The measure of success is what you think about what you've done. Not the doing well, nor the failure — but what you think about it.
speech graduation success
Mark S. Lewis
University of Texas Commencement 2000, 2000
Your job is to witness. To witness, to understand, to comprehend, and to celebrate. To celebrate with your lives.
speech graduation wonder
Ray Bradbury
Caltech Commencement 2000, 2000
The only limits that really matter are the ones you put on yourself, and in those crucial moments when you know what you need to do but others advise against it — know yourself, trust your whole self, and don't blink.
speech graduation courage
Carly Fiorina
MIT Commencement 2000, 2000
Is education for the pursuit of knowledge or for the pursuit of significance? How you answer makes a difference.
speech graduation education
Brian Dyson
Georgia Tech Commencement 1996, 1996
Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim. Your education is a dress rehearsal for a life that is yours to lead.
speech graduation courage
Nora Ephron
Wellesley College Commencement 1996, 1996
It will be a little messy, but embrace the mess. It will be complicated, but rejoice in the complications. And don't be frightened: you can always change your mind. I know: I've had four careers and three husbands.
speech graduation courage
Nora Ephron
Wellesley College Commencement 1996, 1996
Recognize your limitations, and sure enough, they're yours. The world will provide you with every imaginable obstacle, but the one most difficult to overcome will be the lack of faith in yourself.
speech graduation faith
Callie Khouri
Sweet Briar College Commencement 1994, 1994
For every five minutes you spend looking into a mirror, spend five times that amount of time looking out at the world. Your happiness has a lot more to do with how you see the world than how the world sees you.
speech graduation authenticity
Callie Khouri
Sweet Briar College Commencement 1994, 1994
Being a musician is not something you chose to be, it is something you are. There is no choice, either you is or you ain't.
speech graduation authenticity
Billy Joel
Berklee College of Music Commencement 1993, 1993
And at last you'll know with surpassing certainty that only one thing is more frightening than speaking your truth. And that is not speaking.
speech graduation courage
Naomi Wolf
Scripps College Commencement 1992, 1992
To invent your own life's meaning is not easy, but it's still allowed, and I think you'll be happier for the trouble.
speech graduation purpose
Bill Watterson
Kenyon College Commencement 1990, 1990
The hardest thing in the world is to let yourself know what you know. Because life is noisy. Everything we're told, everything about the way we're raised and educated and bombarded by our culture makes noise. And that noise makes it very hard to hear the ticking of our own hearts.
speech graduation authenticity
Lawrence Kasdan
University of Michigan Commencement 1990, 1990