As a blogger on 10/6/11, the internet requires me (as it should) to post some sort of tribute to the late Steve Jobs. I’m pretty much at a loss for words; but, I’ll give it a shot anyhow. What more is there to say that hasn’t already been said? The guy was too big for words.

I, along with a good portion of the world population, read about his death on a device that he created. Who else can that be said for? Wow.

It is no stretch to say that, without Jobs, the world would be without:

computers as we know them
music as we listen to it
movies as we see them
smart phones as we use them
turtlenecks as we wear them

The man will be remembered among the likes of Thomas Edison. He revolutionized everything he touched.

A couple of my biggest take-aways from the legacy of Steve Jobs

1. The man was a testament to what we can accomplish if we mesh big, audacious visions with relentless hard work. Passion + diligence = power.
2. Upon getting fired from the company he created (ouch), the dude created Pixar. My mandatory leave of absence would have been spent hopelessly begging for another chance…and this guy creates Pixar!? Wow. This is hugely inspiring to me….and should be equally inspiring to the contingency of our country that is able-bodied, yet content to grumble about the state of the world while drawing unemployment checks and watching re-runs of Days of Our Lives. Fact: grumbling about the unfair hand life has dealt you (ala the Occupy Wall Street movement) doesn’t change the world. Capitalizing on the crazy-good-first-world-hand that life has dealt you can change the world.

One quick note regarding crazy people:

Dear Westboro people: your hypocritical antics are not gospel. In fact, they resemble no form of any religion…not even the really crazy ones. What on earth is wrong with you people?

Back to the man…here are a few of my favorite Steve Jobs quotes:

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.”

“That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”

“It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” (from this brilliant speech at Stanford)

Other great Steve Jobs-related links:

List of Steve Jobs’ patents

Mashable: Steve Jobs Remembered: 10 of His Most Magical Moments (Videos)

2005 Stanford Commencement Address