In a free and compassionate society, the public good depends on private character. That character is formed and shaped in institutions like family, faith, and the many civil and social organizations.
speech graduation responsibility
George W. Bush
Calvin College Commencement 2005, 2005
To whom much is given, much is expected.
speech graduation responsibility
Tim Russert
Niagara University Commencement 2000, 2000
There will be times when knowing things won't matter as much as how scary the situation is. When that happens, you'll have to decide whether or not to get into the wheelbarrow.
speech graduation courage
Mark S. Lewis
University of Texas Commencement 2000, 2000
Recognize your limitations, and sure enough, they're yours. The world will provide you with every imaginable obstacle, but the one most difficult to overcome will be the lack of faith in yourself.
speech graduation faith
Callie Khouri
Sweet Briar College Commencement 1994, 1994
You are going out. You will meet suffering. You will meet humiliation. You will meet sorrow. You will meet joy. You will meet success. You will be wanted. You will be unwanted. You will be loved. You will not be loved. All that is part of Jesus' fate.
speech graduation resilience
Mother Teresa
Niagara University Commencement 1982, 1982
I have lived like an animal in the street, but I am going to die like an angel, loved and cared for.
speech graduation love
Mother Teresa
Niagara University Commencement 1982, 1982
I do not believe that the poison clouds of polluted air must inevitably consume our atmosphere. I believe there are answers, and I think I am looking into the faces of several hundred of those answers this morning.
speech graduation nature
Claudia "Lady Bird" Johnson
University of Virginia Commencement 1973, 1973
We must make the dead live. We must make them live in the world's commencement of abiding peace based on justice and charity.
speech graduation legacy
Henry A. Wallace
Connecticut College Commencement 1943, 1943
Go alone; refuse the good models, even those which are sacred in the imagination of men, and dare to love God without mediator or veil.
speech graduation independence
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Harvard Divinity School Address 1838, 1838