Apple is one of the rare companies that is completely synonymous with its late CEO and co-founder, Steve Jobs; whether you knew it or not, if you loved Apple, you loved Steve. We’ve always been tremendous fans of his work, but technology inspires fierce loyalty in much of today’s population and we know many of you may have held contrary feelings toward the man and his company. Regardless of those feelings, one fact is inarguable: his passing may prove to be the single greatest loss to the modern technological age.

You don’t have to own or use an Apple product to feel the effects of Steve’s legacy. If you’ve so much as typed a single letter into a word processor, you can thank Steve for your digital fonts. If you’ve ever sat through a Pixar movie, you can thank Steve for the ground-breaking animation. Whether you use OSX or Windows, you can thank Steve for your point-and-click interface. For these reasons and a million more, we owe him every ounce of gratitude we have to give and then some.

Throughout his lifetime, Steve made a number of profound statements about life and the world as he saw it. Yesterday it was the world’s turn to make profound statements about him, and it did not disappoint. Follow the link to see a few of our favorites as well as reaction from the Woz.

“For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it’s been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely.” - Bill Gates (If you don’t know why that’s so perfect, Google it.)

“Once in a rare while, somebody comes along who doesnt just raise the bar, they create an entirely new standard of measurement.” - Dick Costolo (Twitter CEO)

“RIP Steve Jobs. Closest thing we had to Tony Stark.” - Patton Oswalt

“I’m on my way to PHL to see my son, who uses a device Steve Jobs invented to help him talk. He will never know. He will never know.” - Tim Carmody

“Everything good I have done, I have done on a Mac.” - John Hodgman (the “PC” from the ‘Mac vs. PC’ commercials”)

“Pixar alone would have been a dazzling legacy.” - Harry McCracken

“Remember Steve Jobs this way, in his own words: ‘Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.’” - Dan Gillmor

“People sometimes have goals in life. Steve Jobs exceeded every goal he ever set for himself.” - The Woz

And, of course, the man in his own words:

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” - Steve Jobs

Thanks to Jonathan Mak for the incredible image.