The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

In Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture at Carnegie Mellon University in the Fall of 2007, facing pancreatic cancer and the likelihood that he would only live a month or two, Randy summed up his life’s wisdom for his kids (then 1,2, and 5). He gave his lecture to several hundred in a CMU auditorium, but it has now been viewed on YouTube by millions of Americans.

The lecture was made into a book with some things added to it. It is such a great book with such good advice. Here are some of my favorite quotes.

"When there’s an elephant in the room introduce him"

"Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want something badly enough. They are there to keep out the other people."

"Tell The Truth. All The Time." (I had to put this in for Julie. This is also her mantra.)

"Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted…."

"Find the best in everybody. Just keep waiting no matter how long it takes. No one is all evil. Everybody has a good side, just keep waiting, it will come out."

"When you are doing something badly and no one’s bothering to tell you anymore, that’s a very bad place to be. Your critics are the ones still telling you they love you and care."

This is a fabulous book. Kailey let me borrow this book when we were camping. She said one of her teachers gave it to her when she graduated. That is a great idea. I think I will do that in the future. Thank you Kailey.