The next time you’re soaring above the clouds, you may be closer to Steve Jobs than you think. At least in spirit.
That is, if you are flying on Virgin America. The innovative domestic carrier has etched the phrase “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” on the nose of one of its Airbus A320 aircraft.
The phrase is a nod to Steve Jobs, who used it as a sort of motto when delivering a commencement address at Stanford in 2005.
The speech was given not long after Job was first diagnosed with cancer, making it perhaps one of the most moving graduation addresses of all time.
Jobs said he saw those four uplifting words on the back of the final edition of a publication called The Whole Earth Catalog and they stuck with him.
“It was their farewell message as they signed off. ‘Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.’ And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you. Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”
Such was the end of Jobs’s one and only address to graduating college students. The speech was posted on Youtube and received an immense surge in views after his untimely death.
If you were to pick one quotation in memoriam of Steve Jobs, you would likely not find a more meaningful and inspirational one.
Virgin America has become infamous for its unique plane names, including “Air Colbert” in honor of Stephen Colbert, “#nerdbird,” “Virgin & Tonic,” and “The 1-year-old virgin.”
