More from Amy Poehler

Take your risks now. As you grow older, you become more fearful and less flexible. And I mean that literally — I hurt my knee on the treadmill this week and it wasn't even on.

AP

Amy Poehler

Harvard University Class Day 2011, 2011

10:59

Video starts at 10:59 — the moment this quote was spoken

The Story Behind This Quote

Poehler delivers one of her most quotable lines by wrapping genuine urgency inside a physical comedy bit. The advice comes in a rapid-fire section near the end of the speech where she's rattling off life lessons drawn from her improv training: try to keep your mind open to possibilities, limit your 'always' and your 'nevers,' continue to share your heart with people even if it's been broken. The treadmill joke gets a huge laugh, but the underlying message is dead serious — youth provides a unique window for bold action, and that window does close. She'd built credibility for this point earlier by describing how improv rules like 'say yes' and 'make big choices early and often' had carried her through the terror of live television.

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