More from John Cena

The life lessons that I learned at Cushing Academy, I carry with me every single day like you'd carry a cell phone, and I use them every single day like you use Instagram.

JC

John Cena

Cushing Academy Commencement 2015, 2015

8:48

Video starts at 8:48 — the moment this quote was spoken

The Story Behind This Quote

Cena returns to his alma mater 20 years after graduating and makes an honest confession: he cannot remember a single thing he learned in textbooks at Cushing. Not one thing. But he hopes the faculty feel pride in knowing that the life lessons — integrity, creativity, respect, discipline, even logistics — he uses constantly. The comparison to a cell phone and Instagram is perfectly calibrated for his audience of high school seniors: these tools of character aren't dusty abstractions, they're the most-used apps in his operating system. For a 15-time WWE champion who built a career on charisma and work ethic, the admission that book learning faded while character training endured is both disarming and convincing.

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