Life will absolutely not be what you think it will be. It will be hard and wonderful and messy and rewarding, with more versions of you than you think possible.
speech graduation growth
Brad Meltzer
University of Michigan Commencement 2024, 2024
Embrace your inexperience and keep taking leaps forward.
courage growth resilience
Mark Rober
MIT Commencement 2023, 2023
The scary news is, you're on your own now. But the cool news is, you're on your own now.
speech graduation independence
Taylor Swift
New York University Commencement 2022, 2022
Be open, be impatient, be hopeful.
speech graduation curiosity
Sundar Pichai
Dear Class of 2020 Virtual Commencement, 2020
You don't have to accept what was considered normal before. You don't have to accept the world as it is. You can make it into the world as it should be and could be. You can create a new normal.
speech graduation courage
Barack Obama
Virtual Commencement Address 2020, 2020
The simple truth is the program you ran here is the same program. Just run it again and again and again.
speech graduation courage
John Krasinski
Brown University Baccalaureate 2019, 2019
At this moment in your life you know fewer limits, fewer taboos and fewer fears than you will ever in the future. So do not squander your ignorance.
speech graduation courage
Peter Thiel
Hamilton College Commencement 2016, 2016
You're about to embark on careers that will take many of you to companies not yet founded, using devices not yet developed, based on ideas not yet conceived. That is how fast things are moving.
speech graduation innovation
John F. Kerry
Northeastern University Commencement 2016, 2016
You are about to enter the most uncertain and thrilling period of your lives. The stories you are about to live are the ones you will be telling your children and grandchildren and therapists.
speech graduation courage
Lin-Manuel Miranda
University of Pennsylvania Commencement 2016, 2016
Graduates, you're on your own. Figure it out. I believe in you. Believe in yourselves! The world is starving for new leadership, new ideas.
speech graduation courage
Kenneth Kosik
UC Santa Barbara Humanities and Fine Arts Commencement 2016, 2016
Say Yes. Say Yes, And… and create your own destiny.
speech graduation courage
Maya Rudolph
Tulane University Commencement 2015, 2015
It's time to say goodbye to the person we've become, we've worked so hard to perfect, and to make some decisions about who we're going to be.
speech graduation self discovery
Stephen Colbert
Wake Forest University Commencement 2015, 2015