Steve Jobs’ Last Words Were a Warning About the Pursuit of Wealth-Incorrectly Attributed!
Summary of eRumor:
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs’ last words were written in an essay in which he called himself a “twisted being” who had foolishly dedicated his life to the pursuit of wealth.
The Truth:
Steve Jobs’ last words were not written in a deathbed essay about wealth and happiness.
The essay, which was written by an unknown author, was falsely presented as Steve Jobs’ last words as he lay dying from pancreatic cancer in 2011. An excerpt of the so-called Steve Jobs’ last words essay reads:
I reached the pinnacle of success in the business world. In others’ eyes, my life is an epitome of success.
However, aside from work, I have little joy. In the end, wealth is only a fact of life that I am accustomed to.
At this moment, lying on the sick bed and recalling my whole life, I realize that all the recognition and wealth that I took so much pride in, have paled and become meaningless in the face of impending death.
In the darkness, I look at the green lights from the life supporting machines and hear the humming mechanical sounds, I can feel the breath of god of death drawing closer…
Now I know, when we have accumulated sufficient wealth to last our lifetime, we should pursue other matters that are unrelated to wealth…
Should be something that is more important:
Perhaps relationships, perhaps art, perhaps a dream from younger days
Non-stop pursuing of wealth will only turn a person into a twisted being, just like me.
The author of that essay isn’t known, but it has been falsely attributed to Steve Jobs on many blog and social media sites across the Internet.
But accounts of Steve Jobs’ final moments by his family members and by biographer Walter Isaacson make no mention of a deathbed essay or final words uttered by Steve Jobs about the dangers of a life devoted to pursuing wealth.
Steve Jobs’ sister, the novelist Mona Simpson, recounted the Apple co-founders final moments in a eulogy that was published by the New York Times at the time of his death in October 2011. In the eulogy, Simpson recalled Steve Jobs’ final words and his final hours:
He seemed to be climbing.
But with that will, that work ethic, that strength, there was also sweet Steve’s capacity for wonderment, the artist’s belief in the ideal, the still more beautiful later.
Steve’s final words, hours earlier, were monosyllables, repeated three times.
Before embarking, he’d looked at his sister Patty, then for a long time at his children, then at his life’s partner, Laurene, and then over their shoulders past them.
Steve’s final words were:
OH WOW. OH WOW. OH WOW.
Also, a profound deathbed essay written by Steve Jobs about the life, death and the pursuit of wealth would have been highlighted in “Steve Jobs,” the definitive biography written by Walter Isaacson. No such essay is mentioned in the book.