For several years now, a motivational text has been circulating on social networks, which, according to the headline, is a dying message from a famous billionaire to humanity. We checked to see if he said that.

This is what this popular text looks like:

"Steve Jobs. Last words.

I have reached the pinnacle of success in the business world; in the eyes of others, my life is the epitome of success. However, apart from work, I have little joy. After all, wealth is just a fact of life that I'm used to. At this moment, as I lie in bed sick and remember my whole life, I realize that all the recognition and wealth that I have are meaningless and devoid of higher meaning in the face of inevitable death. You can hire someone to drive a car for you, make money for you, but you cannot hire anyone with all your money to bear this disease for you. You can find and buy material things. But there is one thing that cannot be found and bought when it is lost - life cannot be bought.

Treat yourself well. And respect others. The older we get, the smarter we become, and gradually we realize that a watch that costs $30 and a watch that costs $300 tell the same time. Whether we carry a wallet that costs $30 or a wallet that costs $300, both hold the same amount of money. Whether we drive a $150,000 car or a $30,000 car, the road and distance are the same and we reach the same destination. If we drink a $300 bottle or a $10 wine, the “high” will be the same. The house you live in has an area of 300 square meters. m or 3000 sq. m - you are equally lonely. Your true inner happiness does not come from the material things of this world. If you are flying in first class or economy class and if the plane goes down, you go down with it.”

Jobs then cites “five undeniable facts” and lists the “six best doctors in the world.” From year to year, Steve Jobs' confession spreads across public pages on social networks. For example, in November 2021 as minimum three publications text in the Russian-language part of Facebook each caused a three-digit number of reposts. In the same year, a similar publication on “Yandex.Zene" had more than 150,000 views. The audio version of the confession on YouTube. Dmitry Lebedev included the speech in his book "Money Makes Money: From Paycheck to Financial Freedom". The text was also distributed by a popular news portal Obozrevatel, sites of the city's central city hospital Reutova, radio "Van", and many other resources. He is also popular on West.

As you know, one of the founders of Apple and Pixar, the “father of the digital revolution” Steven Paul Jobs passed away on October 5, 2011 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. The disease was discovered back in 2003, and two years later, after some successes in treatment, Jobs spoke to graduates of Stanford University, talking about the then seemingly conquered disease and giving a number of instructions on the topic of life's path. This speech is still very popular today:

However, there is nothing in it similar to those maxims that abound in the text that interests us. As for dying remarks, Steve Jobs, according to his biographer, "wanted to explain to his wife and children why he was not always there for them." But he did not leave any confessions or testaments in the spirit of the text under consideration. The literal last words of Steve Jobs are known from his sister Mona Simpson: “Before he left us, Steve looked at his children for a long time, then at his wife Lauren, and then his gaze went somewhere into space. He was breathing heavily, as if he was climbing a mountain, it was clear that he was very ill. My brother’s last words before his death were: “Wow! Wow! Wow!”, as if he saw something beautiful ahead. I hope that was the case."

Where did the motivational text come from then? In the Russian-language segment of social networks, text with the same beginning (but significantly different in the middle and end) first appears on November 12, 2015 in a user’s post Evgenia Grande, with a note that this is her translation of an English-language publication by a certain Damien D Hustle Bryant. The very next day the text appeared on the page "Hurry to do good" and generated more than 19,000 shares. As for the original language, one of the first appearances of the text (if not the first) is dated November 6, 2015 and recorded on the personal website of a certain Shivani Gupta from India. Therefore, it is quite possible that the text first appeared not even in English.

But an edited and expanded version (with facts and doctors) of the text began several years later issue for the dying speech of another billionaire, Steve Goves. It is interesting that a businessman with that name did not exist at all, and the larger fake text gradually migrated to Steven Jobs. It should also be noted that a selection of “five indisputable facts” lived separate life, without reference to the name of Steven Jobs, since the beginning of the 2010s. It occurs especially often on Indian sites, where, apparently, she was born. In particular, the advice not to teach children to live richly is attributed to an Indian entrepreneur Ratan Tata.

Thus, Steve Jobs' inspiring last words are nothing more than fiction.