The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams
Delivered on September 18, 2007, at Carnegie Mellon University shortly after receiving a terminal pancreatic cancer diagnosis, sharing profound life lessons about dreams, perseverance, and helping others.
Full Transcript
We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.
The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.
When you’re doing something wrong and nobody tells you anymore, that’s a bad place to be. The people who love you are the ones who criticize you and tell you when you’re slipping.
It’s not about how to achieve your dreams; it’s about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself, the dreams will come to you.
Defining Key Excerpts
"The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something."
"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand."
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