the oyster receives, no
more, no less.” The first egg continued, “That’s the
life for me. It may be limited, but there are no
decisions and no responsibilities. There is a secured
existence controlled only by the ocean.”

The second egg said, “That’s not the life for me. I
wish to be an eagle. An eagle is free to go where it
wants and to do as it pleases. Of course it is
responsible for hunting its own food and making
survival decisions, but it is also free to fly as high
as the mountains.” The second egg continued, “The eagle
is in control, instead of being controlled by others. I
want no limits placed on me, nor do I want to be a
slave of the ocean. Consequently, I am willing to
expend the effort required to live the life of an
eagle.”

DON’T LET ANYBODY STEAL YOUR DREAM

Dexter Yager turned down a scholarship to Yale
University because he wanted to start his own free
enterprise business. He started with a jug of Kool-Aid
business and moved on to selling cars. He was involved
in a few other ventures but without much success.
Dexter and his wife, Birdie were later introduced to a
network marketing business in November 1965. With sheer
determination and commitment they built one of the most
successful and largest network in the world. Today,
they have achieved the highest possible level in their
network marketing business and have helped thousands of
people become successful. They have indeed achieved
their dreams of financial independence, and helping
people around the world to have a taste of freedom.
Dexter’s favorite saying is, “Don’t let anybody steal
your dream.”

BLIND GOLF

Ben Hogan was one of the greatest golfers of all time.
One day he was approached by a blind man, who praised
him for his great skill of golf! Ben Hogan asked the
blind man what he could do for him. The blind man said
that it was his life long dream to play a round of golf
with the great Ben Hogan. He added that he also wanted
to have a bet with Ben. Ben was of course hesitant
about the bet since there was no way that the blind man
was going to beat him. He did not want to win money
from a blind man. But the blind man kept on insisting,
and eventually Ben agreed to the bet. Ben looked at the
blind man and asked, “What time shall we play today?”
To which the blind man replied, “I will meet you at
this golf course at 9.00 pm tonight!”

TWO PATIENTS AT THE HOSPITAL

There were two patients in a small hospital room. They
were Tom and Bob. The room has only one window, and it
happened that Tom’s bed was by the window. Everyday,
Tom would relate to Bob about the beauty of the outside
world he saw through the window. He told Bob about the
trees with green leafs, the flowers blooming, the
weather, the children playing outside, and cars passing
by. This kept Bob entertained since he was unable to
see it for himself. However, as time went by, Bob
became envious of Tom. He thought to himself, how nice
it would be if he could see everything for himself. One
night, Tom was very sick, and he asked Bob to call for
help. Bob could have shouted for assistance, but he did
not do so. He secretly wished that Tom would die, so
that he could occupy the bed by the window. Tom did
die, and Bob was moved to the bed beside the window.
Bob was excited now that he had the opportunity to see
the outside world with his own eyes. However, to his
utter shock, the only view he got was a brick wall. He
realized that he had lost a true friend in Tom, but it
was too late now!

SHARPEN YOUR AXE

Allan, a woodcutter, was employed in a timber company
for ten years, yet he never got a raise. The company
later hired Richard to do the same job. However,
Richard got a raise within the first twelve months.
Allan was disappointed and decided to approach the
management of the company. He was told that his
production had never increased over the last ten years.
On the other hand Richard had cut more trees in the
period of one year. The company however promised to
give Allan a raise if his production goes up. He went
back to work and tried harder but unfortunately his
result did not improve. One day he happened to meet
Richard and decided to get Richard’s advice. Richard
told Allan that after he cut down a tree, he would take
a short break to sharpen his axe. Allan suddenly
realized that he was too busy cutting down trees that
he failed to take a break to sharpen his axe.

WHOSE TIME IS RIGHT?

