Peter Dinklage, the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor known for Game of Thrones, returned to his alma mater Bennington College in 2012 to deliver what became one of the most celebrated commencement speeches of the decade. He spent the middle portion of his address in raw, unflinching detail about the decade after his own graduation: sleeping on couches, dusting pianos, entering data at Professional Examination Services for six years, living in a heatless Williamsburg loft with mushrooms growing in his shower. This quote was the emotional pivot of the speech. After describing how at 29 he finally quit his day job and declared himself a working actor — terrified, with no internet, no cell phone, and no prospects — he told graduates that life isn't about waiting for a single transformative moment. It's about raising the quality of your daily existence to match your aspirations. The moments that define you, he said, are not dramatic turning points but the quiet accumulation of choices already made and yet to be made.