The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope, running down its hallways, touching the walls on both sides.
speech graduation purpose
Barbara Kingsolver
Duke University Commencement 2008, 2008
We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all the power we need inside ourselves already. We have the power to imagine better.
speech graduation empathy
J.K. Rowling
Harvard University Commencement 2008, 2008
Take a stand for that which is right, and the world may misunderstand you, may criticize you. But you never go alone, for somewhere I read that one with God is a majority.
speech graduation courage
Clayborne Carson
Niagara University Commencement 2008, 2008
Who am I, really? All of us have easy public answers to the identity question. But we also know, deep inside, that these are just the superficial, transitory expressions of who we are.
speech graduation self discovery
Clayborne Carson
Niagara University Commencement 2008, 2008
What is failure? If I stayed, that would be failure. I had to be true to myself. You've got to listen to the voice in your gut. It is individual. It is unique. It is yours. It's called being authentic.
speech graduation authenticity
Meredith Vieira
Tufts University Commencement 2008, 2008
Sometimes we need an event to shock us into the present. Some of us require a catastrophic experience to remind us that we are indeed alive. Others know this from their reading of poetry — a somewhat less traumatic experience.
speech graduation gratitude
Billy Collins
Colorado College Commencement 2008, 2008
We don't beat the Reaper by living longer. We beat the Reaper by living well and living fully. For the Reaper will come for all of us. The question is what we do between the time we are born and the time he shows up.
speech graduation mortality
Randy Pausch
Carnegie Mellon University Commencement 2008, 2008
You will need to find your passion. You will not find that passion in things and you will not find that passion in money, because the more things and the more money you have, the more you will just look around and use that as the metric — and there will always be someone with more.
speech graduation passion
Randy Pausch
Carnegie Mellon University Commencement 2008, 2008
Life is not about warming yourself by the fire. Life is about building the fire. And generosity is the match.
speech graduation gratitude
Larry Lucchino
Boston University Commencement 2008, 2008
Be strong enough to say, 'I don't know.' When you don't know, say so. Don't guess. Don't fake it.
speech graduation humility
Larry Lucchino
Boston University Commencement 2008, 2008
Be present. Be present and open to the moment that is unfolding before you, because ultimately your life is made up of moments. So don't miss them by being lost in the past or anticipating the future.
speech graduation carpe diem
Jessica Lange
Sarah Lawrence College Commencement 2008, 2008
Allow life to take you on its glorious journey. The best time to do it is now, when you're young and full of curiosity and have no fear.
speech graduation curiosity
Jessica Lange
Sarah Lawrence College Commencement 2008, 2008