by Jason Snell

20 years of ‘Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish’

The Steve Jobs Archive has remastered his classic Stanford commencement address for its 20th anniversary:

It’s not an obvious candidate for a classic. A commencement address by a college dropout. A talk aimed at 22-year-olds that warns “You will gradually become the old and be cleared away.” A text as shadowed by reality as soaring with inspiration: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”

There are also a remarkable set of emails that Jobs sent himself with notes about what he wanted to say in his speech, and a lot of details (like his nerves, and Apple PR’s attempts to suggest things for him to say) that I hadn’t heard before.

It remains one of the most remarkable speeches you will ever hear. And certainly one of the best things to ever happen at Stanford Stadium.¹