This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Computer Science Professor and Human-Computer Interaction, gave upbeat lecture and wrote book called "The Last Lecture" when diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer
"The fact that fashion goes out of fashion and then comes back into fashion based solely on what a few people somewhere think they can sell, well to me, that?s insanity."
"The great thing about working out at a gym is that if you put in effort, you get very obvious results. The same should be true of college. A professor?s job is to teach students how to see their minds growing in the same way they can see their muscles grow when they look in a mirror."
"The new version that we're now beginning on will gradually morph into a more traditional Java programming environment. So we're talking about the training wheels gradually dropping off."
"There are academic formalities cannot ignore, even when a person is busy doing other things, like trying to stay alive."
"The person who failed often knows how to avoid future failures."
"There are more ways than one to measure profits and losses."
"There should be some lessons learned and how you can use the stuff you hear today to achieve your dreams or enable the dreams of others. And as you get older, you may find that enabling the dreams of others thing is even more fun."
"The thing you have to do in the face of man: Ignore everything they say and see all that they do. That will help reduce the huge mistake .."
"They?re not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something."
"This is a dormitory in Thailand that my mom and dad underwrote. And every year about 30 students get to go to school who wouldn't have otherwise. This is something my wife and I have also been involved in heavily. And these are the kind of things that I think everybody ought to be doing. Helping others."
"There's a formality in academia that can't be ignored, even if a man is busy with other things, like trying not to die."
"They?re the fighters. They?re the ones who thrive."
"They were thinking: I don?t know who this guy is, but I?m definitely coming to class tomorrow to check out his next stunt. I sure got their attention. That?s always the first step to solving an ignored problem."
"This is not some little crumb that got tossed. This is the most valuable intellectual property owned by the largest video game maker in the world. For the intended demographic we're trying to teach, 'The Sims' are more valuable than the Disney library."
"Through the whole ordeal, I don't think we ever said to each other: This isn't fair. We just kept going. We recognized that there were things we could do that might help the outcome in a positive ways...and we did them. Without saying it in words, our attitude was, Let's saddle up and ride."
"Though I am not a fan of TV - it's mankind's greatest time-waster, the gift was completely appropriate, since I'll be in bed so much at the end. TV will be one of my last links to the outside world."
"This was something of a revelation to her. And she took my advice. She became a Tuesday-night waitress and soon enough paid off her debts. After that, she could go back to yoga and really breathe easier."
"Through tears, she couldn?t ask the hardest question. But I had the answer. He?s moving."
"Throughout my academic career, I'd given some pretty good talks. But being considered the best speaker in the computer science department is like being known as the tallest of the Seven Dwarfs. And right then, I had the feeling that I had more in me, that if I gave it my all, I might be able to offer people something special. Wisdom is a strong word, but maybe that was it."
"To be clich‚, death is a part of life and it?s going to happen to all of us. I have the blessing of getting a little bit of advance notice and I am able to optimize my use of time down the home stretch."
"To deal with her stress, she would go every Tuesday night to a meditation and yoga class. This was her one free night, and she said it seemed to be helping her. She would breathe in, imagining that she was finding ways to deal with her debts. She would breathe out, telling herself that her money problems would one day be behind her."
"Today's talk is about my childhood dreams and how I have achieved them. How I believe I've been able to enable the dream of others, and lessons learned."
"Turn money into time ? especially important for people with kids."
"Until his last lecture ever anyone at Carnegie Mellon, and this applies to both teachers and students, I said that I was denied. I feared? I was not smart enough for their company? If I am not experiencing serious? Interestingly, there are secrets that you want to discover only at the end of life? I tell this story because her message is that if something you want badly enough, never give up (and get help if you offer)."
"Walls aren't put in our life to stop us, they are there to test how much we really want somthing."
"Until you got ice cream spilled on you, you?re not doing field work."
"We can't change the cards we're dealt, just how we play the hand."
"We can't change it. We have to decide how we'll respond."
"We found that when we targeted Alice as a storytelling vehicle, girls were three times as likely to be engaged and motivated to write computer software, as opposed to just moving 3-D characters around."
"We keep what is valuable to us, what we cherish."
"Well, you can?t have just some of me, Jai, I told her. You appreciate the part of me that didn?t get angry because two ?things? we own got hurt. But the flip side of that is my belief that you don?t repair things if they still do what they?re supposed to do. The cars still work."
"We have a finite amount of time. Whether short or long, it doesn?t matter. Life is to be lived."
"We've placed a lot of emphasis in this country on the idea of people's rights. That's how it should be, but it makes no sense to talk about rights without also talking about responsibilities."
"What he said was: "You obviously don't know where the bar should be, and you're only going to do a disservice by putting it anywhere." And boy was that good advice. Because what he said was, you obviously don?t know where the bar should be, and you?re only going to do them a disservice by putting it anywhere."
"When giving an apology, any performance lower than an A really doesn?t cut it."
"What is the most appropriate thing to say to a friend who was about to die. He answered: tell your friend that in his death, a part of you dies and goes with him. Whenever he goes, you also g. He will not be alone."
"When it comes to men who are romantically interested in you, it?s really simple. Just ignore everything they say and only pay attention to what they do."
"When I asked him when I die, he replied that I would probably be pretty healthy next three to six months. It reminded me of my visit to Disneyland. If you were to ask their employees when the park closes they usually respond that the park is open until eight in the evening."
"When the waitress brought a dish, I congratulated her on the pregnancy. - You must be very happy - I said."
"When I was in high school, I decided to paint my bedroom [shows slides of bedroom]. I always wanted a submarine and an elevator... And the great thing about this is they let me do it. And they didn't get upset about it. And it's still there. If you go to my parent's house it's still there. And anybody who is out there who is a parent, if your kids want to paint their bedroom, as a favor to me let them do it. It'll be OK. Don't worry about resale value on the house."
"When I was fifteen, I worked in the orchard and picking strawberries. Most of the other workers were day laborers. We've been doing some teachers, so earning extra money for the summer. I mentioned it to my father and said, it seems to me that this work below their level. (I guess I thought that was beneath me.) Got verbal soup what I'll remember. My father believed that physical work cannot be below one's level. He said he would prefer to become the best trenchers in the world than to lazily creeping like a smug elitist behind any office desk. He went back to the orchard, which does not mean that we can now work more like him. Anyway, I remember my father's words. I changed my attitude and diligently went to work."
"When they [parents and educators] talk of building self-esteem, they often resort to empty flattery rather than character-building honesty. I've heard so many people talk of a downward spiral in our educational system, and I think one key factor is that there is too much stroking and too little real feedback."
"When there?s an elephant in the room introduce him."
"When told by a female colleague about how a girl can pick the right guy, she said... "When it comes to men who are romantically interested in you, it's really simple. Just ignore everything they say and only pay attention to what they do.""
"When you are doing something badly and no one?s bothering to tell you anymore, that?s a very bad place to be. Your critics are the ones still telling you they love you and care."
"When we make something hard to use, people get upset. They become so angry that they want to destroy it. We don?t want to create things that people will want to destroy."
"When you do something young enough and you train for it, it just becomes a part of you."
"When you do the right thing, good stuff has a way of happening."
"When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody?s bothering to tell you anymore, that?s a bad place to be. You may not want to hear it, but your critics are often the ones telling you they still love you and care about you, and want to make you better."
"When you?re only doing it for one play and you?re just not where you?re supposed to be, and freedom?s just another word for nothing left to lose, boy are you going to clean somebody?s clock for that one play."