You are graduates of one of the two or three greatest universities in America. You have been raised in a tradition of straight thinking and straight talking.
speech graduation independence
Tom Wolfe
Boston University Commencement 2000, 2000
Never be so canny as to ignore the uncanny.
speech graduation wonder
Seamus Heaney
University of Pennsylvania Commencement 2000, 2000
Who is my neighbor? My neighbor is all mankind.
speech graduation empathy
Seamus Heaney
University of Pennsylvania Commencement 2000, 2000
The way to be happy is to like yourself, and the way to like yourself is to do only things that make you proud.
speech graduation authenticity
Mark S. Lewis
University of Texas Commencement 2000, 2000
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
There will be times when knowing things won't matter as much as how scary the situation is. When that happens, you'll have to decide whether or not to get into the wheelbarrow.
speech graduation courage
Mark S. Lewis
University of Texas Commencement 2000, 2000
Do one thing at a time. Give each experience all your attention. Try to resist being distracted by other sights and sounds, other thoughts and tasks, and when it is, guide your mind back to what you're doing.
speech graduation discipline
John Walsh
Wheaton College Commencement 2000, 2000
To generalize is to be an Idiot. To particularize is alone Distinction of Merit. General knowledge are those knowledge that idiots possess.
speech graduation wisdom
John Walsh
Wheaton College Commencement 2000, 2000
Keep a journal. Knowing you're going to write something every day sharpens your attention to everything that happens. For the longest time, I didn't keep a journal, and as a result much of my pretty long and interesting life is lost to me.
speech graduation writing
John Walsh
Wheaton College Commencement 2000, 2000
A people is defined and unified not by blood but by shared memory.
speech graduation legacy
Robert Pinsky
Stanford University Commencement 1999, 1999
We all live under the same sky, but we do not have the same horizon.
speech graduation ambition
Brian Dyson
Georgia Tech Commencement 1996, 1996
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