There was a man who works as a foreman at a factory.
Every morning on his way to work , he would pass a
particular shop selling watches. He will stop in front
of the shop and adjust the time on his wrist watch, and
will then proceed to work. He will do this everyday.
The watch shop owner became very curious and one day
stopped the man and asked him what he was doing. The
man said that he was the foreman of the factory and
everyday it was his duty to ring the bell to sound the
alarm at 5.00pm to indicate that it was time to stop
work for the day. He wanted to be accurate with the
time and therefore everyday he would look at the big
clock in the shop to adjust the time on his wrist
watch. The shop owner started laughing! He said,
“Everyday at 5.00pm when the factory bell sounds the
alarm, I would quickly adjust the time on my clock”.

THE SHOE SALESMAN

There was a successful company that manufactured and
sold shoes. One day the management had a meeting to
consider opening their market in Africa. They sent one
of their top salesman to Africa to make a study of the
market potential there. Upon arriving in Africa he
noticed that most of the Africans were bare-footed. He
faxed home the message, “ Bad news, nobody wears shoes
here!” And he followed up with the report that there is
no market for shoes in Africa. The management
considered it wise to have a second opinion, and
decided to send another salesman to Africa to assess
the market there. Upon arrival in Africa, the second
salesman was so excited that he quickly faxed a message
back, “Good news, nobody wears shoes here!” He hurried
home and reported to the management, “Gentlemen, we are
going to be “rich”, there is a big market in Africa ,
and what we need to do is to educate them on the
benefits and importance of wearing shoes.”

THE MAGICIAN

Houdini was the greatest magician during his time. He
was also a fantastic locksmith, and boasted that he
could escape from any jail cell in the world in less
than one hour. A small town in the British Isles built
a new jail and issued Houdini the challenge. Houdini
loved challenges and there was a prize money offered,
so he accepted the challenge. When the big day
arrived, there was a large crowd present and the media
was also there to cover the special event. Houdini
confidently walked into the cell, and the door was
closed. He immediately took off his coat and went to
work. Hidden in his belt was a flexible, yet tough and
durable ten-inch piece of steel, which he used to work
on the lock. At the end of 30 minutes, his confidence
disappeared. At the end of an hour, he was soaked in
perspiration. After two hours, Houdini literally
collapsed against the door – which opened! The door had
never been locked, except in Houdini’s own mind.

CADILLAC CAR

There was once an old Indian who was poverty stricken.
But one day, he strike it big when oil was discovered
on his land. He became wealthy overnight and decided to
reward himself by buying a Cadillac touring car. In
those days, the Cadillac touring cars had two spare
tires on the back. The old Indian wanted to be
different and so he placed four spare tires at the back
of his car. He bought himself a beautiful suit and hat.
Everyday, with a cigar in his mouth he would drive into
the hot, dusty, little Oklahoma cowboy town nearby. He
wanted to show off his new car. He waved and spoke to
everyone that he passed by, on the right and on the
left. He sometimes turned all the way around to speak
to the folks. The strange thing is that he never ran
into anybody or over anybody. He never did hit anybody
or anything. Guess why? Directly in front of that big
beautiful car, there were two horses – pulling it!


"There are no hopeless situations; there are only
people who have grown hopeless about them."

WISDOM OF AGES

Once upon a time there was a king who wanted to compile
the “wisdom of ages”. He commissioned his wise men
together and asked them to carry out the urgent task
immediately, and condensed it into a book. The wise men
began their research and after one year they returned
with a thick book on the “wisdom of ages”. The king was
pleased, but requested them to condensed it further.
The wise men later came back with one chapter, and yet
the king insisted that it was too long. Finally, they
condensed it into a sentence. When the king read it he
was very pleased and said, “This is truly the wisdom of
ages.” The sentence simply said, “There are no free
lunch” – and there “aren’t”.

THE SMART DRIVER

There was once a very famous motivational speaker. He
had a driver who followed him to all his speaking
engagements. The driver saw and heard the motivational
speaker spoke so often that he knew word for word what
the motivational speaker was going to say. He became an
expert too. The driver told the motivational speaker
that he could speak just as well. One day when the
motivational speaker was not feeling well, the driver
asked for a chance to speak in his place. The
motivational speaker agreed and the driver went on
stage confidently and gave the best motivational speech
of his life. The motivational speaker was shocked
because the driver spoke and moved exactly like him.
The driver got a standing ovation from the big audience
at the end of his speech. After the speech, it was
question time. One of the audiences asked a very
difficult question. The driver knew that there was no
way he could answer the question. He paused for a
moment and confidently told the audience that the
question was too easy for him so he will ask his driver
(the motivational speaker) to answer it instead. Can you guess
who the speaker was.... none other than Albert Einstein !

