If you know what you're capable of, if you're always prepared, and you keep things in perspective, then life has a way of turning no into yes.
speech graduation perseverance
Russell Wilson
University of Wisconsin-Madison Commencement, 2016, 2016
In its passivity and resignation, cynicism is a hardening, a calcification of the soul. Hope is a stretching of its ligaments, a limber reach for something greater.
speech graduation wisdom
Maria Popova
University of Pennsylvania Annenberg School Commencement 2016, 2016
Conversations about grass length and the weather are really conversations about how we are going to get through, and how we are going to get through together.
speech graduation relationships
John Green
Kenyon College Commencement 2016, 2016
The world is not a meritocracy, but merit still matters. The world isn't fair, but being fair still matters. The world is unkind, but being kind still matters, perhaps more than anything.
speech graduation empathy
Ed Helms
University of Virginia Commencement 2015, 2015
Every day, wake up and say to yourself, this little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine.
speech graduation courage
Ed Helms
University of Virginia Commencement 2015, 2015
The way we spend our days is the way we spend our lives.
speech graduation discipline
Ari Weinzweig
University of Michigan Commencement 2015, 2015
The task is not so much to see what no one yet has seen but to think what nobody yet has thought about that which everybody sees.
speech graduation creativity
John Seely Brown
Arizona State University Commencement 2015, 2015
The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it.
speech graduation technology
John Seely Brown
Arizona State University Commencement 2015, 2015
To see clearly is poetry, prophecy and possibility — all in one.
speech graduation wisdom
John Seely Brown
Arizona State University Commencement 2015, 2015
To be or not to be is not the question. The vital question is how to be and how not to be.
speech graduation self discovery
Natalie Portman
Harvard Senior Class Day 2015, 2015
Don't choose anything that will jeopardize your soul. Prioritize who you are, who you want to be, and don't spend time with anything that antagonizes your character. Don't drink the Kool-Aid — it tastes sweet today but it will give you cavities tomorrow.
speech graduation authenticity
Matthew McConaughey
University of Houston Commencement 2015, 2015
The first step that leads to our identity in life is usually not 'I know who I am.' It's 'I know who I am not.' Process of elimination.
speech graduation self discovery
Matthew McConaughey
University of Houston Commencement 2015, 2015