Graduation Quotes - Page 23

• Believe anything is possible and then work like hell to make it happen.

  Julianna Margulies

  Inspirational, Believe, Hell

  7 Copy quote

• Choice of evils debates always produce extremism - people choose what they hope is the lesser evil, then call it good and demonize the other choice. It will be a challenge for your generation to synthesize - to move beyond Us versus Them, to We.

  Margaret Atwood

  Inspirational, Moving, People

  6 Copy quote

• When faced with the inevitable, you always have a choice... As I learned during my liberal arts education, any symbol can have, in the imaginative context, two versions, a positive and a negative... If you spill your milk you're left with a glass which is either half empty or half full... You may not be able to alter reality, but you can alter your attitude towards it, and this, paradoxically, alters reality. Try it and see.

  Margaret Atwood

  Inspirational, Art, Attitude

  "Attitude". Margaret Atwood's commencement address at the University of Toronto, Canada, www.humanity.org. June 14, 1983.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• I'm only asking you to stop every so often and turn off your mobile device, put down the Angry Birds and the Words with Friends and take a moment. Stop to look up and look around. Pause and check in with yourself - and spend a moment there.

  Maria Shriver

  Inspirational, Bird, Looks

  Maria Shriver Graduation Speech - Video & Transcript, gradspeeches.com. May 11, 2012.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Don't be deceived by life's outcomes. Life's outcomes, while not entirely random, have a huge amount of luck baked into them.

  Michael Lewis

  Inspirational, Luck, Outcomes

  "MICHAEL LEWIS: Successful People Like Me Were Actually Just Really Lucky" by Julia La Roche, www.businessinsider.com. June 05, 2012.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• When you start off, you have to deal with the problems of failure. You need to be thickskinned, to learn that not every project will survive.

  Neil Gaiman

  Inspirational, Needs, Problem

  Neil Gaiman's Commencement Address at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, www.uarts.edu. May 17, 2012.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• It is very common ... to tell graduates: dream and dream big. I say do more than that. When you dream you are in an unconscious state. It ends. You wake up. It's not real.

  Roger Goodell

  Inspirational, Dream, Real

  4 Copy quote

• America must always lead on the world stage. If we don't, no one else will. The military that you have joined is, and always will be, the backbone of that leadership. But U.S. military action cannot be the only - or even primary - component of our leadership in every instance. Just because we have the best hammer does not mean that every problem is a nail.

  Barack Obama

  Military, Mean, America

  Remarks by the President at the United States Military Academy Commencement Ceremony, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov. May 28, 2014.

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• I've seen over and over how much self-belief drives outcomes. And that's why I force myself to sit at the table, even when I am not sure I belong there - and yes, this still happens to me. And when I'm not sure anyone wants my opinion, I take a deep breath and speak up anyway.

  Sheryl Sandberg

  Self, Tables, Want

  4 Copy quote

• I don't know what my path is yet. I'm just walking on it.

  Olivia Newton-John

  Wisdom, Path, Walking

  61 Copy quote

• Because as tough as things have been, I am convinced you are tougher. I've seen your passion and I've seen your service... I've seen a generation eager, impatient even, to step into the rushing waters of history and change its course.

  Barack Obama

  Passion, Rushing, Water

  President Barack Obama's remarks at Barnard College Commencement Ceremony in Columbia University, New York, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov. May 14, 2012.

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness. Those moments when another human being was there, in front of me, suffering, and I responded . . . sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly.

  George Saunders

  Kindness, Regret, Suffering

  George Saunders (2014). “Congratulations, by the way: Some Thoughts on Kindness”, p.22, A&C Black

  44 Copy quote

  Show source

• According to me, your life is going to be a gradual process of becoming kinder and more loving. Hurry up. Speed it along. Start right now.

  George Saunders

  Becoming, Life Is, Speed

  George Saunders (2014). “Congratulations, by the Way: Some Thoughts on Kindness”, p.52, A&C Black

  26 Copy quote

  Show source

• Be wise, because the world needs more wisdom. And if you cannot be wise, pretend to be someone who is wise, and then just behave like they would.

  Neil Gaiman

  Wise, Needs, World

  Neil Gaiman (2016). “The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Nonfiction”, p.418, Hachette UK

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• I hope you'll make mistakes. If you're making mistakes, it means you're out there doing something.

  Neil Gaiman

  Mistake, Mean, Ifs

  Neil Gaiman's Commencement Address at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, www.uarts.edu. May 17, 2012.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• If you want to play a game, go to where it's played and find a way to get in. Things happen when you get in the game.

  Chris Matthews

  Games, Play, Way

  4 Copy quote

• You cannot continue to succeed in the world or have a fulfilling life in the world unless you choose to use your life in the service somehow to others and give back what you have been given. That's how you keep it. That's how you get it. That's how you grow it.

  Oprah Winfrey

  Giving, Succeed, Use

  11 Copy quote

• What mark will I leave behind? How will anyone know I have been here? What sign will tell the future traveler I existed? 'I am here! Today... I exist'. I believe the deepest impression is made in those moments when I can say 'I care, I love'.

  Leonard Nimoy

  Believe, Care, Today

  25 Copy quote

• It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.

  Ursula K. Le Guin

  Inspirational, Motivational, Travel

  Ursula K. Le Guin (2000). “The Left Hand of Darkness”, p.151, Penguin

  88 Copy quote

  Show source

• Friends are friends forever. If the Lord's the Lord of them, a friend will not say never 'cause the welcome will not end. Although it's hard to let you go, in the Father's hands we know, a lifetime's not too long to live as friends.

  Michael W. Smith

  Father, Hands, Long

  FaceBook post by Michael W. Smith from Oct 06, 2015

  16 Copy quote

  Show source

• Do all the other things, the ambitious things - travel, get rich, get famous, innovate, lead, fall in love, make and lose fortunes...but as you do, to the extent that you can, err in the direction of kindness.

  George Saunders

  Falling In Love, Kindness, Ambitious

  George Saunders' address to graduates at Syracuse University in New York, 6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com. July 31, 2013.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Sometimes you find out what you are supposed to be doing by doing the things you are not supposed to do.

  Oprah Winfrey

  Inspirational, Sometimes, Commencement Speech

  7 Copy quote

• Don't buy society’s definition of success. Because it’s not working for anyone. It’s not working for women, it's not working for men, it's not working for polar bears, it's not working for the cicadas that are apparently about to emerge and swarm us. It’s only truly working for those who make pharmaceuticals for stress, sleeplessness and high blood pressure.

  Arianna Huffington

  Stress, Heart, Men

  Arianna Huffington's Commencement Address at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, www.smith.edu. May 19, 2013.

  19 Copy quote

  Show source

• Do not worry too much about your lawn. You will soon find if you haven't already that almost every adult American devotes tremendous time and money to the maintenance of an invasive plant species called turf grass that we can't eat. I encourage you to choose better obsessions.

  John Green

  Inspirational, Worry, Too Much

  4 Copy quote

• And how do you know when you're doing something right? How do you know that? It feels so. What I know now is that feelings are really your GPS system for life. When you're supposed to do something or not supposed to do something, your emotional guidance system lets you know. The trick is to learn to check your ego at the door and start checking your gut instead.

  Oprah Winfrey

  Emotional, Gps, Doors

  Commencement Address at Stanford University, delivered 15 June 2008

  6 Copy quote

  Show source