Wit & Attitude Quote by Steve Jobs

Jobs is selling restraint as a form of aggression. The line reads like a calm financial update, but it’s really a flex: we have money, we have taste, and unlike the rest of Silicon Valley, we’re not going to panic-spend to prove we’re alive.

The language is deliberately folksy for a CEO talking about war chests and M&A strategy. “Burn a hole in our pocket” turns corporate capital into an everyday temptation, implying Apple’s discipline is not just managerial but moral. Then he sharpens the blade with “stupid acquisitions,” a phrase that quietly indicts competitors without naming them. In an era when tech companies routinely bought their way into relevance, Jobs positions Apple as the rare actor that doesn’t confuse shopping with strategy.

“Keep our powder dry” is the real tell: a martial metaphor that reframes cash as ammunition. He’s not preaching frugality; he’s signaling readiness. The subtext is control. Apple will wait, watch, and then move when the moment is asymmetrically advantageous. That’s classic Jobs: patience paired with certainty that the company, not the market, sets the tempo.

The final clause, “one or more strategic opportunities,” is intentionally vague, a pressure line aimed at multiple audiences. Investors hear prudence and optionality. Rivals hear menace: we’re not done. Internally, it reinforces a culture that treats focus as identity - the belief that the best acquisitions are the ones you don’t make, until you can make the one that changes everything.