Those who discovered and pioneered this land had to have rare qualities of courage and imagination, nor did these qualities stop there. Even the modern-day immigrants have been possessed of courage beyond that of their neighbors — the courage to tear up centuries-old roots and leave their homelands, to come to this land where even the language was strange.
speech graduation courage
Ronald Reagan
Eureka College Commencement 1957, 1957
Never give in, never give in, never, never, never — in nothing, great or small, large or petty — never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.
speech graduation perseverance
Winston Churchill
Harrow School Address 1941, 1941
Do not let us speak of darker days: let us speak rather of sterner days. These are not dark days; these are great days — the greatest days our country has ever lived.
speech graduation resilience
Winston Churchill
Harrow School Address 1941, 1941
Go alone; refuse the good models, even those which are sacred in the imagination of men, and dare to love God without mediator or veil.
speech graduation independence
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Harvard Divinity School Address 1838, 1838