The exact words
The speech
In June 2005 Steve Jobs, then running both Apple and Pixar, gave the commencement address at Stanford University. He had never finished college himself, and he built the speech around three personal stories: dropping out of Reed College and following his curiosity, being fired from the company he founded, and facing death after a cancer diagnosis the year before. It was short, plain and personal, and it has since become one of the most-watched graduation speeches ever.
For his ending, Jobs talked about a publication he loved as a teenager, the Whole Earth Catalog, created by Stewart Brand. He described it as a kind of Google in paperback form, decades before Google existed. When the catalog published its final issue in the mid-1970s, the back cover showed a photograph of an early-morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on, and beneath it the words “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” Jobs said he had always wished that for himself, and he wished it for the graduates.
What it means
“Stay hungry” is about ambition and curiosity: never feeling that you have arrived. “Stay foolish” is about the courage to try things that might fail, to be a beginner, to risk looking naive. Coming from Jobs, who had been fired from Apple and returned to rebuild it, the advice carried the weight of experience.
How to use it
The line is a natural graduation closer and works at retirements and career changes too. Crediting the Whole Earth Catalog as Jobs did is accurate and adds a good story. Keep quotations from the speech short; the full transcript is published by Stanford.
What people get wrong
A motto Steve Jobs made up.
Jobs was quoting the farewell message of the Whole Earth Catalog, a publication he loved as a teenager. He made it famous; he didn't write it.
Timeline
- 1968Stewart Brand launches the Whole Earth Catalog, a counterculture guide to tools and ideas that Jobs later calls a kind of Google in paperback form.
- Mid-1970sThe final issue's back cover shows a photo of an early-morning country road with the words “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.”
- June 12, 2005Jobs ends his Stanford commencement speech by describing that cover and repeating its farewell message to the graduates.
- TodayThe speech has been viewed tens of millions of times online and is one of the most-watched commencement addresses ever.
Use it in a speech
Questions people ask
Who said “Stay hungry, stay foolish”?
Steve Jobs made it famous at the end of his Stanford commencement speech on June 12, 2005, but he was quoting the back cover of the final issue of the Whole Earth Catalog.
What does it mean?
“Stay hungry” means keep your ambition and curiosity. “Stay foolish” means keep being willing to try things that might fail or look naive.
What was the Whole Earth Catalog?
A counterculture publication started by Stewart Brand in 1968, listing tools, books and ideas for self-reliant living. Jobs called it one of the bibles of his generation.
Cite this quote
These cite the original source directly, so you can use them in an essay or paper. Always check your teacher's required style.