We're the lucky ones, and we can never forget that we didn't get where we are today all on our own. We got here because of so many people who toiled and sweat and bled and died for us. We owe them.
speech graduation gratitude
Michelle Obama
Dillard University Commencement 2014, 2014
The effect you have on others is the most valuable currency there is. Everything you gain in life will rot and fall apart, and all that will be left of you is what was in your heart.
speech graduation legacy
Jim Carrey
Maharishi University of Management Commencement 2014, 2014
On the air I am capable of asking anybody anything. But take away the mic and I can become uncomfortable, self-conscious, and insecure.
speech graduation authenticity
Terry Gross
Bryn Mawr College Commencement 2014, 2014
Whenever you see me somewhere succeeding in one area of my life, that almost certainly means I am failing in another area of my life.
speech graduation balance
Shonda Rhimes
Dartmouth College Commencement 2014, 2014
We don't always see the hard truths, and once we see them, we don't always have the courage to speak out. The world was not equal then, and it is not equal now.
speech graduation courage
Sheryl Sandberg
Harvard Senior Class Day 2014, 2014
The first time I spoke out about what it was like to be a woman in the workforce was less than five years ago. That means that for eighteen years, from where you sit to where I stand, my silence implied that everything was OK. You can do better than I did.
speech graduation courage
Sheryl Sandberg
Harvard Senior Class Day 2014, 2014
Self-doubt is one of the most destructive forces. It makes you defensive instead of open, reactive instead of active. Self-doubt is consuming and cruel and my hope is today that we can all collectively agree to ban it.
speech graduation courage
Jennifer Lee
University of New Hampshire Commencement 2014, 2014
I couldn't have done it a fingernail faster. I didn't leave a fingernail in that pool.
speech graduation discipline
Diana Nyad
Middlebury College Commencement 2014, 2014
So let your heart break. It will change what you do with your optimism.
speech graduation empathy
Melinda Gates
Stanford University Commencement 2014, 2014
I know that when I am on my deathbed someday, I will not be thinking about any particular legislation I passed; I will not be thinking about a policy I promoted; I will not be thinking about the Nobel Prize I received. I will be thinking about that walk I took with my daughters.
speech graduation love
Barack Obama
Morehouse College Commencement 2013, 2013
What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness. Those moments when another human being was there, in front of me, suffering, and I responded... sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly.
speech graduation empathy
George Saunders
Syracuse University Convocation 2013, 2013
The more I thought about myself, the weaker I became. The more I recognized that I was serving a purpose larger than myself, the stronger I became.
speech graduation purpose
Eric Greitens
Tufts University Commencement 2012, 2012