I've always tried to be that little kid with his hand in the air. It really works to be that naive, to really think you can do anything.
speech graduation courage
Robert Rodriguez
University of Texas at Austin Commencement 2009, 2009
You don't receive respect, you earn it, and you aren't given opportunity, you fight for it.
speech graduation perseverance
Anthony Corvino
Binghamton University Commencement 2009, 2009
Do what needs to be done, and check to see if it was impossible only after you are done.
speech graduation courage
Paul Hawken
University of Portland Commencement, 2009, 2009
I mandate it. That you continue to dream the wild dreams that you dreamed when you were young.
speech graduation ambition
Mike Tomlin
Saint Vincent College 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
We don't beat the Reaper by living longer. We beat the Reaper by living well and living fully.
speech graduation mortality
Randy Pausch
Carnegie Mellon University Commencement 2008, 2008
I mandate that you continue to dream the wild dreams that you dreamed when you were young.
speech graduation ambition
Mike Tomlin
St. Vincent College Commencement 2008, 2008
The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something, because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough.
speech graduation perseverance
Randy Pausch
Carnegie Mellon University 'The Last Lecture' 2007, 2007
Whether through democracy, strong public education, quality health care, or broad economic opportunity—reducing inequity is the highest human achievement.
speech graduation justice
Bill Gates
Harvard University Commencement 2007, 2007
I have discovered that it is just as easy or just as hard to climb a tall mountain as it is to climb a small mountain—so why not go for it!
speech graduation ambition
Robert Ballard
Connecticut College Commencement 2007, 2007
Don't let anybody tell you that there's some obstacle that you can't overcome or some dream that you cannot realize.
speech graduation perseverance
Omid Kordestani
San Jose State University Commencement 2007, 2007
There is no such thing as failure. What other people label or might try to call failure, I have learned is just God's way of pointing you in a new direction.
speech graduation failure
Oprah Winfrey
Howard University Commencement 2007, 2007