Randy Pausch - The Last Lecture

Today I watched a video, The Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams by Randy Pausch, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. What an inspiration! He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given only a few months to live when he did this lecture. Fantastic human being. I was really moved by his phenominal positive attitude. He passed away 25 July 2008, age 47.

Not even death could bring this man down and the dreams he sought to come true can inspire us all. He was a rare combination of scientific genius and artistic imagination.

His lecture became a hit on YouTube with over 10 million views (and counting) and he became an accidental celebrity overnight. Do yourself a favour and watch the video:

The Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams



Shortened version of the speech, on Oprah



Diane Sawyer's moving interview with Randy Pausch

Videos: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

Some memorable quotes from Randy
Source

• We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.


• Have something to bring to the table, because that will make you more welcomed.


• Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted.


• When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody's bothering to tell you anymore, that's a very bad place to be. Your critics are the ones telling you they still love you and care.


• You get people to help you by telling the truth; by being earnest. I'll take an earnest person over a hip person every day, because hip is short-term, earnest is long term.


• Do not tell people how to live their lives. Just tell them stories. And they will figure out how those stories apply to them.

RIP Randy.