Vanessa Sim
Dr. Womack
EGLS 005
January, 21, 2014
5 Quotations
Out of the three commencements that I have read, I liked “You’ve got to find what you love” by
Steve Jobs. The reason why I picked this commencement is not that I agree with everything what Jobs
said, but I have strong opinions to what he said.
(H)The first quotation I picked was “It was pretty scary at the time when I decided to drop out
some classes that I don’t think it will help me figure out what I want to do, but looking back It was one of
the best decision I ever made.” This sentence sounds little indefinite to me. Jobs can say he is not
regretting about the decisions that he made in the past, but I think it’s because he became successful by
making that decision. What if he didn’t become successful and he’s life now is very difficult? He wouldn’t
be able to say confidently that taking risk was the best decisions he ever made.
(I)The second quotation I picked was “I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in
friends’ rooms. I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with. And much of what I
stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.” What Jobs
saying is that difficulties that he had in college became a priceless memory. Some people’s life is very
harsh. For some people, sleeping on the floor in friends’ rooms, and save money to buy food could be a
priceless memory, because they’ve never experienced that kind of harsh life. However, for some people,
that kind of harsh life is their everyday life that all they wish to do is to escape from their deprived life.
Everyone’s circumstances are different. Therefore, we can’t judge our own experience thoughtlessly.
(B)The third quotation I picked was “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only
connect them by looking backwards. So you have to trust that dots will somehow connect your future.”I
really agree with this quotation. What Jobs mean by in this quotation is that we have to trust what we’re
doing. If we don’t trust what we’re doing, then we can’t accomplish anything. We have to believe
ourselves that we can do it. However, one contradiction in this sentence is we can’t just trust ourselves
without working hard. In order to be successful, we have to work extra hard and trust what we’re doing,
then that will lead us to the better future.
(G)The forth quotation I picked was “Don’t lose faith. You’ve got to find what you love.” In this
dogmatic sounded sentence, there’s hidden meaning behind it. When I first read this part, I thought the
way Jobs says it sounded like a dogmatic assertion, because not all people can do what they love to do
due to their different circumstances. However, after I read this sentence couple times, I realized he
really mean by is that if we don’t give up on what we’re doing then someday we’ll get the benefit by not
giving up and learn how to face obstacles. However, I also think that love what you do is more important
than do what you love, because it is more realistic than the others.
(F)The last quotation I picked was “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s
life.” I honestly think no one would disagree with this quotation, because this quotation is so true. Most
people tend to bound by what other people think and try to accommodate their life into other people’s
life. People need to follow what they really want to be not what other people want them to be.