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You leave this school as well-armed for battle as anyone is. Now you actually have to go do it.

Great stories happen to those who can tell them. The world will not do your work for you, but it will meet you more than halfway if you go after what you want with energy and passion.

There are absolutely no acceptable shortcuts to success in life. Cheating, for whatever reason and in any field, is wrong and is at best a temporary solution to a greater problem.

You are not special. You are not exceptional.

Whatever it is you try, make sure it's what you really want to do, because the only person who knows what that is, is you.

The true test of a human being's character is how he treats people in his life that he cannot use.

You are now fully prepared to begin living out your hopes and aspirations. And with all the immense challenges we face, the necessity for you to do so right away is more important than ever.

Always protect your reputation — and have the courage to follow your dreams.

Help the world find its way ahead.

Even if greed were good, greed is not enough.

Don't ever forget that you're a citizen of this world. There are things you can do to lift the human spirit — things that are easy, things that are free, things that you can do every day. Civility, respect, kindness, character.

I cannot stress enough that the answer to a lot of your life's questions is often in someone else's face. Try to find the most interesting-looking person in the room, the ## person most unlike you, and talk to them.