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
To see clearly is poetry, prophecy and possibility — all in one.
speech graduation wisdom
John Seely Brown
Arizona State University Commencement 2015, 2015
All happy companies are different because they're doing something very unique. All unhappy companies are alike because they failed to escape the essential sameness that is competition.
speech graduation entrepreneurship
Peter Thiel
Stanford University CS Lecture 2015, 2015
Your inexperience is an asset, and will allow you to think in original, unconventional ways. Accept your lack of knowledge and use it as your asset.
speech graduation beginner mind
Natalie Portman
Harvard Senior Class Day 2015, 2015
When it comes to the arts, passion should always trump common sense. You aren't just following dreams, you're reaching for your destiny.
speech graduation passion
Robert De Niro
NYU Tisch School of the Arts Commencement 2015, 2015
There's an infinite number of possibilities for you to create for yourself now, today, with no one to stop you but your own inertia.
speech graduation ambition
Peter Hollens
University of Oregon Commencement 2015, 2015
Your inexperience is an asset and will allow you to think in original, unconventional ways. Accept your lack of knowledge and use it as your asset.
speech graduation beginner mind
Natalie Portman
Harvard University Commencement 2015, 2015
Hold on to your own. There will be compromises, but that's not one of them. The more you listen to your own instincts, the better you're going to serve yourself, the grander you will serve your industry, and the happier you will be in your work.
speech graduation authenticity
Brooke Shields
Fashion Institute of Technology Commencement 2015, 2015
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
Every step is a first step. Every brushstroke is a test. Every scene is a lesson. Every shot is a school. So let the learning continue.
speech graduation growth
Martin Scorsese
NYU Tisch School of the Arts Commencement 2014, 2014
You may be shy. You may be tentative. And even, at times, you may be fragile. But you have to protect your own voice, your creative spirit, no matter what it costs.
speech graduation courage
Martin Scorsese
NYU Tisch School of the Arts Commencement 2014, 2014
One of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, right here, right now, is to decide, without apology, to commit to the journey, and not to the outcome.
speech graduation purpose
Joyce DiDonato
The Juilliard School Commencement 2014, 2014