INEVITABLE DREAM

There was a wealthy man who wanted to choose a husband
for his only daughter. One day he invited the eligible
young men from the whole town. During the occasion,
when everyone was present he made an announcement,
“Today, I am going to choose a husband for my daughter.
Anyone who can swim across this pool can have my
daughter’s hand in marriage and inherit half of my
wealth. The only challenge is that the pool is full of
alligators.” With that announcement everyone present
was silent. Suddenly, there was a loud splash, and in a
matter of seconds a young man swam across the pool to
the other side. Everybody cheered at the heroic feat of
the young man. The wealthy man walked towards the young
man and congratulated him. The young man said, “Sir, I
am not interested in marrying your daughter. What I
want to know is the name of the person who pushed me
into the pool?”


"So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then
they seem improbable, and then when we summon the will,
they soon become inevitable."

DREAM OF FLIGHT

In the late 1800s, a well-known bishop was travelling
the United States, speaking to religious and academic
leaders. At one of his stops, he was invited to have
dinner with some prominent leaders. During the dinner
he was asked, “What do you think the future holds for
us?” After a moment’s pause, he replied, “The future is
bleak, and in my opinion, we have discovered all there
is to discover, created all there is to create, and
invented all there is to invent.” One of the leaders
commented, “I think someday, man shall learn to fly
like the birds.” To this, the bishop replied, “You are
mad, flight is only reserved for the angels.” With that
statement he stormed out of the room. The good news was
that the bishop’s last name was Wright! Years later,
his two sons Orville and Wilbur, made the dream of
flying real on the windswept salt marshes of Kitty
Hawk.

FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT

She was born normal on 27th June 1880, in Tuscumbia,
Alabama. When she was 19 months old she had a severe
fever and illness which left her blind and deaf. As a
result she could not speak. Over the next five years
she was a problem child, always in uncontrollable rage
and violence. When she was seven years old her parents
sought help for the young girl. Help came in the form
of Annie Mansfield Sullivan. With love, patience, and
understanding given by Annie, the little girl gradually
awaken her intellectual faculty and was “born again”.
The stubborn, headstrong, self-willed, and almost
unmanageable child became patient, gentle and obedient.
She developed an eagerness to learn. At 16 years old
she could speak well enough to enter college, and she
later graduated from Radcliffe College.

After her graduation Helen Keller dedicated her life to
bringing messages of hope and courage to the
handicapped people everywhere. Helen Keller’s books
were translated into more than 50 languages. She
lectured in over 25 countries and raised millions of
dollars for the benefit of the blind.

TWENTY YEARS COMMITMENT

Oliver Napoleon Hill was born to a poor family in 1883.
He fought his way out of his backwoods Virginia town
with a burning desire to be successful. He was always
searching for ways to improve himself and was involved
in numerous ventures, including managing a coal-mine,
practicing law, and becoming a business journalist. His
big break came when he had the opportunity of meeting
Andrew Carnegie, the “Steel King”. Andrew Carnegie
asked Napoleon Hill if he would take up the challenge
of devoting 20 years of his life in order to prepare a
formula of success for helping others to become
successful. Andrew Carnegie would provide him with
letters of reference to meet hundreds of successful
people in the likes of Woodrow Wilson, Henry Ford,
Thomas Edison, Theodore Roosevelt, John D. Rockefeller,
to name a few. Napoleon Hill made his decision to take
up the challenge in less than 60 seconds. Later he came
to know that Andrew Carnegie had given him 60 seconds
to make up his mind, failing which he would have lost
his chance of undertaking the important assignment.
After 20 years of dedicated research in 1937 he came
out with his best seller, “Think And Grow Rich”, which
has helped countless of people around the world to
achieve success. One of his famous saying was,
“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it
can achieve”.

