Celebrate idleness. Yes, idleness! Our greatest insights and discoveries have come not when we are doubling down staring at a computer screen, but when we sit back, rub our eyes, go for a walk, read a book or give our children a bath. Isaac Newton did not discover gravity in a laboratory. He was sitting under a tree.
speech graduation creativity
Anne-Marie Slaughter
Tufts University Commencement 2014, 2014
You need a soulmate, not a cellmate.
speech graduation love
Jay Leno
Emerson College Commencement 2014, 2014
When you get a regular job, you start acting like regular people. And if you graduate from Emerson, you are not a regular person.
speech graduation authenticity
Jay Leno
Emerson College Commencement 2014, 2014
Don't worry about the plot to take over the world. Just do what is in front of you, and do it well. Working on your grand plan is like shoveling snow that hasn't fallen yet.
speech graduation patience
David Carr
UC Berkeley School of Journalism Commencement 2014, 2014
Your diploma is really not a ticket to show off what you know. You know what it really is? It's permission to admit to yourself how much you still have yet to learn.
speech graduation humility
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Rice University Commencement 2013, 2013
Life has a very simple plot: first you're here and then you're not.
speech graduation mortality
Eric Idle
Whitman College Commencement 2013, 2013
Always look on the bright side of life.
speech graduation resilience
Eric Idle
Whitman College Commencement 2013, 2013
The daily activity that contributes most to happiness is having dinner with friends. The daily activity that detracts most from happiness is commuting. Eat more. Commute less.
speech graduation relationships
David Brooks
Sewanee University of the South Baccalaureate 2013, 2013
Nobody likes to fail but failure is an essential part of life and of learning. If your uniform isn't dirty, you haven't been in the game.
speech graduation failure
Ben Bernanke
Princeton University Commencement 2013, 2013
Be hard on your opinions. A famous bon mot asserts opinions are like assholes in that everyone has one. There is great wisdom in this but I would add that opinions differ significantly from assholes in that yours should be constantly and thoroughly examined.
speech graduation wisdom
Tim Minchin
University of Western Australia Commencement, 2013, 2013
A much simpler way to get to the top is to sleep your way to the top. And I mean that literally.
speech graduation balance
Arianna Huffington
Smith College Commencement 2013, 2013
It ain't where you start in life, it's where you end up and what you did along the way.
speech graduation perseverance
Colin Powell
Northeastern University Commencement 2012, 2012