Speech

We are all Pinocchio. We go out into the world filled with good intentions, with a vision. We are pulled this way and that. We falter. We make mistakes. But the little flame inside, no matter what we go through, will not be extinguished.

Build a good name. Let your name radiate yourself, magnify who you are, your good deeds, your code of honor. Build your name and as you go through life, your name will serve you.

You can count on yourself. Your self is your best ally. You know who you are, even when sometimes it becomes a little blurry. Just go deeper.

We're all strapped in, seated together on a gigantic ball whirling around the sun at 67,000 miles per hour, nested in a galaxy hurtling through the depths of space and time at 1.3 million miles per hour.

What if I told you that you are about to embark on a great adventure, that you will be given all the proper equipment for this adventure — food, clothing, shelter. And what if I told you further that you will have about eight decades to complete this adventure, and that every day you will be able to discover something new along your path.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

This education is a gift that you will be unwrapping for the rest of your life.

I realized my mission in life was to learn more, not earn more.

Be fearless, but make sure it's thoughtful and mindful fearlessness.

The kind of ideas she lives with. Think of it. Not what happens to her, not love affairs or good career breaks, but what she thinks about.

Education is about absorbing what others have learned and created and believe, but it is also about our responses to those concepts and those convictions.

I do not wish you an easy path. Instead, I wish you a path filled with impediment and ambiguity and struggle and joy.