Never give in to pessimism. Don't know that you can't fly, and you will soar like an eagle. Don't end up regretting what you did not do because you were too lazy or too frightened to soar. Be a bumblebee!
speech graduation perseverance
Earl Bakken
University of Hawaii Commencement 2004, 2004
The future is not fixed, it's fluid. You can build your own building, or hut or condo, whatever.
speech graduation purpose
Bono
University of Pennsylvania Commencement 2004, 2004
If you want to serve the age, betray it.
speech graduation courage
Bono
University of Pennsylvania Commencement 2004, 2004
Action is the antidote to apathy and cynicism and despair. At the end of your days, you will be judged by your gallop, not by your stumble.
speech graduation courage
Bradley Whitford
University of Wisconsin-Madison Commencement 2004, 2004
Infuse your life with action. Don't wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love.
speech graduation courage
Bradley Whitford
University of Wisconsin-Madison Commencement 2004, 2004
Never give up, never, never give up! Because the only person that can stop you is — YOU!
speech graduation perseverance
Yvonne Thornton
Tuskegee University Commencement 2003, 2003
Aim for the stars. You might not reach them, but you won't come up with a handful of mud, either.
speech graduation ambition
Jean Andrews
University of Texas at Austin Commencement 2003, 2003
As you start your journey, the first thing you should do is throw away that store-bought map and begin to draw your own.
speech graduation independence
Michael Dell
University of Texas at Austin Commencement 2003, 2003
If you never venture beyond what you know, you've spawned your own limitations. You've erected the walls of your own private prison cell.
speech graduation courage
Sumner Redstone
Kellogg School of Management Commencement, 2002, 2002
You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take.
speech graduation courage
Barbara P. Bush
Wake Forest University Commencement 2001, 2001
A billion dollars — what's that? It's a backyard barbecue to the Creator of the universe. So give it away. All of it.
speech graduation gratitude
Stephen King
Vassar College Commencement 2001, 2001
You are graduates of one of the two or three greatest universities in America. You have been raised in a tradition of straight thinking and straight talking.
speech graduation independence
Tom Wolfe
Boston University Commencement 2000, 2000