Walsh opened his speech by admitting he had 'no taste for generalizations' and quoting William Blake's characteristically provocative declaration against abstract thinking. The quote set the tone for an address that would be defiantly specific and practical rather than soaring and inspirational. As the former director of the Getty Museum — someone who had spent his career grappling with individual works of art 'in all their vivid individuality' — Walsh had learned that the deepest understanding comes from close attention to particular things, not from sweeping theories. This was both a professional conviction and a life philosophy. The Blake quote also served as Walsh's self-deprecating explanation for why his commencement advice would be unusual. Instead of grand pronouncements about the meaning of life, he offered eight specific, practical suggestions — from putting the alarm clock in the bathroom to keeping a journal. The Blake quote was his permission slip to be useful rather than profound.