THE FASTEST WOMAN ON EARTH

Wilma Rudolph was born into poverty in the state of
Tennessee. When she was four years old she had double
pneumonia with scarlet fever, which left her paralyzed
with polio. She had to wear braces and the doctor said
that she would not be able to walk normally again. Her
mother encouraged her and said that she could do
anything she wanted if she only believed. Wilma said,
“I want to be the fastest woman on this earth.” At the
age of nine, against the advice of the doctors, she
removed the braces and took her first step. At the age
of thirteen, she took part in her first race and came
way, way last. She entered various other races and came
way, way last until one day, she came in first. At the
age of fifteen she went to Tennessee State University
where she met a coach. She told him that she wanted to
become the fastest woman on the track, on this earth.
The coach replied, “With your spirit nobody can stop
you.” In the 1960 Olympics Wilma Rudolph, the paralytic
girl, became the fastest woman on this earth by winning
three gold medals - in the 100 meter race, 200 meter
race, and 400 meter relay.


"The past cannot be regained, although we can learn
from it; the future is not yet ours even though we must
plan for it. Time is now. We have only today."

THE DREAMER

Joseph was a dreamer, and he had the gift to interpret
dreams. He was his father’s favorite and had a good
life until one day, out of jealousy, his eleven
brothers sold him as a slave to the Egyptians. He was
sold to an Egyptian Captain of the Guards. Because of
Joseph, the master was blessed and was very prosperous.
He found favor and was promoted to take charge of the
family and business affairs of the master. This did not
last long as one day he was falsely accused of seducing
the master’s wife, and was thrown into prison. In
prison, he again found favor and the Warden put him in
charge of all the prisoners’ welfare.

In the meantime, the Pharaoh’s cupbearer was also
thrown into prison. During the term of his
imprisonment, Joseph helped him to interpret his
bizarre dream. Later, the cupbearer was released from
prison and made a promise to Joseph that he would speak
to Pharaoh about Joseph’s innocence. Years went by and
the cupbearer forgot about his promise to Joseph.

One day, Pharaoh had a strange dream and none of his
advisers could interpret the dream. The cupbearer
suddenly remembered about Joseph and mentioned to
Pharaoh that Joseph may be able to help interpret the
dream. Pharaoh summoned Joseph to come before him, and
Joseph was able to interpret the dream. Joseph found
favor with the Pharaoh and was appointed as the Prime
Minister of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh.

FINGER LICKIN’ GOOD

FINGER LICKIN’ GOOD

He was 65 years old when he received his first social
security check of $99. He was broke, and owned a small
house and a beat up car. He made a decision that he has
got to change. The only idea he had was a chicken
recipe, which his friends liked. With that idea in
mind, he took massive action. He left his home in
Kentucky and traveled to many states in the US to sell
his idea. He told the restaurant owners that he had a
chicken recipe that people liked and he was giving it
to them for free. What he wanted in return was for the
restaurant owners to pay him a small percentage on the
pieces of chicken sold. He got rejections after
rejections, but did not give up. In fact, he got over
1000 rejections. He got 1009 no’s before he got his
first yes.

With that one success Colonel Harland Sanders changed
the eating habits of the whole world with Kentucky
Fried Chicken.

"Any man's life will be filled with constant and
unexpected encouragement if he makes up his mind to do
his level best each day."

SEE YOUR REACHING

The Catalina Island is twenty-one miles away from the
coast of California, and many people have taken the
challenge to swim across it. On July 4th 1952, Florence
Chadwick stepped into the water off Catalina Island to
swim across to the California coast. She started well
and on course, but later fatigue set in, and the
weather became cold. She persisted, but fifteen hours
later, numb and cold, she asked to be taken out of the
water.

After she recovered, she was told that she had been
pulled out only half a mile away from the coast. She
commented that she could have made it, if the fog had
not affected her vision and she would have just seen
the land. She promised that this would be the only time
that she would ever quit.

