Long

Nobody remembers the naysayers. In the end, all that endures are the builders, and in the end even the builders are forgotten and all that endures are the ripples of what they built — and that's a good thing.

If you choose to broaden your circle to include people who've had different backgrounds and life experiences, you'll learn what it's like to walk in someone else's shoes, and in the process, you'll help make this democracy work.

This democracy we have is a precious thing. For all the arguments and all the doubts and all the cynicism that's out there today, we should never forget that as Americans, we enjoy more freedoms and opportunities than citizens in any other nation on Earth.

What is certain — what has always been certain — is the ability to shape that destiny. That is what makes us different. That is what makes us Americans — our ability at the end of the day to look past all of our differences and all of our disagreements and still forge a common future.

Focus on what stirs your soul, because it's hard to excel at anything that you don't love. Be fearless. Don't be afraid to go down fighting if you're fighting a righteous battle.

Education has a public value. Your education will not only bring you a bigger paycheck. It will enable you to be a better fellow citizen, more productive, better able to participate in solving the challenges I and my peers have not been able to conquer.

Do not let any obstacles — personal, political, or economic — impede you. And once you've fulfilled your dreams, know that that is when you're liable to confront the greatest challenges. But so, too, may you derive the privilege of service.

Our problems are manmade — therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.

Life is harsh and sometimes even ruthless. Only the tough survive. That is one strand of thinking. The other says: humankind is a species of designers, problem solvers, and seekers. We don't have to accept our follies and our missteps.

The answers are not that hard. They just sometimes appear like a stick when they are actually a snake, or appear like a snake when they're actually a stick.

Adversity is an opportunity. Adversity will make you stronger. Adversity will mold you into the person that you're meant to be.

In everything you do in life, leave your mark. Be a great steward of the community and to society, and understand that part of your purpose in life is to leave whatever you touch better than when you found it.