Tag: steve jobs

“I play the orchestra. And you’re a good musician.”

From: Steve Jobs (2015 film)

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Steve Jobs

The story behind the quote: This week’s quote comes from Steve Jobs, the 2015 biopic. The film is actually based on Steve Jobs’ autobiography and the screenplay was written by Aaron Sorkin. The film doesn’t really focus on Jobs’ entire life but mostly during the backstage events of some of his reveals.

The quote comes from the middle of the film. Steve Jobs (played by Michael Fassbender) has been removed from Apple and has founded a new company called NeXT. Jobs is about to reveal the NeXT computer and meets with Steve Wozniak (played by Seth Rogen). Wozniak confronts Jobs about his supposed “genius” label as Jobs doesn’t actually do anything. This is when Steve Job delivers the quote.

Geek wisdom: Some people are just visionaries and are able to get things done, despite not having the knowledge to actually do it. These are the people that recognize others’ potential, can draw the best out of them and putting everything together to make the individual parts greater than their sum.

While these same people may seem like leeches who only use others, a lot of what we have in society wouldn’t be possible without these imaginative people.

“Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.”

From: Back to the Future

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: Doc Brown

The story behind the quote: After repairing the timeline (somewhat) and coming back from 1955, Marty McFly (played by Michael J. Fox) is about to go to the lake with his girlfriend, Jennifer Parker (played by Claudia Wells in the first film, then portrayed by Elizabeth Shue in the succeeding films… long story). Before they can leave, however, Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) comes racing back in the Delorean time machine.

The Doc tells Marty that he has to come with him to the future since there’s going to be a problem with his and Jennifer’s children. After they all board the Delorean, Marty comments that they won’t have enough road to reach the required 88 mph to travel through time. Doc smiles and states “Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads” before converting the vehicle into a flying car and speeding off into the year 2015.

Geek wisdom: It’s difficult to take risks or be different from the pack. There’s always the chance of failure and ridicule from others for doing your own thing. However, a lot of the things we take for granted were due to these risk-takers and different individuals. If it weren’t for creative people like the Wright brothers, Steve Jobs, and other like them, a lot of our modern conveniences wouldn’t be invented. These people did not have any clear trail to follow. They blazed their own.

When we are children, we are taught to be creative and not to be afraid of making mistakes. Even as adults, we’re told to “think outside the box.” Easy in theory, but extremely hard to do in real life. We all have our comfort zones we like to be in and that’s fine. But it is nice to take a step off the safe path once in a while. Its when we get off the road we usually see something different.