Use your fear. Harness it. Let them underestimate you. In the end, don't vanquish your critics — prove them wrong.
speech graduation courage
Brad Meltzer
University of Michigan Commencement 2024, 2024
I learned not to be disillusioned by failure, not to be burdened by perfection, and not to be intimidated by greatness.
failure resilience perseverance
John McEnroe
Stanford University Commencement, 2023
If you want to cross the river of life, you're gonna get wet. And that's not a bug — that's a feature.
failure resilience growth
Mark Rober
MIT Commencement 2023, 2023
Feel whatever you feel, all that you feel, and then keep going.
speech graduation resilience
Idina Menzel
University of Pennsylvania Commencement 2023, 2023
You are not your circumstance. Where you start out in life doesn't have to determine where you'll end up or just how far you can go. Only you can determine your distance.
speech graduation perseverance
Alma Adams
Clinton College Commencement 2023, 2023
The work that is called for, that we must do, has no expiration date. It is the construction of our more perfect union, and that job will never, ever be completed.
speech graduation responsibility
Tom Hanks
Harvard University Commencement 2023, 2023
Hard things will happen to us. We will recover. We will learn from it. We will grow more resilient because of it. And as long as we are fortunate enough to be breathing, we will breathe in, breathe through, breathe deep, breathe out.
speech graduation resilience
Taylor Swift
New York University Commencement 2022, 2022
Never be ashamed of trying. Effortlessness is a myth. The people who wanted it the least were the ones I wanted to date and be friends with in high school. The people who want it the most are the people I now hire to work for my company.
speech graduation passion
Taylor Swift
New York University Commencement 2022, 2022
Through surf and storm, howling gale, high shall your purpose be.
speech graduation purpose
President Biden
Coast Guard Academy Commencement 2021, 2021
Amazing things happen when you do hard things. You grow, you become closer to others who share the experience, you become stronger as a person.
speech graduation growth
Marie Lynn Miranda
University of Notre Dame Graduate School Commencement 2021, 2021
People like you who are willing to put in deep, concentrated, single-minded effort are creating the pathways that will lead us out of this crisis.
speech graduation perseverance
Marie Lynn Miranda
University of Notre Dame Graduate School Commencement 2021, 2021
Only love can give you the power to take on these kinds of odds.
speech graduation love
John Legend
Duke University Commencement 2021, 2021