Public transcript

Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

By: Stanford
Length: 15 min
Language: English
Text from: the video's captions
Transcribed: 27 September 2026

Read the full transcript Open on YouTube

Notes in English.

Summary

Steve Jobs delivers Stanford's 2005 commencement address, telling three stories from his life: dropping out of college and connecting the dots, being fired from Apple and finding what you love, and facing death through a cancer diagnosis. He concludes with the message to follow your heart, not waste time living someone else's life, and to "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."

Key points

Jobs dropped out of Reed College after six months but stayed as a drop-in for 18 more months, and a calligraphy class he took then later shaped the Macintosh's typography.
He argues you cannot connect the dots looking forward, only looking backwards, so you must trust that they will connect in your future.
Jobs was fired from Apple at 30 after the Board sided with another executive, which he later called the best thing that could have happened to him.
During his five years away he started NeXT and Pixar, made Toy Story, and met his wife Laurene.
He advises graduates to keep looking for work they love and never settle, because the only way to do great work is to love what you do.
A cancer scare a year earlier reminded him that death clears out the old to make way for the new, and that your time is limited.
He closes by quoting The Whole Earth Catalog's farewell message: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."
chapters

Questions it answers

00:00Introduction

What is the structure of Steve Jobs' commencement address?

Jobs tells the graduates he is honored to speak, admits he never graduated from college, and says he will tell three stories from his life — no big deal, just three stories.

The speech is organized around three personal stories.
Jobs notes this is the closest he has ever gotten to a college graduation.

00:55Dropping Out

Why did Steve Jobs drop out of college?

After six months at Reed College, he saw no value in spending all of his working-class parents' savings on tuition when he had no idea what he wanted to do with his life. He dropped out and trusted it would work out, calling it one of the best decisions he ever made.

He stayed as a drop-in for about 18 months after dropping out.
He slept on friends' floors, returned coke bottles for deposits, and walked 7 miles to the Hare Krishna temple for a weekly meal.

03:14Calligraphy Class

How did a calligraphy class influence the Macintosh?

Because he had dropped out, Jobs took a calligraphy class at Reed, learning about serif and san serif typefaces and typography. Ten years later, when designing the first Macintosh, it all came back and the Mac became the first computer with beautiful typography, which Windows later copied.

Reed College offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country.
Without that class, the Mac would never have had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts.

04:47Connecting the Dots

What does Jobs mean by connecting the dots?

You cannot connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will connect in your future — trust your gut, destiny, life, or karma — which gives you the confidence to follow your heart even off the well-worn path.

Trusting the dots will connect makes all the difference.
Following curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless for him.

05:38Fired from Apple

How did Steve Jobs get fired from the company he started?

As Apple grew, he hired someone talented to run the company with him, but their visions diverged and they had a falling out. The Board of Directors sided with the other person, and at 30 Jobs was out, very publicly. It was devastating, but he realized he still loved what he did and decided to start over.

Apple had grown from two people in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees.
He felt he had let down the previous generation of entrepreneurs.

07:17Starting Over

What came out of Jobs being fired from Apple?

Being freed from the heaviness of success, he entered one of his most creative periods: he started NeXT and Pixar, fell in love with Laurene, and Pixar created Toy Story, the world's first computer animated feature film. Apple later bought NeXT and he returned, with NeXT's technology at the heart of Apple's renaissance.

He calls getting fired the best thing that could have ever happened to him.
"Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith."

07:59Find What You Love

What does Jobs say about finding work you love?

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 and don't settle — you'll know when you find it, and like a great relationship it gets better as the years roll on.

Work will fill a large part of your life.
Keep looking. Don't settle.

09:05Death and the Daily Question

How does Jobs use thoughts of death to make choices?

Since age 17, he has looked in the mirror every morning and asked whether he would want to do what he is about to do if today were his last day. When the answer is no for too many days in a row, he changes something. Remembering you'll be dead soon strips away external expectations, pride and fear, leaving only what is truly important.

"You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."
Remembering death is the best way to avoid thinking you have something to lose.

Notes

Overview

Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford commencement address is built around three stories from his life: connecting the dots, love and loss, and death.

Story One: Connecting the Dots

Jobs never graduated from college; he dropped out of Reed College after six months but stayed around as a drop-in for about 18 more months.
He was adopted at birth; his biological mother only signed the adoption papers when his parents promised he would go to college.
Dropping out let him follow his curiosity, including a calligraphy class covering serif and san serif typefaces and typography.
Ten years later, that class shaped the Macintosh, the first computer with beautiful typography; Windows copied the Mac, so personal computers broadly benefited.
Lesson: "You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards." Trust in something — gut, destiny, life, karma — and follow your heart even off the well-worn path.

Story Two: Love and Loss

Jobs and Woz started Apple in his parents' garage when he was 20; in 10 years it grew into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees.
At 30, after a falling out, the Board of Directors sided with the other executive and Jobs was publicly fired.
He realized he still loved what he did, and being fired became "the best thing that could have ever happened" — it freed him to start NeXT and Pixar and to meet his wife Laurene.
Apple later bought NeXT, and its technology is at the heart of Apple's renaissance.
Lesson: "You've got to find what you love... If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle."

Story Three: Death

For 33 years Jobs asked himself each morning: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?"
A year before the speech he was diagnosed with a tumor on his pancreas, initially thought incurable, but a biopsy revealed a rare curable form and he had surgery.
Death is "Life's change agent" — it clears out the old to make way for the new.
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life."