She went back to her rigorous training. And two months
later she swam that same channel. The same thing
happened. The fatigue set in, and the fog obscured her
view, but this time she swam with faith and vision of
the land in her mind. She knew that somewhere behind
the fog was land. She succeeded and became the first
woman to swim the Catalina Channel. She even broke the
men’s record by two hours.

"I can't do everything, but I can do something. If we
all did something, we could conquer anything."

SEARCH NO MORE

Ali Hafed was a farmer from Africa, who was happy and
contented. One day a priest came to visit him and told
him about the glory of diamonds and the power that goes
along with having them. The priest said, “If you have a
diamond the size of your thumb, you could have your own
city. If you had a diamond the size of your fist, you
could own the whole country.” After the priest left,
the farmer could not sleep that night. He became
unhappy and discontented with what he had, and the
whole night he thought to himself how rich and powerful
he would become if he could possess some diamonds.

The next morning, he sold off his farm, left his family
with his neighbor, and set off to search for diamonds.
He traveled all over Africa, but could not find any. He
looked all over Europe and couldn’t find any. Finally,
he became emotionally, physically and financially broke
and decided to take his own life by throwing himself
into the river.

Back home, the person who had bought his farm was
watering the camels at a stream that ran through the
farm. He suddenly saw a curious flash of light from the
white sands of the shallow stream. Reaching into the
water, he pulled out a rough stone that sparkled like
the colors of the rainbow. Finding the stone
interesting, he took it back to his house and placed it
as a decoration piece in his living room. One day the
priest came to visit, and saw the sparkling stone. He
exclaimed, “Here is a diamond! Is Hafed back?” The man
replied, “No, no, Hafed has not returned, and that is
not a diamond. It is only a stone I found right here in
the garden.” When the priest heard this, he declared,
“I know a diamond when I see one.”

Together they rushed out to the garden stream and began
searching. To their amazement, there came up other more
beautiful and valuable stones than the first. Thus, was
discovered the largest diamond mine in the world.

"Society is like a crowd in carnival costumes with
everyone fearful that others will see through his
disguise."

HE PLAYED HIS BEST

This is the story of Robby. He was a young boy who
lived with his elderly mother. His mother wanted him to
learn how to play the piano because she longed to hear
her son play for her. She sent her son to a piano
teacher who took Robby in under her guidance. However,
there was one small problem because Robby was not
musically inclined and therefore was very slow in
learning. The teacher did not have much faith in the
boy because of his weakness. The mother was very
enthusiastic and every week she would send Robby to the
teacher.

One day Robby stopped attending the piano lessons. The
teacher thought that he had given up and in fact she
was quite pleased since she did not give much hope to
Robby. Not long after, the piano teacher was given the
task to organize a piano concert in town. She sent out
circulars to invite the students and public to attend
the event. Suddenly, she received a call from Robby who
offered to take part in the concert. The teacher told
Robby that he was not good enough and that he was no
longer a student since he had stopped coming for
lessons. Robby begged her to give him a chance and
promised that he would not let her down.

Finally, she gave in and she put him to play last,
hoping that he will change his mind at the last minute.
When the big day came, the hall was packed and the
children gave their best performance. Finally, it was
Robby’s turn to play and as his name was announced, he
walked in. He was not in proper attire and his hair was
not properly groomed. The teacher was really nervous
since Robby’s performance could spoil the whole
evening’s brilliant performance. As Robby started
playing the crowd became silent and was amazed at the
skill of this little boy. In fact, he gave the best
performance of the evening. At the end of his
presentation the crowd and the piano teacher gave him a
standing ovation.
The crowd asked Robby how he managed to play so
brilliantly. With a microphone in front of him, he
said, “I was not able to attend the weekly piano
lessons as there was no one to send me because my
mother was sick with cancer. She just passed away this
morning and I wanted her to hear me play. You see, this
is the first time she is able to hear me play because
when she was alive she was deaf and now I know she is
listening to me. I have to play my best for her!”