Students reveal the most inspirational quote they’ve ever heard
What is the most inspiring thing anyone has ever said to you?
Elijah Pipersburg, third-year public service major:
“‘Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.’ We’ve got a lot of people who are talented, and we’ve got a lot of people putting in work. If you’re somebody who’s not necessarily talented, you can make up for that and even surpass that person who’s talented by working hard.”
William Ramstein, first-year managerial economics major:
“I think that one very inspiring line that I heard was in a Steve Jobs speech at Stanford. One of the things he says, which I find very meaningful but very hard to grasp is, ‘Don’t waste your time living someone else’s life.’ It’s very powerful because it puts you in a position of vulnerability.”
Emily Hoff, third-year English and linguistics double major:
“‘You can only affect your actions, you can’t affect someone else’s actions.’ After I was told that, I was just like, all I have to do is be myself and if I’m happy about what I do, then who cares about anyone else?”
Kendall Larson, third-year English major:
“‘Whether you believe you can or can’t, you’re right.’ Your attitude completely shapes the outcome of a situation, and confidence can entirely change something. I really didn’t know that until I started forcing confidence on myself.”
Andrew Louie, second-year mechanical engineering major:
“‘Be genuine, be inspired.’”
Andrew Kim, fourth-year environmental toxicology major:
“‘C’s get degrees.’”
Sam Truong, second-year electrical engineering major:
“‘Shoot for the stars, ‘cause even if you miss, you’re gonna land on the moon.’ ”
Kevin Krause, first-year biomedical engineering major:
“One thing that jumps out is just, ‘Life is what you make of it.’ It’s an inspiring thing that I try to think about.”
Kiera Thomas, first-year cell biology major:
“‘Not everything that you want to do in life is always achievable.’ You have to be realistic. If you put time into whatever your strength is, then you can execute that well and be great.”
Nick Alonzo, fourth-year statistics major:
“My dad told me, ‘Life is beautiful.’”
Soroush Ghaffarpour, fourth-year neurobiology, physiology and behavior major:
“I live my life with mottos and the current motto that I live by is, ‘In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter.’”
Jess Rudder, graduate student in Agricultural and Resource Economics Department:
“I was applying to graduate school and I was really nervous. I was talking to my dad, and neither of my parents ever went to college, so this whole thing is very beyond them. I was expressing my worry to my dad, and he was just like, ‘You know, I really hope for you that at some point you can just find peace and happiness, that you just find contentment with whatever you’re doing, because this idea of constantly chasing something — that’s really tiring.’”
