Be a hero in your own life. Do the bold thing, do the honorable thing. Do the thing that flies in the face of conventional wisdom. Do it for the simple heroic reason you feel it's right.
speech graduation courage
Lawrence Kasdan
University of Michigan Commencement 1990, 1990
Fantasizing, projecting yourself into a successful situation is the most powerful means there is of achieving personal goals.
speech graduation ambition
Leonard A. Lauder
Connecticut College Commencement 1989, 1989
You have not earned the right to do less than your best.
speech graduation discipline
David Broder
Kalamazoo College Commencement 1988, 1988
He must cling fast to his faith in freedom and insist that freedom is the chief glory of mankind. He must not commit injustice or acquiesce when he sees it done by others.
speech graduation justice
David Broder
Kalamazoo College Commencement 1988, 1988
Whatever you want to do, do it now. For life is time, and time is all there is.
speech graduation courage
Gloria Steinem
Tufts University Commencement 1987, 1987
We don't need to accept this state of affairs and all the other increasingly imposed limitations of our society without a fight.
speech graduation independence
Meredith Monk
Sarah Lawrence College Commencement 1985, 1985
BE BOLD, BE BOLD, BE BOLD. Keep on reading. And remember when you hear yourself saying you don't have time anymore to read — then you're getting old. That means they got to you, after all.
speech graduation courage
Susan Sontag
Wellesley College Commencement 1983, 1983
You cannot afford to think of being here to receive an education: you will do much better to think of being here to claim one.
speech graduation independence
Adrienne Rich
Douglass College Commencement 1977, 1977
Responsibility to yourself means refusing to let others do your thinking, talking, and naming for you; it means learning to respect and use your own brains and instincts; hence, grappling with hard work.
speech graduation independence
Adrienne Rich
Douglass College Commencement 1977, 1977
It means insisting that work be as meaningful as love and friendship in our lives. It means, therefore, the courage to be different.
speech graduation courage
Adrienne Rich
Douglass College Commencement 1977, 1977
Our problems are manmade — therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.
speech graduation courage
John F. Kennedy
American University Commencement 1963, 1963
The United States, as the world knows, will never start a war. We do not want a war. We do not now expect a war. This generation of Americans has already had enough — more than enough — of war and hate and oppression.
speech graduation courage
John F. Kennedy
American University Commencement 1963, 1963