Steve Jobs is known as one of the best businessmen in history and there are a lot of reasons for it. We all know that he was the chief executive officer, chairman, and co-founder of Apple Inc. Throughout his life, he kept inspiring a lot of people with the things he said and he also set a lot of examples for young entrepreneurs. The world lost a true visionary on October 5th, 2011. We lost a man who inspired the world with everything he said and did.

Remembering him today, let’s have a look at some of the things he said and talked about. I’ll share some of his best quotes and their meanings. Steve Jobs inspires me a lot and I am sure that you also will be inspired by his quotes. So, here are some quotes by Steve Jobs that will inspire you to the core:

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower”

A follower is someone who follows orders and a leader is someone who sets an example. We must learn the difference between the two and then decide who we want to be. If you want to be a leader, you must master the art of innovation. This is because you need to set an example to be a good leader and you will only be a good leader by setting an example with your actions and work. You are the one who must stay true to the statement ‘lead by example’ with the help of your innovation.

“Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected”

It’s a popular saying “we are a product of where we come from”. Well, there is another one that I believe in “we are also a product of where we are right now”. This means that if you hang around people who believe in an excellent performance, you’ll automatically be inspired to deliver an excellent performance. However, Steve Jobs says that some people aren’t used to such an environment. What he does here is very clever. By saying this, he is challenging everyone to be in an environment where everyone is expected to deliver excellent performance. It’s on you how to take this quote actually.

“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”

Steve Jobs wants to say that dying rich is not what matters to him, instead, he wants to feel that he has done something wonderful every day. There’s a huge difference between the two and we must always aim for the later. People will not respect you because of your financial status, they will respect you because of the wonderful things that you have done for the world. Work every day as if it is your last day and hence your last chance to do something amazing. Do this and you will go to bed at night as a happy person.

“Be a yardstick of quality”

A yardstick is a very long measuring device. Technically speaking, it’s a yard long divided in inches and is used to measure long objects and distances. What Steve Jobs wants to say is that our work must have quality. Being a yardstick of quality means being able to deliver the work that is extremely rich in quality. Nothing can stop you from achieving greatness if your work has quality more than quantity. Well, quantity is also important sometimes, however, if it doesn’t have quality and I mean good quality, then your work will not be that much praisable. So, we must always focus on quality first and then on quantity.

“Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations”

As mentioned in one of the above paragraphs, innovation is important to be a great leader. However, you are bound to make a few mistakes while innovating. While most of the people keep stressing on those mistakes, Steve Jobs believed that learning from those mistakes as quickly as possible is the right thing to do. Also, we must use the knowledge we have gained from those mistakes in our future innovations. Doing this will help us in improving the quality and productivity of our work.

“I want to put a ding in the universe”

A ding is a sound that is sharp and is heard by everyone around. Steve Jobs said that he wanted to put a ding in the universe and this means that he wanted the story of his success being heard all over. Well, universe can refer to only the Earth here because technically it’s impossible to put a ding through space as sound cannot travel in space because there are no molecules that can vibrate out there. And yes, he did put a ding in on Earth. I don’t think that there is anyone who doesn’t know who Steve Jobs was. That’s what I call ‘inspiration’.