Enemy of Entropy

R.I.P. Randy Pausch

26 July 2008, 5:48 am. Comments Off. Filed under News.

You remember all that buzz about “The Last Lecture” last September?¹ I do hope you watched it–it was well worth the time. It’s still available, too.

Randy Pausch, the lecturer, died yesterday. He was just 47, and leaves a wife and 3 small children. I know that he did that particular lecture because he knew that he had terminal cancer, but it’s still disappointing that such a wonderful man is gone far, far too soon.

A few quotations from the lecture:

“…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.”
“Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.”
“It’s not about how to achieve your dreams, it’s all about leading your life. If you lead your life in a right way, karma will take care of itself. And dreams will come to you.”
[Quoting a CMU secretary]“This advice is good for the ladies: when it comes to men that are romantically interested in you, it’s really simple: just don’t listen to anything they have to say; pay attention to what they do.” (Cynthia’s note: good advice for men and women!)
“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.”

¹ I found out today that the title of Randy’s lecture was actually “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.”

Tags: Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture