good ending quotes for a graduation speech

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110 graduation quotes to send off the class of 2024 in style

Graduations are among life's biggest accomplishments. They speak to hard work , dedication and success.

For the graduate, it's a day well-earned. For friends and loved ones, it's a time to let someone special know that their achievement is recognized and celebrated.

Whether it be a kindergarten , high school or college graduation, honor the grad in your life this year with a thoughtful gift, greeting card or one of these inspirational graduation quotes.

In recognition of commencements of every kind, we’ve gathered a list of the best graduation quotes to post on Instagram , send via text or jot down in a heartfelt note.

To help you find exactly the right words, we've put together a comprehensive collection of sayings from notable figures including Eleanor Roosevelt, Maya Angelou , Mahatma Gandhi, Helen Keller and other luminaries.

You'll find short quotes, funny quotes from the likes of Steve Martin, Tina Fey and Robin Williams, and time-honored quotes from the treasured Dr. Seuss book “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!”

Whatever message you’re searching for to celebrate someone special, you’re sure to find it in the compilation below.

So, without any further pomp and circumstance, here are the best graduation quotes to help you say "hat's off" to the class of 2024.

Best graduation quotes

• “A bright future beckons. The onus is on us, through hard work, honesty and integrity, to reach for the stars.” — Nelson Mandela
• “Your talent determines what you can do. Your motivation determines how much you are willing to do. Your attitude determines how well you do it.” — Lou Holtz
• “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” — Norman Vincent Peale
• “Life loves to be taken by the lapel and be told, ‘I am with you kid. Let’s go!’” Maya Angelou

• “Set your course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship.” ― Omar N. Bradley
• “I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.” — Estée Lauder
• “You change the world by being yourself.” — Yoko Ono
• “Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.” — Theodore Roosevelt
• “You get whatever accomplishment you are willing to declare.” ― Georgia O’Keeffe

• “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” — Eleanor Roosevelt
• “What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “Let us make our future now, and let us make our dreams tomorrow’s reality.” — Malala Yousafzai
• "Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." — Mahatma Gandhi
• “Success is getting what you want, happiness is wanting what you get.” ― W.P. Kinsella

• “It is not where you start but how high you aim that matters for success.” — Nelson Mandela
• "The love of learning, the sequestered nooks, And all the sweet serenity of books." ― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• “Am I good enough? Yes, I am.” ― Michelle Obama, “Becoming”
• “The only impossible journey is the one you never begin.” — Tony Robbins
• “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” — Helen Keller

• “When you have a dream, you’ve got to grab it and never let go.” — Carol Burnett
• “Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible!’” ― Audrey Hepburn
• "I scorched the earth with my talent and I let my light shine.” — André Leon Talley
• “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure.” — Colin Powell
• “I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart: I am, I am, I am.” — Sylvia Plath, “The Bell Jar”

• “Be the best of whatever you are.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.
• “Forever is composed of nows.” — Emily Dickinson
• “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” — Steve Jobs
• “To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.” ― Henri Bergson
• “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us. And the world will live as one.” ― John Lennon, "Imagine"

• “A #2 pencil and a dream can take you anywhere.” — Joyce Meyer
• “Passion first and everything will fall into place.” — Holly Holm
• “You’re off to great places. Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So ... get on your way.” — Dr. Seuss, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!”
• “The beginning is always today.” — Mary Shelley
• “You don’t become what you want, you become what you believe.” — Oprah Winfrey
• “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” — A.A. Milne, “Winnie the Pooh”

Short graduation quotes

• “Celebrate endings — for they precede new beginnings.” — Jonathan Lockwood Huie
• “There are no goodbyes for us. Wherever you are, you will always be in my heart.” — Mahatma Gandhi
• “The harder the battle, the sweeter the victory.” — Les Brown
• “A star is a rock that never gave up on its dream to rise.” ― Matshona Dhliwayo
• “Success is loving life and daring to live it.” ― Maya Angelou

• “Your education is a dress rehearsal for a life that is yours to lead.” — Nora Ephron
• “Through discipline comes freedom.” — Aristotle
• “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” ― Robert Collier
• “What could we accomplish if we knew we could not fail?” — Eleanor Roosevelt
• “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” ― John D. Rockefeller

• “Nothing is impossible. The word itself says, ‘I’m possible!’” — Audrey Hepburn
• “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” — Steve Martin
• “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” — Neale Donald Walsch
• “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” — Mark Twain
• “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” — Nelson Mandela

• “Success is not the absence of failure; it’s the persistence through failure.” — Aisha Tyler
• “Accept no one’s definition of your life. Define yourself.” ― Harvey Fierstein
• “Today’s accomplishments were yesterday’s impossibilities.” — Robert H. Schuller
• “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
• “Your education has prepared you for what lies ahead.” — Conan O’Brien, 2020 Harvard commencement

• “What we learn with pleasure we never forget.” — Alfred Mercier
• “The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.” — Arthur C. Clarke
• “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.” — Jimmy Dugan, “A League of Their Own”
• “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” — Lao Tzu

• “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” ― Theodore Roosevelt
• “Persistence is the most powerful force on earth, it can move mountains.” — Albert Einstein
• “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” — Helen Keller

Funny graduation quotes

• “Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.” — Albert Einstein
• “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” — Ferris Bueller, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”
• “I look to the future because that is where I’m going to spend the rest of my life.” — George Burns
• “Try not to have a good time ... This is supposed to be educational.” — Lucy Van Pelt, “Peanuts”

• “People don’t turn down money. It’s what separates us from the animals.” — Jerry Seinfeld
• “When all else fails, there’s always delusion.” — Conan O’Brien
• “Summer vacation does kind of set up an adulthood of disappointment. That first job, you’re like, ‘I have to go to work in July? What is this, Russia?’”— Jim Gaffigan, “Cinco”
• “Adults are always asking little kids what they want to be when they grow up because they’re looking for ideas.”  —Paula Poundstone
• “A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it is not open.” — Frank Zappa

• “Do not take life too seriously — you will never get out of it alive.” — Elbert Hubbard
• “You’re only given a little spark of madness, you mustn’t lose it.” — Robin Williams
• “You can’t be that kid standing at the top of the water slide overthinking it. You have to go down the chute.”   — Tina Fey
• “All my life, I always wanted to be somebody. Now I see that I should have been more specific.” — Jane Wagner
• “If at first you don’t succeed, then skydiving definitely isn’t for you.” — Steven Wright
• “Never follow anyone else’s path. Unless you’re in the woods and you’re lost and you see a path; then, by all means, you should follow that path.” — Ellen Degeneres
• “You’re still here? It’s over. Go home. Go.” — Ferris Bueller, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”

Inspirational graduation quotes

• “All dreams are within reach. All you have to do is keep moving towards them.” — Viola Davis
• “That’s a great motto for all of us — find somebody to be successful for. Raise their hopes. Rise to their needs.” — Barack Obama, Arizona State University commencement speech 2009
• “Look back on the journey that brought you here. What moments challenged you most? When were you asked to step outside of your familiar territory in order to rise to the occasion of your potential? I want you to remember those moments because they will embolden you.” — Kerry Washington, George Washington University commencement speech 2013

• “Just because you don’t know what you want yet, it doesn’t mean that there’s nothing to want.” — Emily Henry, “The Love That Split the Wind”
• “You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation.” — Brigham Young
• “You’ll be on your way up! You’ll be seeing great sights! You’ll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.” — Dr. Seuss, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!”
• “Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a better person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in.” — Martin Luther King, March for Integrated Schools
•  “Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” — Dr. Seuss, “Happy Birthday to You!”

• “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go...” — Dr. Seuss, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!”
• “A great accomplishment shouldn’t be the end of the road, just the starting point for the next leap forward.” — Harvey Mackay
• “If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” — Henry David Thoreau, “Walden”
• “It is you, the young and fearless at heart, the most diverse and educated generation in our history, who the nation is waiting to follow.” — Barack Obama, Selma Anniversary speech 2015

• “It’s opener, out there, in the wide, open air.” ― Dr. Seuss, "Oh, the Places You’ll Go!"
• “Why fit in when you were born to stand out?” ― Dr. Seuss
• “Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.” — Malcolm X
• “Congratulations! Today is your day. You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and away!” ― Dr. Seuss, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!”
• “It is our failure to become of perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique.” — Conan O’Brien, 2011 Dartmouth College commencement address

• “Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in.” — Bill Bradley
• “There are two types of people who will tell you that you cannot make a difference in this world: those who are afraid to try and those who are afraid you will succeed.” — Ray Goforth
• “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.” — Walt Disney
• “Becoming isn’t about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey doesn’t end.” — Michelle Obama, “Becoming”
• “I am a firm believer that you don’t achieve greatness on your own. There is always someone there to lend a hand.” — Greg Louganis

Graduation quotes inspired by song lyrics

• “Tonight / We are young /So, let’s set the world on fire / We can burn brighter than the sun.” — Fun, “We Are Young”
• “I’ll spread my wings and I’ll learn how to fly / I’ll do what it takes ‘til I touch the sky / And I’ll make a wish, take a chance, make a change and breakaway.” — Kelly Clarkson, “Breakaway”
• “And I’ll be gone, gone tonight / The ground beneath my feet is open wide.” — One Direction, “Story of My Life’

• “You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine / Just own the night, like the Fourth of July.” — Katy Perry, “Firework”
• “It’s something unpredictable, but in the end, it’s right / I hope you had the time of your life.” — Green Day, “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)”
• “Ain’t about how fast I get there / Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side / It’s the climb.” — Miley Cyrus, “The Climb”
• “I am unwritten / Can’t read my mind / I’m undefined / I’m just beginning / The pen’s in my hand / Ending unplanned.” —Natasha Bedingfield, “Unwritten”

• “As we go on, we remember / All the times we had together / And as our lives change / Come whatever / We will still be friends forever.” — Vitamin C, “Graduation (Friends Forever)
• “I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance / Never settle for the path of least resistance.” — Lee Ann Womack, “I Hope You Dance”
• “School’s out for summer / School’s out forever.” — Alice Cooper, “School’s Out”

Sarah is a lifestyle and entertainment reporter for TODAY who covers holidays, celebrities and everything in between.

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• Quotes for Graduation Speeches

Here are a few quotes for graduation speeches that may help to spark your imagination.

Oftentimes, a quote can inspire a whole graduation speech. Quotes for graduation speeches can be taken from anywhere, then woven into your speech to help make it more memorable for your audience.

So check out the graduation quotes below and see if any of them fire up your imagination. If you would like to submit a quote for a graduation speech that you think is brilliant, use the form at the end of this page and I will place it here with your name as the submitter!

"You don't have to be great to start but you have to start to be great."

- Zig Ziglar ( submitted by Swapna )

"Time and tide waits for none."

- Unknown ( submitted by Ibrahim )

"Reach for the stars, dream for tomorrow, live for today."

- Unknown ( submitted by Caltren )

"Translate the good things of your learning into the welfare of humanity."

- Unknown ( submitted by Bishwanath )

"Never say die."

- Unknown ( submitted by Siddharth )

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."

- Winston Churchill ( submitted by Allie )

"We were all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid."

- Benjamin Franklin ( submitted by Joe )

"Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave."

- Prophet Mohammad ( submitted by Khulud )

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step."

- Confucius ( submitted by Jafar )

"Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today."

- Malcom X ( submitted by Liin )

"Life is a journey. Day by day we learn more and this is just the beginning of our journey." ( submitted by Jay )

"Make your dreams happen by working on them and believing in yourself."

( submitted by Mariah )

"Wisdom is power."

( submitted by Marilou )

"Work hard, have fun, make history."

- Jeff Bezos ( submitted by Rajesh )

"Success doesn't happen overnight, it is a product of long term diligence and perseverance."

( submitted by Elena )

"Cherish your education as if it was the last Oreo in the bag."

( submitted by Daniel )

"Never follow someone who is going nowhere."

( submitted by Zam )

"Our future depends on what we do in the present.."

( submitted by King )

"Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation."

- Robert F. Kennedy

"You cannot teach people anything. You can only help them discover it within themselves."

"It's choice - not chance - that determines your destiny."

- Jean Nidetch

"If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves."

- Thomas Edison

"Success is never final. Failure is never fatal. It is courage that counts."

- Winston Churchill

"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."

"You never achieve real success unless you like what you are doing."

- Dale Carnegie

"In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing."

- Theodore Roosevelt

"Cherish your visions and your dreams, as they are the children of your soul; the blueprints of your ultimate achievements."

- Napolean Hill

"Life is what we make it. Always has been, always will be."

- Grandma Moses

More quotes for graduation speeches

"Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do."

- Pope John XXIII

"Realize that the reason most people fail isn't because of the competition but because of the limits they place upon themselves, allowing defeat to take over. Take responsibility for your destiny. You can come up with a performance, if you can reach down and dig deep enough into your competitive soul. You can overcome tremendous obstacles."

- Bruce Jenner

"So long as there is breath in me, that long I will persist. For now I know one of the greatest principles on success; if I persist long enough I will win."

- Og Mandino

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"As long as you're going to think anyway, think big."

- Donald Trump

"To accomplish great things we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe."

- Anatole France

"My father always used to say that when you die, if you've got five real friends, you've had a great life."

- Lee Iacocca

"If caterpillars can fly, so can you"

- Submitted by Juliet

I hope these quotes for graduation speeches have given you some ideas in helping you to write your graduation speech! If you feel so inclined, send in your own graduation quote using the form below.

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50 Speech Closing Lines (& How to Create Your Own) | The Ultimate Guide

Hrideep barot.

• Public Speaking , Speech Writing

While speech openings are definitely one of the most important components of a speech, something that is equally as important is the way you conclude your speech.

There are few worse ways to end your speech than with a terse ‘thank you’–no elaboration or addition whatsoever.

Speech endings are just as crucial to the success of your speech as speech openings, and you must spend just as much time picking the perfect ending as you do to determine your best possible speech opening.

The words you speak at the beginning and end of your speech are words that your audience will pay the most attention to, and remember longer than any other part of your speech.

Speech endings can put even the most experienced speaker in flux, and increase their anxiousness manifold as they sit there attempting to figure out the perfect way to end your speech.

If you’re someone who’s in flux about your speech ending too, don’t worry. We’ve got some amazing ways to conclude your speech with a bang!

1. Circling Back To The Beginning

The idea behind circling back to the beginning of your speech is to reinforce the idea of your speech being a complete whole. By circling back to the beginning and connecting it to your ending, you let the audience understand that the idea of your speech is complete & standalone.

Circling back to the beginning of your speech also acts as an excellent way of reinforcing the central idea of your speech in the audience’s mind, and makes it more likely that they will remember it after the speech ends.

Need more inspiration for speech opening lines? Check out our article on 15 Powerful Speech Opening Lines & Tips To Create Your Own.

How To Circle Back To The Beginning

The easiest way to do this is to set up your beginning for the conclusion of your speech. That is, if you’re saying something like, say, a story or joke in the beginning, then you can leave your audience in a cliffhanger until the ending arrives.

Another great way to circle back to the beginning is by simply restating something you said at the start. The added knowledge from attending the rest of your speech will help the audience see this piece of information in a new–and better–light.

1. Will Stephen

Ending Line: “I’d like you to think about what you heard in the beginning, and I want you to think about what you hear now. Because it was nothing & it’s still nothing.”

2. Canwen Xu

Speech Ending: My name is Canwen, my favorite color is purple and I play the piano but not so much the violin…

Think of a memorable moment from your life, and chances are you’ll realize that it involved a feeling of happiness–something that we can associate with smiling or laughter. And what better way to generate laughter than by incorporating the age-old strategy of good humor.

The happy and lighthearted feeling you associate with good memories is the kind of emotional reaction you want to create in your audience too. That’s what will make your speech stick in their memory.

Done incorrectly, humor can be a disaster. Done right, however, it can entirely transform a speech.

Humor doesn’t only mean slapstick comedy (although there’s nothing wrong with slapstick, either). Humor can come in many forms, including puns, jokes, a funny story…the list is endless.

How To Incorporate Humor In Your Speech Ending

The simplest way to incorporate humor into your speech ending is by telling a plain old joke–something that’s relevant to your topic, of course.

You can also tell them a short, funny anecdote–may be an unexpected conclusion to a story you set up in the beginning.

Another way would be by employing the power of repetition. You can do this by associating something funny with a word, and then repeating the word throughout your speech. During the end, simply say the word or phrase one last time, and it’s likely you’ll leave off your audience with a good chuckle.

1. Woody Roseland

Ending Line: “Why are balloons so expensive? Inflation.”

2. Andras Arato

Ending Line: “There are three rules to becoming famous. Unfortunately, nobody knows what they are.”

3. Hasan Minhaj

Ending Line: “And you want to know the scariest part? Pretty soon every country on the earth is going to have its own TLC show.”

4. Sophie Scott

Speech Ending: In other words, when it comes to laughter, you and me baby, ain’t nothing but mammals.

5. Tim Urban

Speech Ending: We need to stay away from the Instant Gratification Monkey. That’s a job for all of us. And because there’s not that many boxes on there. It’s a job that should probably start today. Well, maybe not today, but, you know, sometime soon.

6. Hasan Minhaj

Speech Ending: Showing my legs on TV is probably the scariest thing I’ve ever done. And keep in mind last week I went after the Prince of Saudi Arabia.

3. Question

The idea behind posing a question at the end of your speech is to get the wheels in your audience’s minds turning and to get them thinking of your speech long after it has ended. A question, if posed correctly, will make your audience re-think about crucial aspects of your speech, and is a great way to prompt discussion after your speech has ended.

How To Add Questions To Your Speech Ending

The best type of questions to add to your speech ending is rhetorical questions. That’s because, unlike a literal question, a rhetorical question will get the audience thinking and make them delve deeper into the topic at hand.

Make sure your question is central to the idea of your speech, and not something frivolous or extra. After all, the point of a question is to reinforce the central idea of your topic.

1. Lexie Alford

Speech Ending: Ask yourself: How uncomfortable are you willing to become in order to reach your fullest potential?

2. Apollo Robbins

Speech Ending: If you could control somebody’s attention, what would you do with it?

Quotes are concise, catchy phrases or sentences that are generally easy to remember and repeat.

Quotes are an age-old way to start–and conclude–a speech. And for good reason.

Quotes can reinforce your own ideas by providing a second voice to back them up. They can also provoke an audience’s mind & get them thinking. So, if you add your quote to the end of your speech, the audience will most likely be thinking about it for long after you have finished speaking.

How To Use Quotes In Your Speech Ending

While adding quotes to your speech ending, make sure that it’s relevant to your topic. Preferably, you want to pick a quote that summarizes your entire idea in a concise & memorable manner.

Make sure that your quote isn’t too long or complicated. Your audience should be able to repeat it as well as feel its impact themselves. They shouldn’t be puzzling over the semantics of your quote, but its intended meaning.

1. Edouard Jacqmin

Speech Ending: “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.”

2. Chris Crowe

Speech Ending: “It’s more certain than death and taxes.”

3. Olivia Remes

Speech Ending: I’d like to leave you with a quote by Martin Luther King: “You don’ have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step.”

4. Tomislav Perko

Speech Ending: Like that famous quote says, “In twenty years from now on, you’ll be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the things you did do.

5. Diana Nyad

Speech Ending: To paraphrase the poet, Mary Oliver, she says, “So, what is it? What is it you’re doing with this one wild and precious life of yours?”

5. Piece Of Advice

The point of giving a piece of advice at the end of your speech is not to pull your audience down or to make them feel bad/inferior about themselves. Rather, the advice is added to motivate your audience to take steps to do something–something related to the topic at hand.

The key point to remember is that your advice is included to help your audience, not to discourage them.

How To Add Piece Of Advice To Your Speech Ending

To truly make your audience follow the advice you’re sharing, you must make sure it resonates with them. To do so, you need to inject emotions into your advice, and to present it in such a manner that your audience’s emotions are aroused when they hear it.

Your advice shouldn’t be something extra-complicated or seemingly impossible to achieve. This will act as a counter-agent. Remember that you want your audience to follow your advice, not to chuck it away as something impossible.

Our article, 15 Powerful Speech Ending Lines And Tips To Create Your Own , is another great repository for some inspiration.

1. Ricardo Lieuw On

Speech Ending: “Learn something new, or a new way of approaching something old because there are a few skills are valuable as the art of learning.”

2. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

Speech Ending: “If we want to improve the competence level of our leaders, then we should first improve our own competence for judging and selecting leaders.”

3. Sharique Samsudheen

Speech Ending: “Some people love money, some people hate money, some people crave money, some people even kill for money. But what they miss is they just need to learn how to manage money well, and that will give them financial freedom.”

4. Kate Simonds

Speech Ending: Teens, you need to believe in your voices and adults, you need to listen.

5. Melissa Butler

Speech Ending: When you go home today, see yourself in the mirror, see all of you, look at all your greatness that you embody, accept it, love it and finally, when you leave the house tomorrow, try to extend that same love and acceptance to someone who doesn’t look like you.

6. Iskra Lawrence

Speech Ending: Speak to your body in a loving way. It’s the only one you got, it’s your home, and it deserves your respect. If you see anyone tearing themselves down, build them back up And watch your life positively grow when you give up the pursuit of perfection.

6. Contemplative Remark

As the name itself suggests, contemplative remarks are intended to make your audience contemplate or mull over something. The ‘something’ in question should be the idea central to your speech, or a key takeaway that you want them to return home with.

The idea is to get your audience thinking and to keep them thinking for a long, long time.

How To Add A Contemplative Remark To Your Speech Ending

To add a contemplative remark to your speech ending, you first need to figure out your key takeaway or main theme. Then, you want to arrange that as a question, and propose it to your audience at the end of your speech.

Remember that your question shouldn’t be something too wordy or complicated to understand. As with the quotes, you don’t want your audience stuck on the semantics. Rather, you want them to focus on the matter at hand.

1. Lisa Penney

Speech Ending: “So I invite you to pay more attention to your thoughts & consider the legacy you leave behind.”

2. Grant Sanderson

Speech Ending: “Some of the most useful math that you can find or teach has its origin in someone who was just looking for a good story.”

3. Greta Thunberg

Speech Ending: “We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up & change is coming whether you like it or not.”

4. Bill Eckstrom

Speech Ending: Now, think about this: it’s not the complexity-triggering individuals or events you should fear the most, but it’s your own willingness to accept or seek discomfort that will dictate the growth of not just you, but our entire world.

5. Robert Hoge

Speech Ending: Choose to accept your face, choose to appreciate your face, don’t look away from the mirror so quickly; understand all the love, and the life, and the pain that is the part of your face, that is the art of your face. Tomorrow when you wake up, what will your choice be?

7. Personal Anecdote

Personal anecdotes, as the name suggests, are anecdotes that are personal to the speaker or instances from their life. Personal anecdotes are a great way to incorporate the magical powers of storytelling in your speech, as well as to make a personal connection with the audience. Using personal anecdotes, you can hit two birds with one stone!

How To Add Personal Anecdotes To Your Speech Ending

To add personal anecdotes to your speech ending, you need to filter through your life experiences to find out ones that directly relate to your topic at hand. You don’t want to include an anecdote, no matter how compelling it is, if it doesn’t relate to your topic.

Remember to not keep your anecdote too long. Your audience will most likely lose their attention if you do so.

1. Sheila Humphries

Speech Ending: “Why do you go work for these people?” My answer to them was, “If I could help one child make it in this world, it’ll be worth it all.”

8. Call To Action

A call-to-action is one of the absolute best ways to conclude a speech with a bang. A well-written speech should aim to alter the audience’s mind or belief system in some way and to make them take an action in that direction. One crucial way to assure your audience does this is by using a call to action.

How To Add A Call To Action To Your Speech Ending

A call to action comes right before the ending of your speech to provide your audience with a clear idea or set of instructions about what they’re supposed to do after your talk ends.

A call to action should provide a roadmap to the audience for their future steps, and to outline clearly what those future steps are going to be.

1. Armin Hamrah

Speech Ending: “So tonight, after you finish your Math homework & before you lay your head down on that fluffy pillow, bring a piece of paper and pen by your bedside…”

2. Graham Shaw

Speech Ending: “So I invite you to get your drawings out there & spread the word that when we draw, we remember more!”

3. Andy Puddicombe

Speech Ending: You don’t have to burn any incense, and you definitely don’t have to sit on the floor. All you need to do is to take out 10 minutes out a day to step back, familiarize yourself with the present moment so that you get to experience a greater sense of focus, calm, and clarity in your life.

4. Amy Cuddy

Speech Ending: Before you go into the next stressful evaluative situation, for two minutes, try doing this in the elevator…

5. Jia Jiang

Speech Ending: When you are facing the next obstacle or the next failure, consider the possibilities. Don’t run! If you just embrace them, they might become your gifts as well.

9. Motivational Remark

As the name clearly explains, a motivational remark motivates your audience to carry out a plan of action. It ruffles the audience’s mind and emotions and has a powerful impact on the steps that your audience will take after you’ve finished speaking.

How To Add A Motivational Remark To Your Speech Ending

The key to a good motivational remark is to inspire your audience. Your motivational remark should act as a ray of hope to your audience and positively inspire them to take a desired course of action.

Your motivational remark should not be negative in any way. You don’t want to guilt or coerce your audience into doing something or feeling a certain way. You want to leave them on a positive note to move forward with their life.

1. Khanh Vy Tran

Speech Ending: “No matter what you’re going through right now & no matter what the future holds for you, please don’t change yourself. Love yourself, accept yourself & then transform yourself.”

2. Mithila Palkar

Speech Ending: “Get a job, leave a job, dance, sing, fall in love. Carve your own niche. But most importantly: learn to love your own randomness.”

3. Andrew Tarvin

Speech Ending: “Anyone can learn to be funnier. And it all starts with a choice. A choice to try to find ways to use humor. A choice to be like my grandmother, to look at the world around you and say WTF–wow, that’s fun.”

4. Laura Vanderkam

Speech Ending: There is time. Even if we are busy, we have time for what matters. And when we focus on what matters, we can build the lives we want in the time we’ve got.

5. Julian Treasure

Speech Ending: Let’s get listening taught in schools, and transform the world in one generation into a conscious listening world, a world of connection, a world of understanding, and a world of peace.

6. Mariana Atencio

Speech Ending: Let’s celebrate those imperfections that make us special. I hope that it teaches you that nobody has a claim on the word ‘normal’. We are all different. We are all quirky and unique and that is what makes us wonderfully human.

10. Challenge

Much like a call to action, the aim of proposing a challenge at the end of your speech is to instigate your audience to take some desired course of action. A challenge should make an appeal to your audience’s emotion, and motivate them to meet it.

How To Add A Challenge To Your Speech Ending

To apply a challenge effectively to your speech ending, you need to make sure that it’s something relevant to your topic. Your challenge should drive the central topic of your speech forward, and make your audience engage in real-life steps to apply your idea in the real world.

While its always a good idea to set a high bar for your challenge, make sure its an achievable one too.

1. Jamak Golshani

Speech Ending: “I challenge you to open your heart to new possibilities, choose a career path that excites you & one that’s aligned to who you truly are.”

2. Ashley Clift-Jennings

Speech Ending: So, my challenge to you today is, “Do you know, would you even know how to recognize your soulmate?” If you are going out in the world right now, would you know what you are looking for?

11. Metaphor

Metaphors are commonly used as a short phrase that draws a comparison between two ideas in a non-literal sense. People use metaphors quite commonly in daily life to explain ideas that might be too difficult or confusing to understand otherwise. Metaphors are also great tools to be used in speech, as they can present your main idea in a simple and memorable way.

How To Add Metaphors To Your Speech Ending

To add a metaphor to your speech ending, you need to first decide on the main idea or takeaway of your speech. Your metaphor should then be organized in such a way that it simplifies your main idea and makes it easier for your audience to understand & remember it.

The key is to not make your metaphor overly complicated or difficult to retain and share. Remember that you’re trying to simplify your idea for the audience–not make them even more confused.

1. Ramona J. Smith

Speech Ending: “Stay in that ring. And even after you take a few hits, use what you learned from those previous fights, and at the end of the round, you’ll still remain standing.”

2. Shi Heng YI

Speech Ending: “If any of you chooses to climb that path to clarity, I will be very happy to meet you at the peak.”

3. Zifang “Sherrie” Su

Speech Ending: “Are you turning your back on your fear? Our life is like this stage, but what scares are now may bring you the most beautiful thing. Give it a chance.”

12. Storytelling

The idea behind using stories to end your speech is to leave your audience with a good memory to take away with them.

Stories are catchy, resonating & memorable ways to end any speech.

Human beings can easily relate to stories. This is because most people have grown up listening to stories of some kind or another, and thus a good story tends to evoke fond feelings in us.

How To Incorporate Stories In Your Speech Ending

A great way to incorporate stories in your speech ending is by setting up a story in the beginning and then concluding it during the end of your speech.

Another great way would be to tell a short & funny anecdote related to a personal experience or simply something related to the topic at hand.

However, remember that it’s the ending of your speech. Your audience is most likely at the end of their attention span. So, keep your story short & sweet.

1. Sameer Al Jaberi

Speech Ending: “I can still see that day when I came back from my honeymoon…”

2. Josephine Lee

Speech Ending: “At the end of dinner, Jenna turned to me and said…”

Facts are another excellent speech ending, and they are used quite often as openings as well. The point of adding a fact as your speech ending is to add shock value to your speech, and to get your audience thinking & discussing the fact even after your speech has ended.

How To Add Facts To Your Speech Ending

The key to adding facts to your speech ending is to pick a fact that thrusts forward your main idea in the most concise form possible. Your fact should also be something that adds shock value to the speech, and it should ideally be something that the audience hasn’t heard before.

Make sure that your fact is relevant to the topic at hand. No matter how interesting, a fact that doesn’t relate to your topic is going to be redundant.

1. David JP Phillips

Speech Ending: 3500 years ago, we started transfering knowledge from generation to generation through text. 28 years ago, PowerPoint was born. Which one do you think our brain is mostly adapted to?

14. Rhethoric Remark

Rhetoric remarks are another excellent way to get the wheels of your audience’s minds turning. Rhetoric remarks make your audience think of an imagined scenario, and to delve deeper into your topic. Rhetoric remarks or questioned don’t necessarily need to have a ‘right’ or one-shot answer, which means you can be as creative with them as possible!

How To Add Rhethoric Remarks To Your Speech Ending

Since rhetorical questions don’t need to have a definite answer, you have much freedom in determining the type of question or statement you wish to make. However, as with all other speech endings, a rhetorical question shouldn’t be asked just for the sake of it.

A rhetorical question should make your audience think about your topic in a new or more creative manner. It should get them thinking about the topic and maybe see it from an angle that they hadn’t before.

Rhetorical questions shouldn’t be too confusing. Use simple language & make sure it’s something that the audience can easily comprehend.

1. Mona Patel

Speech Ending: Pick your problem, ask “What if?” Come up with ideas. Bring them down. Then execute on them. Maybe you’re thinking, “What if we can’t?” I say to you, “What if we don’t?”

2. Lizzie Velasquez

Speech Ending: I want you to leave here and ask yourself what defines you. But remember: Brave starts here.

Another great way to end your speech with a literal bang is by using music! After all, if there’s something that can impact the human mind with just as much force as a few well-placed words, it’s the correct music.

How To Add Music To Your Speech Ending

To add music to your speech ending, you must make sure that the music has something to do with your speech theme. Remember that you’re not playing music in your concert. The piece of music that you choose must be relevant to your topic & work to have a contribution in your overall speech.

1. Tom Thum

Speech Ending: *ends the TED Talk with beat boxing*

16. Reitirate The Title

The title of your speech is its most important component. That’s why you need to pay careful attention to how you pick it, as it is something that your viewers will most likely remember the longest about your speech.

Your title will also act as a guiding hand towards how your audience forms an initial idea about your speech and is what they will associate your entire speech with.

By repeating your title at the end of your speech, you increase the chances that your audience will remember it–and your speech–for a long time.

How To Retierate The Title In Your Speech Ending

Your title is something that your audience associates your entire speech with. However, you don’t want to simply add the title in your speech end for the sake of adding it. Instead, make it flow naturally into your speech ending. This will make it seem less forced, and will also increase the chances of your audience remembering your entire speech ending and not just the title of your speech.

1. Ruairi Robertson

Speech Ending: I feel we can all contribute to this fight worth fighting for our own health, but more importantly, our future generations’ health by restoring the relationship between microbe and man. There is SOME FOOD FOR THOUGHT!

Need more inspiration for speech closing lines? Check out our article on 10 Of The Best Things To Say In Closing Remarks.

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To sum up, speech endings are just as imperative to the success of your speech as speech openings, and you must spend just as much time picking the perfect ending as you do to determine your best possible speech opening. The words you speak at the beginning and end of your speech are words that your audience will pay the most attention to, and remember longer than any other part of your speech.

Still looking for inspiration? Check out this video we made on closing remarks:

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The 13 Best Lines from Graduation Speeches

Do you remember what the speaker said at your graduation ceremony? Maybe you were so excited that it was all a blur. Or maybe you tuned out, assuming it would just be the standard, boring stuff.

Or… maybe you were truly inspired. Often it’s just one little memorable line that strikes the right chord in your brain and your heart – and then you carry it with you forever. Often it’s a clever or funny line that catches us by surprise and snaps us to attention. Great example: “If I could give you one piece of advice, it would be this: Wear Sunscreen .” Or, we’ve always liked the one from Thomas Jefferson: “I find the harder I work, the luckier I get.”

As you venture out to tackle life’s next great adventure, perhaps these classic lines from graduation speeches will accompany you on your journey.

“If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito.”

~ Bette Reese, American officer and pilot

“Check your ego at the door and start checking your gut instead.”

~ Oprah Winfrey, talk-show host and empire builder

“The unfortunate, yet truly exciting thing about your life is that there is no core curriculum. The entire place is an elective.”

~ Jon Stewart, comedian, writer, producer, media critic

“If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of payments.”

- Earl Wilson, baseball player

“You get to make your own luck. 80% of success in your career will come from just showing up. The world is run by those who show up…not those who wait to be asked.”

~ Steve Blank, entrepreneur

“Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.”

- Will Rogers, actor, humorist and social commentator

“Have the wisdom to recognize the best in others while always demanding the best from yourself.”

Madeleine Albright, first female U.S. Secretary of State

“If your uniform isn't dirty, you haven't been in the game.”

~ Ben Bernanke, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve

“Don’t let your fears overwhelm your desire… you will never know what you’re capable of unless you try.”

~ Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook

And here’s a bonus quote from Ms. Sandberg, just because we think she’s awesome:

“Careers are not ladders – those days are gone. Careers are jungle gyms.”

“Follow your passion, stay true to yourself, never follow someone else’s path, unless you’re in the woods and you’re lost and you see a path… then by all means you should follow that.”

~ Ellen DeGeneres. Everyone knows who Ellen is.

“I’ve seen a generation eager, impatient even, to step into the rushing waters of history and change its course.”

~ Former President Obama

“Life has no remote. Get up and change it yourself.”

- Mark A. Cooper, author

This next one doesn’t get a ranking, and we’re not even sure it’s from a graduation speech, but we figured no blog would be complete without advice from a frog:

“And once you get that map out, you won’t be able to refold it no matter how smart you are. So forget the map, roll down the windows, and whenever you can, pull over and have a picnic with a pig. And if you can help it, never fly as cargo.” 

~ Kermit the Frog, social commentator and expert on being green

And now… drum roll, please. When we started researching the best graduation advice, we assumed our #1 pick would come from a former president, Nobel Prize winner, or influential philosopher. Or maybe Oprah. We were wrong. The best line came from none other than rock legend, Bono. Which just goes to show – you can make a difference in people’s lives, no matter which career you choose.

Here’s our #1 Best Line from a Graduation Speech:

“This is the time for bold measures and this is the country and you are the generation… That degree of yours is a blunt instrument – go forth and build something with it.”

~ Bono, singer, musician, businessman and philanthropist

Of course, in a blog about graduation advice, we’d be remiss if we didn’t refer back to that classic “song” released in 1999, by  Baz Luhrmann , "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)." If you haven’t heard it, check it out on YouTube. Interesting fact: the song started life as an essay written by  columnist   Mary Schmich , for the Chicago Tribune . It went viral, and was often erroneously described as a commencement speech given by author  Kurt Vonnegut  at MIT. I guess you can’t believe everything you read on the Internet…

In closing, graduates: Congratulations! Now go out and build something, change history, picnic with a pig, and always wear sunscreen.

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12 Powerful Quotes From Inspiring Commencement Speeches

On graduation day, you experience a lot of emotions: Pride because you’ve finally made it. Fear because you don’t know what’s next. And everything in between.

Except you don’t have to be wearing a cap and gown to feel these things. If anything is true in this world, it’s that nobody knows what they’re doing. We’re all just figuring it out as we go.

So when somebody successful is willing to share their advice, you take it and you run with it and you do everything humanly possible to make your own mark with it.

Here are some of our favorite quotes from some of the most inspirational commencement speeches by some of the most inspirational people to help you get started:

1. “We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.” – J.K. Rowling, Harvard University

2. “to those of you graduates sitting out there who have a pretty good idea of what you’d like to do with your life, congratulations. for many of you who maybe don’t have it all figured out, it’s ok. that’s the same chair that i sat in. enjoy the process of your search without succumbing to the pressure of the result. trust your gut, keep throwing darts at the dartboard. don’t listen to the critics and you will figure it out.” – will ferrell, university of southern california, 3. “the trick is to listen to your instinct, grab the opportunity when it presents itself and then give it your all. you will stumble and fall, you will experience both disaster and triumph, sometimes in the same day, but it’s really important to remember that like a hangover, neither triumphs nor disasters last forever. they both pass and a new day arrives. just try to make that new day count.” – helen mirren, tulane university, 4. “be present. i would encourage you with all my heart just to be present. be present and open to the moment that is unfolding before you. because, ultimately, your life is made up of moments. so don’t miss them by being lost in the past or anticipating the future.” – jessica lange, sarah lawrence college, 5. “you can go slow. allow your dreams and goals to change, but live an intentional life.” – kumail nanjiani, grinnell college, 6. “sometimes you find out what you are supposed to be doing by doing the things you are not supposed to do.” – oprah winfrey, howard university, 7. “i encourage you to live with life. be courageous, adventurous. give us a tomorrow, more than we deserve.” – maya angelou, university of california, riverside, 8. “the most important thing in your life is to live your life with integrity and to not give into peer pressure to try to be something that you’re not.” – ellen degeneres, tulane university, 9. “don’t be afraid of fear. because it sharpens you, it challenges you, it makes you stronger; and when you run away from fear, you also run away from the opportunity to be your best possible self.” – ed helms, knox college, 10. “you will be so many things, and the one thing that i wish i’d known and want to say is, don’t just be yourself. be all of yourselves. don’t just live. be that other thing connected to death. be life. live all of your life. understand it, see it, appreciate it. and have fun.” – joss whedon, wesleyan university, 11. “i’ve found that nothing in life is worthwhile unless you take risks. fall forward. every failed experiment is one step closer to success. you’ve got to take risks. you will fail at some point in your life. accept it. you will lose. you will embarrass yourself. you will suck at something. there is no doubt about it. never be discouraged. never look back. give everything you’ve got. and when you fall throughout life, fall forward.” – denzel washington, university of pennsylvania, 12. “but my dear graduates, let me be frank, the best years are very much ahead of you. and they can be whatever you want them to be… as much as you’ve changed during your time here, more change is coming. you’re going to continue to evolve in unforeseen ways. you are full of complexities and wonders that haven’t even begun to surface. life’s unpredictability will draw these out and what defines you now will be mere shades and hues of a more vibrant you over the next five, 10, 50 years. honestly, i can’t think of anything more liberating than that, knowing that life will look differently than you think it will.” – octavia spencer, kent state university.

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100 Graduation Quotes for All Grads

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Graduations are always special occasions and these graduation quotes will have you ready for commencement from any stage of learning.

Graduating from any level of school is an exciting milestone that deserves celebrating.

Aside from accomplishing past goals, graduations give us a chance to set new ones and move to bigger challenges.

So take time to enjoy commencement with these great graduation quotes and celebrate all you’ve accomplished in school.

Page Contents

Top 10 Graduation Quotes

Graduation isn’t the closing of a door. It’s the opening of a thousand. Daniel Schultz

Graduation is the beginning of knowing who you are, what you are, why you are, and always knowing where you are going. Lydia Patton

There is a good reason they call these ceremonies ‘commencement exercises.’ Graduation is not the end; it’s the beginning. Orrin Hatch

The man who graduates today and stops learning tomorrow is uneducated the day after. Newton D. Baker

Be excited about your college graduation and career opportunities! Paul B. Hudson

Graduation is not the end but the beginning of our bigger life and bigger challenges in life to face. May Ann

Graduation is the end of theoretical knowledge and the start of practical life. Geetha Laxman

Graduation, a conclusion of one chapter, a beginning of another. Catherine Pulsifer

Quotes about Graduation

Graduation is an important day. It is a significant achievement. Stephanie Ruhle

Graduation is a time to nod at the past and smile at the future, and we’d better smile at it because it’s quite a bit bigger than us. Noah MacDonald

Education is something we have to keep pursuing day after day. Premier Brian Gallant

It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves. Edmund Hillary

Graduation is a process that goes on until the last day of your life. If you can grasp that, you’ll make a difference. Arie Pencovici

Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today. Malcolm X

Having the right mindset is critical to graduation no matter at what age you decide to take the leap. Mike Finley

After years of daily effort and sleepless nights cramming for exams and finishing term papers, the day finally comes when you put on your caps and gowns to stand in line to receive the university diploma certifying that the time has come for you to make your entry into the real world. Maria C. Siccardi, A Graduation Gift

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. Robert Louis Stevenson

And whether it’s a moment of graduation or some time of transition in one’s life, there’s this sense of being unmoored – what used to be isn’t any longer. Pema Chödrön

Commencement. These graduates go out to a new season and our paths will never cross again in the same way. Marsha Woodward

Now you have graduated and “commenced,” ending the last segment of your previous adventure, and now you begin your next adventure. Tom Swanson

Graduation day is tough for adults. They go to the ceremony as parents. They come home as contemporaries. After twenty-two years of child-raising, they are unemployed. Erma Bombeck

Life is my college. May I graduate well, and earn some honors! Louisa May Alcott

A graduation ceremony is an event where the commencement speaker tells thousands of students dressed in identical caps and gowns that “individuality” is the key to success. Robert Orben

Graduation is also the first time you are able to do what you want with your life, without anyone holding you back or telling you no. Michael Pipper

The learning that starts in school and used to end at graduation is now a vital and continual proactive process. Victor Hayek

God wants us to know that life is a series of beginnings, not endings. Just as graduations are not terminations but commencements. Bernie S. Siegel

Remember, half the doctors in this country graduated in the bottom half of their class. Al McGuire

We have made hardly any changes in our conception of university organization, education, graduation, for a century – for several centuries. H.G. Wells

I wasn’t under any delusion that a single message would change their world, but I was determined to prepare something that would contribute to their lives beyond graduation day, something that would help them to choose a life that matters. Dennis Rainey

The road to graduation is a long, steep climb, so take a moment at the summit to be proud of your accomplishments. Sheryl Sandberg

As a lot of us have found out, graduation only means that you are ready to keep learning, to keep your skills advanced and growing because you never know when you will find yourself out on the street. Byron Pulsifer

I don’t remember at all what was said at my college graduation, and I think that’s the case for many people. Stephanie Ruhle

For many, graduation marks the end of formal student life, the end of long spring breaks and of thinking that a 10 a.m. class is far too early. Alexa von Tobel

When someone does something good, applaud! You will make two people happy. Samuel Goldwyn

I believe that we must focus on graduation as the key accountability measure. Ruben Hinojosa

It’s more than a diploma. It’s more than graduation. It’s knowledge. Cardi B

Struggling to decide what to do after graduation is, and always will be, a sort of rite of passage to the next phase of your life. Gloria Davidson

At graduation, you get to wear a cap and gown, but it’s a good idea to also wear something underneath it. Greg Tamblyn

Words on Graduating

Effort and courage are not enough without purpose and direction. John F. Kennedy

The fireworks begin today. Each diploma is a lighted match, each one of you is a fuse. Ed Koch

You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result. Mahatma Gandhi

Man’s greatness consists in his ability to do, and the proper application of his powers to things needed to be done. Frederick Douglass

It is better to know and be disappointed, than to not know and always wonder. Oscar Wilde

You can complain about the direction of your life all you want, but until you sit in the driver’s seat and begin to drive yourself, you aren’t going to get where you want to go! Les Brown

After graduating, the possibilities are infinite, but they are a lot harder to obtain and you don’t always end up where you thought you would be. Jenny Blake

The noblest question in the world is: What good may I do in it? Benjamin Franklin

As you graduate, as you deal with your excitement and your doubts today, I urge you to try and create the world you want to live in. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Struggling to decide what to do after graduation is, and always will be, a sort of rite of passage to the next phase of your life. Gloria Davidson, When Graduation Spits You Out

To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe. Marilyn Vos Savant

You did it. You got through it. You’ve run the gauntlet of exams, essays, and the occasional all-nighter and come out of it reasonably unscathed. You’ve got a diploma, a gown, and a nifty tasseled cap. Alyssa Favreau, Stuff Every Graduate Should Know

Learning is not something that stops once you get out of school. Rather, it’s something that should be considered as a vital component of your day-to-day life. Rupert Johnson

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. Ralph Waldo Emerson

To the graduates, you might think your time in education is done, but after you leave here today, I am asking you to let your actions out there in the world fuel the demand for better education. Pharrell Williams

Graduation day is not a victory to celebrate! But a day to start again another beginning! Mark Alonzo

It is indeed ironic that we spend our school days yearning to graduate and our remaining days waxing nostalgic about our school days. Isabel Waxman

If you walk out of here with a diploma in your hand, you better walk out of here with something these professors put in your heads, too. And retain it, or you’re going to be in bad trouble. Pearl Bailey

I’ve told my children that when I die, to release balloons in the sky to celebrate that I graduated. For me, death is a graduation. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

One half who graduate from college never read another book . G.M. Trevelyan

If you graduated from higher education, you should feel proud and not allow your grades to define who you are. Saaif Alam

Graduation Speech Quotes

Commencement speeches were invented largely in the belief that outgoing college students should never be released into the world until they have been properly sedated. Garry Trudeau

Each year at graduation, I am obliged to offer a few ‘brief remarks,’ which are usually not as brief as they should be. James E. Ryan

Without a doubt, the best graduation speeches captivate the audience, heart and soul. They enchant us without smothering. They advise us without being didactic. Randy Howe

I love graduation speeches. I have always loved them; I will always love them. Bruce Eric Kaplan

What I like about graduation speeches is that they’re an opportunity for someone to make sense of their life and to impart that wisdom to someone else. It’s like a sanctioned self-help moment. Bruce Eric Kaplan

No graduation speaker will ever tell you that the future is anything but uncertain. It never is. But graduations need not only be obsessed with looking ahead; a graduation can be a day on which we turn back and trace our steps to see how we ended up where we are. Taylor Mali

If these thoughts on commencement speeches have you ready for more inspiration, check out our 12 Inspirational Graduation Speeches to honor your education or even write a stirring remarks of your own.

Words for Graduates

Don’t live down to expectations. Go out there and do something remarkable. Wendy Wasserstein

Be the author, not the reader, of your own life. Paul Gibbons

Curiosity is the key to creativity . Akio Morita

Self confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings. Samuel Johnson

No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world. Robin Williams

You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. A.A. Milne

Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good. Minor Myers Jr.

Graduates, today your formal education begins! Here’s your first lesson. Find a wise mentor. Rick Rigsby, Lessons From A Third Grade Dropout

My dear terrified graduates, 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. Lin-Manuel Miranda

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Albert Einstein

Most graduates have a mixture of emotions at this time. You probably have a tremendous sense of relief and accomplishment for finishing a major course of study. Michael Farris

Every graduate here today has the training and the talent to succeed. But do you have the guts to fail? Denzel Washington

You are no longer students. You are no longer a work in progress. You are now citizens of the real world. You have a responsibility to become a person worthy of joining and contributing to society. Because who you are today, that’s who you are. Shonda Rhimes

That diploma you hold in your hands today is really just your learner’s permit for the rest of the drive through life. Remember, you don’t have to be smarter than the next person. All you have to do is be willing to work harder than the next person. Jimmy Iovine

Then that same confident and mature high school graduate will be a very different person when they graduate college than when they entered. Four years can make a big difference in maturity. Lee Binz

Now that you’ve graduated, just remember, bosses don’t usually accept notes from your mother. Melanie White

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. Dr. Seuss

To those of you who received honors, awards and distinctions, I say well done. And to the C students, I say you too may one day be president of the United States. George W. Bush

A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car, but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad. Teddy Roosevelt

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. Eleanor Roosevelt

If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere. Frank A. Clark

As you start your journey, the first thing you should do is throw away that store-bought map and begin to draw your own. Michael Dell

You are educated. Your certification is in your degree. You may think of it as the ticket to the good life. Let me ask you to think of an alternative. Think of it as your ticket to change the world . Tom Brokaw

The college graduate is presented with a sheepskin to cover his intellectual nakedness. Robert M. Hutchins

The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you. B.B. King

We hope you enjoyed these graduation quotes and feel a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment.

From Kindergarten to a doctoral degree, graduations are always momentous occasions. They afford the time to look back on past journeys and look forward to new ones.

So wherever you are at in your educational process, don’t forget to take a breath and throw that cap in the air today. You did it!

Quincy Seale

16 Best Graduation Speeches That Leave a Lasting Impression

By Kristi Kellogg and Noor Brara

Some of the most impactful and inspiring sentiments are shared during graduation speeches delivered by the leaders we look up to. Graduation speeches from celebrities , entrepreneurs, authors and other influential thinkers are motivational, inspiring, thought-provoking and just might make you reach for the nearest tissue. After four years of hard work, stress, and exhausting self-discovery, lucky graduates are privy to a life-changing speech to top it all off.

Here, we rounded up up 16 of the best graduation speeches of all time, including words of wisdom from Natalie Portman, Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, and more.

1. Steve Jobs: Stanford, 2005

"You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it."

2. Michelle Obama: Tuskegee University, 2015

"I've found that this journey has been incredibly freeing. Because no matter what happened, I had the piece of mind knowing that all of the chatter, the name-calling, the doubting...all of it was just noise. It did not define me, it didn't change who I was, and most importantly, it couldn't hold me back."

3. Natalie Portman: Harvard, 2015

"I just directed my first film. I was completely unprepared, but my own ignorance to my own limitations looked like confidence and got me into the director's chair. Once there, I had to figure it all out, and my belief that I could handle these things, contrary to all evidence of my ability to do so was half the battle. The other half was very hard work. The experience was the deepest and most meaningful one of my career."

4. Amy Poehler: Harvard University, 2011

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By Sara Delgado

"What I have discovered is this: You can't do it alone … Listen. Say 'yes.' Live in the moment. Make sure you play with people who have your back. Make big choices early and often."

5. Meryl Streep: Barnard College, 2010

"This is your time and it feels normal to you but really there is no normal. There's only change, and resistance to it and then more change."

6. David Foster Wallace: Kenyon College, 2005

"Twenty years after my own graduation, I have come gradually to understand that the liberal arts cliché about teaching you how to think is actually shorthand for a much deeper, more serious idea: learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience. Because if you cannot exercise this kind of choice in adult life, you will be totally hosed. Think of the old cliché about quote the mind being an excellent servant but a terrible master."

7. Barack Obama: Howard University, 2016

"You have to go through life with more than just passion for change; you need a strategy. I’ll repeat that. I want you to have passion, but you have to have a strategy. Not just awareness, but action. Not just hashtags, but votes."

8. Kerry Washington: George Washington University, 2013

"You and you alone are the only person who can live the life that can write the story that you were meant to tell."

9. Conan O'Brien: Dartmouth College, 2011

"There are few things more liberating in this life than having your worst fear realized. Today I tell you that whether you fear it or not, disappointment will come. The beauty is that through disappointment you can gain clarity, and with clarity comes conviction and true originality … Work hard, be kind, and amazing things will happen."

10. J.K. Rowling: Harvard, 2008

"I stopped pretending to be anything than what I was. My greatest fear had been realized. I had an old typewriter and a big idea. Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life."

11. Oprah Winfrey: Harvard University, 2013

"Learn from every mistake because every experience, encounter, and particularly your mistakes are there to teach you and force you into being more who you are. And then figure out what is the next right move. And the key to life is to develop an internal moral, emotional G.P.S. that can tell you which way to go."

12. Joss Whedon: Wesleyan University, 2013

"You have, which is a rare thing, that ability and the responsibility to listen to the dissent in yourself, to at least give it the floor, because it is the key—not only to consciousness–but to real growth. To accept duality is to earn identity. And identity is something that you are constantly earning. It is not just who you are. It is a process that you must be active in. It's not just parroting your parents or the thoughts of your learned teachers. It is now more than ever about understanding yourself so you can become yourself."

13. George Saunders: Syracuse University, 2013

"Do all the other things, the ambitious things … Travel, get rich, get famous, innovate, lead, fall in love, make and lose fortunes, swim naked in wild jungle rivers (after first having it tested for monkey poop)—but as you do, to the extent that you can, err in the direction of kindness."

14. Nora Ephron: Wellesley College, 1996

"Be the heroine of your life, not the victim."

15. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Wellesley College, 2015

"As you graduate, as you deal with your excitement and your doubts today, I urge you to try and create the world you want to live in. Minister to the world in a way that can change it. Minister radically in a real, active, practical, get your hands dirty way."

16. Admiral William H. McRaven: University of Texas at Austin, 2014

"If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can't do the little things right, you will never do the big things right."

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10 Powerful Quotes from Famous Graduation Speeches

While many of us may not remember the commencement addresses we heard as we waited to officially graduate from high school or college, some of the most famous graduation speeches given over the years have become timeless words of wisdom that all may draw upon for inspiration and encouragement, at any season of life!

While many of these inspiring quotes convey familiar truths, such as the importance of perseverance, resilience, and kindness, they also offer a unique perspective and practical life lessons that will help kids and adults alike.

So here are excerpts from some of the most critically acclaimed and popular graduation speeches from the past several years:

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. … Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Steve Jobs ‘ 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

“If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped change.”

J.K. Rowling’s 2011 Harvard Commencement Address

“Never give in. Never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense.”

Winston Churchill ’s 1941 Harrow School Commencement Address

“It is unimaginably hard to do this, to stay conscious and alive in the adult world day in and day out. Which means yet another grand cliché turns out to be true: your education really IS the job of a lifetime. And it commences: now.”

David Foster Wallace’s 2005 Kenyon Commencement Address

“You are not born with a fixed amount of resilience . Like a muscle, you can build it up, draw on it when you need it. In that process you will figure out who you really are—and you just might become the very best version of yourself.”

Sheryl Sandberg’s 2016 University of California, Berkeley Commencement Address

“You have a choice. You can either be a passive victim of circumstance or you can be the active hero of your own life. Action is the antidote to apathy and cynicism and despair. You will inevitably make mistakes . Learn what you can and move on. At the end of your days, you will be judged by your gallop, not by your stumble.”

Bradley Whitford’s 2004 University of Wisconsin-Madison Commencement Address

“My last piece of advice—this is simple, but perhaps most important:  Persevere.  Persevere.  Nothing worthwhile is easy. No one of achievement has avoided failure—sometimes catastrophic failures. But they keep at it. They learn from mistakes. They don’t quit.”

President Barack Obama ’s 2012 Barnard College Commencement Address

“The future is not fixed, it’s fluid. You can build your own building, or hut or condo, whatever; this is the metaphor part of the speech by the way. But my point is that the world is more malleable than you think and it’s waiting for you to hammer it into shape.”

Bono’s 2004 University of Pennsylvania Commencement Address

“You can be as earnest and ridiculous as you need to be, if you don’t attempt it in isolation. The ridiculously earnest are known to travel in groups. And they are known to change the world . Look at you. That could be you.”

Barbara Kingsolver’s 2008 Duke Commencement Address

“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. ….And so, a prediction, and my heartfelt wish for you: as you get older, your self will diminish and you will grow in love. YOU will gradually be replaced by LOVE.”

George Saunders’ 2013 Commencement Address at Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences

Life after school can be full of challenges, but holding on to wise words such as those found in graduation speeches can be helpful reminders of what is really important!

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175 Inspirational Graduation Quotes for the Class of 2024

From preschool to high school and beyond!

Graduation is one of the most important transitions we go through in our lifetime. With all the pomp and circumstance, it can be a time of great excitement, and it can also be a little scary. After becoming so familiar with our surroundings, what comes next in our story? Are we ready? From preschool to high school and beyond, these wonderfully inspirational graduation quotes are perfect for sharing with students as they step into the future.

Preschool and Kindergarten Graduation Quotes

1. all our dreams can come true—if we have the courage to pursue them. — walt disney.

2. Wherever you go, go with all your heart. — Unknown

3. Be bold, be courageous, be your best. — Gabrielle Giffords

4. Believe you can, and you can. Belief is one of the most powerful of all problem dissolvers. When you believe that a difficulty can be overcome, you are more than halfway to victory over it already. — Norman Vincent Peale

5. Above all, watch with glittering eyes the world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. — Roald Dahl

6. Promise me you’ll remember: You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. — A.A. Milne , Winnie-the-Pooh

7. The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it. — J.M. Barrie

Middle School Graduation Quotes

8. shoot for the moon today, because even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars. — les brown.

9. Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. — Dale Carnegie

10. I will not follow where the path may lead, but I will go where there is no path, and I will leave a trail. — Muriel Strode

11. Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education. — Martin Luther King Jr.

12. If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. — Henry David Thoreau

13. There are two great days in a person’s life—the day we are born and the day we discover why. — Anonymous

14. Be Bright. Be Brave. Be Bold. Be Beautiful. Be Brilliant. Be You. — Paulo Coelho

High School Graduation Quotes

15. a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. — lao tzu.

16. The old rules are crumbling and nobody knows what the new rules are. So make up your own rules. — Neil Gaiman

17. Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can. — Arthur Ashe

18. Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself. — John Dewey

19. There are better things ahead than any we leave behind. — C.S. Lewis

20. To accomplish great things we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe. — Anatole France

21. What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. — Henry Stanley Haskins

22. Imagination is everything. It is the preview of coming attractions. — Unknown

More Graduation Quotes

23. sunsets are proof endings can be beautiful too. — beau taplin.

24. Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day-in and day-out. — Robert Collier

25. Do what you have to do, until you can do what you really want to do — Oprah Winfrey

26. They may forget what you said but they will never forget how you made them feel. — Carl W. Buehner

27. It is never too late to be what you might have been. — Unknown

28. So often you find that the students you’re trying to inspire are the ones that end up inspiring you. — Sean Junkins

29. Someone once told me not to bite off more than I could chew. I’d rather choke on greatness than nibble on mediocrity. —Unknown

30. Your education is a dress rehearsal for a life that is yours to lead. — Nora Ephron

31. What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the human soul. — Joseph Addison

32. It always seems impossible until it’s done. — Nelson Mandela

33. Just because the past didn’t turn out like you wanted it to doesn’t mean your future can’t be better than you ever imagined. —Anonymous

34. Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly. — John F. Kennedy

35. You can. End of story. — Cory Lewis

36. It’s never crowded along the extra mile. — Wayne Dyer

37. What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from. — T.S. Eliot

38. Always find time for the things that make you feel happy to be alive. — Matt Haig

39. Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. — Thomas Edison

40. People seldom see the halting and painful steps by which the most insignificant success is achieved. — Annie Sullivan

41. You don’t want to look back and know you could’ve done better. —Unknown

42. Promises are the uniquely human way of ordering the future. — Hannah Arendt

43. Every time you tear a leaf off a calendar, you present a new place for new ideas. — Charles Kettering

44. I attribute my success to this—I never gave or took any excuse. — Florence Nightingale

45. What I remember most about high school are the memories I created with my friends. — J.J. Watt

46. Life—a culmination of the past, an awareness of the present, an indication of a future beyond knowledge, the quality that gives a touch of divinity to matter. — Charles Lindbergh

47. We may be together for another six months—a year—there’s no knowing. At the end we’re certain to be apart. Do you realize how utterly alone we shall be? — George Orwell

48. No matter what happens in life, be good to people. Being good to people is a wonderful legacy to leave behind. — Taylor Swift

49. We don’t see the end of the tunnel, but I must say I don’t think it is darker than it was a year ago, and in some ways lighter. — John F. Kennedy

50. Change your life today. Don’t gamble on the future, act now, without delay. — Simone de Beauvoir

51. It is reasonable that a man should be something worthier at the end of the year than he was at the beginning. — Henry David Thoreau

52. Success is more a function of consistent common sense than it is of genius. — An Wang

53. Study strategy over the years and achieve the spirit of the warrior. Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men. — Miyamoto Musashi

54. The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge. — Bertrand Russell

55. We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don’t like? — Jean Cocteau

56. Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful. — Samuel Johnson

57. These success encourages: they can because they think they can. — Virgil

60. Nothing succeeds, they say, like success. And certainly nothing fails like failure. — Margaret Drabble

61. Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. — Barack Obama

62. Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. — Nelson Mandela

63. The secret in the search for meaning is to find your passion and pursue it. — Gail Sheehy

64. Life is a succession of crises and moments when we have to rediscover who we are and what we really want. — Jean Vanier

65. Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely. — Auguste Rodin

66. In every adversity there lies the seed of an equivalent advantage. In every defeat is a lesson showing you how to win the victory next time. — Robert Collier

67. A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle. — Kahlil Gibran

68. Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose. — Bill Gates

69. They always say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself. — Andy Warhol

70. Obstacles are necessary for success because in selling, as in all careers of importance, victory comes only after many struggles and countless defeats. — Og Mandino

71. Education is a private matter between the person and the world of knowledge and experience, and has little to do with school or college. — Lillian Smith

72. You must act as if everything depended on your individual efforts. The secret of success is constancy of purpose. — Benjamin Disraeli

73. Just when I think I have learned the way to live, life changes. — Hugh Prather

74. If we would have new knowledge, we must get us a whole world of new questions. — Susanne Langer

75. Fear cannot be without hope nor hope without fear. — Baruch Spinoza

76. Accept the challenges, so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory. — George S. Patton

77. Success is the necessary misfortune of life, but it is only to the very unfortunate that it comes early. — Anthony Trollope

78. The will to conquer is the first condition of victory. — Ferdinand Foch

79. Experience is a dim lamp, which only lights the one who bears it. — Louis-Ferdinand Céline

80. Knowledge is soon changed, then lost in the mist, an echo half-heard. — Gene Wolfe

81. Exhaust the little moment. Soon it dies. And be it gash or gold it will not come Again in this identical disguise. — Gwendolyn Brooks

82. The scene changes but the aspirations of men of good will persist. — Vannevar Bush

83. There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. — Colin Powell

84. Victory is not won in miles but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and later win a little more. — Louis L’Amour

85. Victory after all, I suppose! Well, it seems a very gloomy business. — J.R.R. Tolkien

86. Experience is a good school. But the fees are high. — Heinrich Heine

87. Without struggle, no progress and no result. Every breaking of habit produces a change in the machine. — G.I. Gurdjieff

88. The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will. — Vince Lombardi

89. Each moment in time we have it all, even when we think we don’t. — Melody Beattie

90. If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we are not really living. Growth demands a temporary surrender of security. — Gail Sheehy

91. Great success in examinations does naturally not as a rule go with originality of thought. — Edward Carpenter

92. As soon as I did my first five minutes of stand-up, I knew that I would rather be a failure at comedy than a success in marketing. — Jimmy Carr

93. What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself. — Abraham Maslow

94. Success is like a liberation or the first phase of a love affair. — Jeanne Moreau

95. It’s a moment that I’m after, a fleeting moment, but not a frozen moment. — Andrew Wyeth

96. Never forget: This very moment, we can change our lives. There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny. — Steven Pressfield

97. Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive. — Andrew Grove

98. Success on any major scale requires you to accept responsibility. — Michael Korda

99. Goals allow you to control the direction of change in your favor. — Brian Tracy

100. Get action. Seize the moment. Man was never intended to become an oyster. — Theodore Roosevelt

101. Constant practice devoted to one subject often prevails over both ability and skill. — Cicero

102. To know ourselves, is agreed by all to be the most useful Learning; the first Lessons, therefore, given us ought to be on that Subject. — Eliza Haywood

103. Throw in the intensity of emotions that come with that bittersweet summer sandwiched between high school graduation and the rest of your life … — Emily Giffin

104. The important thing is to keep on drawing when you start to paint. Never graduate from drawing. — John Sloan

105. Courage is doing what you are afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you are scared. — Eddie Rickenbacker

106. The excitement of learning separates youth from old age. As long as you’re learning, you’re not old. — Rosalyn Sussman Yalow

107. If a little day-dreaming is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less but to dream more, to dream all the time. — Marcel Proust

108. When I think of vision, I have in mind the ability to see above and beyond the majority. — Chuck Swindoll

109. Life is about learning; when you stop learning, you die. — Tom Clancy

110. We never graduate from first grade. Over and over, we have to go back to the beginning. — Natalie Goldberg

111. Most of us won’t see one another after graduation, and even if we do, it will be different. We’ll be different. We’ll be adults—cured, tagged and labeled and paired and identified and placed neatly on our life path, perfectly round marbles set to roll down even, well-defined slopes. — Lauren Oliver

112. Let us go forth with fear and courage and rage to save the world. — Grace Paley

113. Dreams come true; without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them. — John Updike

114. The key to realizing a dream is to focus not on success but significance, and then even the small steps and little victories along your path will take on greater meaning. — Oprah Winfrey

115. Courage will now be your best defence against the storm that is at hand—that and such hope as I bring. — J.R.R. Tolkien

116. The day you graduate from childhood to adulthood is the day you take full responsibility for your life. — Darren Hardy

117. If you have ability in a certain area, why not capitalize on it and improve it and use it? — Wilt Chamberlain

118. That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you’ve understood all your life, but in a new way. — Doris Lessing

119. My dreams were all my own; I accounted for them to nobody; they were my refuge when annoyed—my dearest pleasure when free. — Mary Shelley

120. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning. — C.S. Lewis

121. Suppose that we are wise enough to learn and know—and yet not wise enough to control our learning and knowledge, so that we use it to destroy ourselves? Even if that is so, knowledge remains better than ignorance. — Isaac Asimov

122. The dream, alone, is of interest. What is life without a dream? — Edmond Rostand

123. Your determination, selflessness and courage have brought the freedom struggle towards its fulfillment. — Gerry Adams

124. The supreme object of life is to live. Few people live. It is true life only to realize one’s own perfection, to make one’s every dream a reality. — Oscar Wilde

125. As for courage and will—we cannot measure how much of each lies within us, we can only trust there will be sufficient to carry through trials which may lie ahead. — Andre Norton

126. A dream will always triumph over reality, once it is given the chance. — Stanisław Lem

127. Experience shows that success is due less to ability than to zeal. — Charles Buxton

128. Taking charge of your own learning is a part of taking charge of your life, which is the sine qua non in becoming an integrated person. — Warren Bennis

129. Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. — Carl Jung

130. Everyone must dream. We dream to give ourselves hope. To stop dreaming—well, that’s like saying you can never change your fate. Isn’t that true? — Amy Tan

131. You know that it is only through work that you can achieve anything, either in college or in the world. — Charles William Eliot

132. If you are not afraid of the voices inside you, you will not fear the critics outside you. — Natalie Goldberg

133. Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning. — Bill Gates

134. Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself. — William Faulkner

135. Courage is very important. Like a muscle, it is strengthened by use. — Ruth Gordon

136. The armored cars of dreams contrived to let us do so many a dangerous thing. — Elizabeth Bishop

137. To have courage for whatever comes in life—everything lies in that. — Teresa of Ávila

138. Each of us has the potential to contribute. … You have a great opportunity to make a new shape of the world. — Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

139. Wanting to win isn’t enough. You have to go through a process to improve. That takes patience, perseverance, and intentionality. — John C. Maxwell

140. Excellence is the unlimited ability to improve the quality of what you have to offer. — Rick Pitino

141. If your determination is fixed, I do not counsel you to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance. — Samuel Johnson

142. Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. — Mitch Albom

143. Optimism is essential to achievement and it is also the foundation of courage and true progress. — Nicholas Murray Butler

144. I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. — Nelson Mandela

145. Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did. — Newt Gingrich

146. In essence, you make your choices, and then your choices make you. — Darren Hardy

147. Innocence of heart and violence of feeling are necessary in any kind of superior achievement: The arts cannot exist without them. — Louise Bogan

148. Most people, once they graduate from the School of Hard Knocks, automatically enroll in the University of Adversity. — Peter McWilliams

149. Perseverance in object, though not by the most direct way, is often more laudable than perpetual changes, as often as the object shifts light. — Thomas Jefferson

150. Wisdom is the power to put our time and our knowledge to the proper use. — Thomas J. Watson

151. I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious effort. — Henry David Thoreau

152. I never lose an opportunity of urging a practical beginning, however small, for it is wonderful how often in such matters the mustard-seed germinates and roots itself. — Florence Nightingale

153. The opposite for courage is not cowardice, it is conformity. Even a dead fish can go with the flow. — Jim Hightower

154. Don’t gain the world and lose your soul Wisdom is better than silver and gold. — Bob Marley

155. Lovely weather so far. I don’t know how long it will last, but I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship. — Louisa May Alcott

156. Most things break, including hearts. The lessons of a life amount not to wisdom but to scar tissue and callus. — Wallace Stegner

157. Life is like a school; one can learn, one can graduate, one can skip a grade or stay behind. — Elizabeth Lesser

158. The follies which a man regrets most, in his life, are those which he didn’t commit when he had the opportunity. — Helen Rowland

159. He dares to be a fool, and that is the first step in the direction of wisdom. — James Huneker

160. Learning should be a joy and full of excitement. It is life’s greatest adventure; it is an illustrated excursion into the minds of the noble and the learned. — Taylor Caldwell

161. You are not creating a new you; you are releasing a hidden you. The process is one of self-discovery. The hidden you that wants to emerge is in perfect balance. — Deepak Chopra

162. Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality. — Warren Bennis

163. Remember that the storm is a good opportunity for the pine and the cypress to show their strength and their stability. — Ho Chi Minh

164. To avoid situations in which you might make mistakes may be the biggest mistake of all. — Peter McWilliams

165. After all these years, I am still involved in the process of self-discovery. It’s better to explore life and make mistakes than to play it safe. Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life. — Sophia Loren

166. Don’t necessarily avoid sharp edges. Occasionally they are necessary to leadership. — Donald Rumsfeld

167. In university they don’t tell you that the greater part of the law is learning to tolerate fools. Doris Lessing

168. A journey of self-discovery starts with a single step. … But so does falling down a flight of stairs. — Kathy Lette

169. It’s not getting to the wall that counts; it’s what you do after you hit it. — Darren Hardy

170. There is no security on this earth; there is only opportunity. — Douglas MacArthur

171. The secret of happiness is freedom and the secret of freedom is courage. — Thucydides

172. Adventure can be an end in itself. Self-discovery is the secret ingredient that fuels daring. — Grace Lichtenstein

173. The library is the temple of learning, and learning has liberated more people than all the wars in history. — Carl Rowan

174. Never seem wiser, nor more learned, than the people you are with. Wear your learning, like your watch, in a private pocket: and do not pull it out and strike it; merely to show that you have one. — Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield

175. Life is my college. May I graduate well, and earn some honors! — Louisa May Alcott

Plus, check out Our Favorite Graduation Gifts for Students .

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Graduation Speech Quotes Underscore The Speaker’s Wisdom

Graduation speeches express gratitude to the school staff, reminisce about the past years, and inspire and motivate students for the future. They often include quotes from famous people to add credibility to what is said. Graduation speech quotes are often the most memorable part of the speech.

Commencement ceremony speeches usually include words of motivation and inspiration for the students who are about ready to move on to another school, a job, or the next state in life. Speakers can offer their perspectives, but their speeches are a perfect opportunity to incorporate the wisdom of others to make a point even more profound with graduation speech quotes.

Table of Contents

What Do You Say In A Graduation Speech?

In any good commencement speech , you will want to  introduce  yourself, greet those in attendance, thank people for coming, and then start your speech. The  body of your address  should have just a few main points. Often, this part of the speech involves some stories. Just be sure that what you are saying all ties together in some main idea.

Of course, you will want to bring the speech together and then offer a  conclusion.  Make certain that you have brought closure to your speech. One can advise the graduates, offer motivational thoughts, or wish everyone luck as they enter the future.

You can introduce a quote at any point in the speech, although you should use them sparingly.

What Do I Say To Start A Graduation Speech?

Graduation speeches typically start by greeting everyone. Here is an example of a brief introduction.

“Friends, family members, fellow graduates, and esteemed faculty, it is my distinct pleasure to have the opportunity to speak to you today on this significant occasion.”

How Are Quotes Useful In Graduation Speeches?

Quotes can add a lot to a graduation speech. They can help you to impart words of wisdom and inspire motivation. Whether you are speaking at a high school graduation or a college commencement, using inspirational graduation quotes is a lovely way to round out a speech.

• Humor:  Funny graduation quotes can impart humor into the speech. Though commencement is a serious occasion, sometimes it is nice to lighten things up.
• Motivational Quotes:  Motivational quotes can be used to inspire you to some action.
• Persistence:  Sometimes life can be scary, so quotes about sticking with things can be helpful in a speech.
• True to Yourself:  Often, young people feel a bit lost as they navigate life’s path. It is common to hear quotes about staying true to your convictions.

What Are Good Graduation Speech Quotes?

“An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” —Benjamin Franklin

“..and when you run away from fear, you also run away from the opportunity to be your best possible self.” —Ed Helms

“Believe you can, and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt

“Believing in yourself is the first necessary step to coming even close to achieving your potential.” —Sheryl Sandberg

“But it’s really important to remember that like a hangover, neither triumphs nor disasters last forever.” —Helen Mirren

“Don’t be afraid. Be focused. Be determined. Be hopeful. Be empowered.” — Michelle Obama

“Don’t just get involved. Fight for your seat at the table. Better yet, fight for a seat at the head of the table.” – Barack Obama

“Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world.” —Nelson Mandela

“I encourage you to live with life. Be courageous, adventurous. Give us a tomorrow, more than we deserve.” —Maya Angelou

“It doesn’t matter that your dream came true if you spent your whole life sleeping.” —Jerry Zucker

 “It is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.” – J.K. Rowling

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” —E. E. Cummings

 “My dear terrified graduates, you are about to enter the most uncertain and thrilling period of your lives.” —Lin-Manuel Miranda

“Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” —Mark Twain

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” —Arthur Ashe

“So whatever your dream is right now, if you don’t achieve it, you haven’t failed, and you’re not some loser.” —Stephen Colbert

 “Success is only meaningful and enjoyable if it feels like your own.” —Michelle Obama

 “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” —Winston Churchill

“That clock you hear is the sound of your own heart. Sink your teeth into this life, and don’t get let go.” — Lin-Manuel Miranda

 “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” —Eleanor Roosevelt

“The most important thing in your life is to live your life with integrity and not to give in to peer pressure to try to be something that you’re not, to live your life as an honest and compassionate person, to contribute in some way.” – Ellen Degeneres

“The old rules are crumbling, and nobody knows what the new rules are. So make up your own rules.” —Neil Gaiman

 “The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking spaces.” —Will Rogers

 “There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.” —C.S. Lewis

 “There is no such thing as failure. Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction.” — Oprah Winfrey

 “Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.” —Albert Einstein

 “What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

 “Whatever you think your dream is now, it will probably change. And that’s okay.” – Conan O’Brien

 “Worry is like a rocking chair—it gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere.” —Erma Bombeck

 “You can never be overdressed or overeducated.” —Oscar Wilde

 “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.” —Dr. Seuss

 “Your education is a dress rehearsal for a life that is yours to lead.” —Nora Ephron

 “Your path is your character defining itself more and more every day like a photograph coming into focus.” —Jodie Foster

 “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” —Steve Jobs

A former English teacher and currently an elementary principal in a rural school, Pam has honed her speaking skills in the classroom and before professional groups. Pam enjoys sharing her insights about public speaking almost as much as she enjoys running, which she does daily.

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110+ Inspiring Quotes About Graduation for 2022 Grads

Updated 08/10/2022

Published 06/12/2020

Belinda McLeod, BA in Secondary Education

Contributing writer

Cake values integrity and transparency. We follow a strict editorial process to provide you with the best content possible. We also may earn commission from purchases made through affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more in our affiliate disclosure .

High school and college seniors often face graduation with a mixture of anticipation, excitement, and trepidation. Their parents may share those complicated emotions as well. Regardless of how the graduates feel, it is common to celebrate this milestone with parties and gifts and even sharing a short quote about graduation.

Jump ahead to these sections:

Quotes for high school graduation, quotes for college graduation, short quotes for a graduation cap, funny graduation quotes, uplifting or hopeful graduation quotes, dr. seuss graduation quotes, graduation quotes from parents, graduation quotes for a niece or nephew, religious graduation quotes, graduation quotes for yourself, graduation quotes to put in a yearbook, graduation quotes for party announcements or invitations, graduation quotes to put in a card, religious or spiritual graduation quotes.

Here are some uplifting, inspiring, and encouraging quotes . Add them above your signature in graduation cards, use them as decorations, or write them in yearbooks. Reassure those scared seniors that they are ready for life on the other side of formal education.

Eighteen-year-olds are often excited to get the heck out of Dodge. They are ready for freedom, adventure, and life without their parents. At the same time, many older teens crave the comfort of being taken care of at home. These conflicting emotions can understandably cause quite a bit of angst. 

Here are some quotes to reassure those seniors. These quotes can also be used to teach seniors about some of the keys to a happy life. Share them on social media, or use them as filler when creating a memory board as a graduation party decoration.  

1. “What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Remind the graduate that character is a critical factor in succeeding in life. Having a good attitude may not give you riches, but it will provide you with peace of mind.

2. “What’s popular isn’t always right, and what’s right isn’t always popular!” — Unknown

You probably have said this until you are blue in the face if you are a graduate’s parent. Remind your child who is going to college to focus on what is right instead of acting as everyone else does.

3. “A person can succeed at anything for which there is enthusiasm.” — Charles M. Schwab

Enthusiasm is one of the keys to having a happy life. Apparently, Charles M. Schwab must have been very enthusiastic about money to have achieved the success that he enjoyed.

4. “What the human mind can conceive and believe, it can accomplish.” — David Sarnoff

This quote may only be partially right. No one has found an easy way to fold a fitted sheet. Perhaps this generation will accomplish that dream.

5. Triumph is just an “ump” ahead of “try.” — Unknown

Tell your graduate that success comes after taking chances and trying hard. 

College graduates may also face their futures with trepidation and worry. After all, many of them have student loans to pay off and no income in which to do it. Here are some quotes that offer advice and encouragement for those getting started in the working world.

6. “Hitch your wagon to a star.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you know anything about Ralph Waldo Emerson, you know that he was not encouraging people to rub shoulders with the Hollywood elite. The “star” Emerson wrote about was a person’s hopes and dreams.

7. “There exist limitless opportunities in every industry. Where there is an open mind, there will always be a frontier.” — Charles F. Kettering

Our great-great-grandparents would not have been able to fathom how we live today. It’s exciting to think about what the current generation will invent to improve the world.

8. “Enthusiasm reflects confidence, spreads good cheer, raises morale, inspires associates, arouses loyalty, and laughs at adversity. It is beyond price.” — Allan Cox

Share this idea with the college graduate, and you will be sharing the secret to a happy and productive life.

9. “Energy and perseverance can fit a man for almost any kind of position.” — Theodore F. Merseles

College graduates may face the job market with trepidation. They may wonder if their education really prepared them for the real world. Remind the young person to face new tasks with enthusiastic optimism, and they will be able to achieve anything.

10. “When I was a young man, I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures. I didn’t want to be a failure, so I did ten times more work.” — George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw wrote Pygmalion , which later inspired the creation of the musical My Fair Lady . 

Before you bling your cap, make sure your high school or college allows the practice. If permitted, you may use the space to thank your parents for their love and support. Here are some quotes to consider. 

11. “It may be those who do most, dream most.” -- Stephen Leacock

Tell others at graduation that you have ambition and big dreams for your life. 

12. “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.” — John Lennon

Life is full of possibilities. It’s exciting to face a new adventure after completing a milestone in your life. 

13. “Little by little, one travels far.” — J.R.R. Tolkien

J.R.R. Tolkien was the author of the Lord of the Ring series. He wrote many amazing lines about life, travel, and adventure. 

14. “There is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.”  — J.R.R. Tolkien

The fight for good can be done in many ways. You can do it by being an excellent example to others. You can do it with carefully chosen words. 

15. “Mischief managed.” — J.K. Rowling

Fans of Harry Potter will recognize this line from the book and the movies. This is a cute way to say goodbye to high school or college if the graduate participated in a few adventures along the way.

The quote you pick for a college graduate doesn’t have to sound like a Greek philosopher wrote it. Here are some pieces of advice written by people with a knack for words.

16. “An optimist is someone who goes after Moby Dick in a rowboat and takes the tartar sauce with him.” — Zig Ziglar

Encourage the graduate you know to have a positive mental attitude in life. 

17. “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” — Albert Einstein

It may be cruel to share this wisdom with a college senior who spent thousands of dollars to earn a diploma. But if Albert Einstein said it, it must be true.

18. “Enthusiasm, like measles, mumps, and the common cold, is highly contagious.” — Benjamin Disraeli

The word “contagious” may have a bad rap, but not everything that is contagious is terrible.

19. “Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.”  — Robert Frost

Congratulations! You made it through high school! It’s harder to get through it then one could imagine. 

20. “Life is now in session. Are you present?” — B. Copeland

One of the keys to academic success is simply being present. Perhaps we could say the same about life. Are you present in your life or always on your phone or watching Netflix?

Make sure your quote has positive energy, similar to what you would write in a time capsule letter . 

21. “Attitudes are much more important than aptitudes.” — Unknown

Maybe your graduate wasn’t a member of the National Honor Society and received an average SAT score. Remind the young person that their attitude is more important than test scores and memberships in honor organizations. 

22. “The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm.” — Aldous Huxley

Remind the person who is on the brink of adulthood to keep the spirit of a child.

23. “It’s not where you are today that counts. It’s where you are headed.” — Arthur F. Lenehan

Even if the graduate had a less than stellar academic career, he or she could still achieve great things. 

24. “The intelligent man is always open to new ideas. In fact, he looks for them.” — Proverbs 18:15

Graduates must know that their education will continue through life, but only if they are open to learning and growing.

25. “I am an optimist. It does not seem to much use being anything else.” — Winston Churchill

Leave it to Winston Churchill to describe the secret of life in such simplistic terms. 

Not all of Dr. Seuss’s books are known for offering pithy quotes about life. For example, you won’t find words of wisdom in “Fox in Socks” unless “Socks on Knox and Knox in box” has a hidden meaning. Thankfully, the author wrote other children’s books (that are easier to read out loud) that offer lovely messages.

26. “You’re off to great places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting . . . so get on your way!”

Those who think Seuss’s work is nothing but fluff should re-read Oh, The Places You’ll Go! It offers a great message to people in every stage of life (but especially graduates).

27. “Kid, you’ll move mountains.”

This, again, is another quote from Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

28. “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.”

Dr. Seuss is a pen name for Theodor Seuss Geisel. Geisel died in 1991.

29. “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”

Graduations are sometimes tearful events. Share this quote with a graduate who isn’t ready to leave high school or college. 

30. “Think and wonder. Wonder and think.”

That’s good advice for anyone—if we could all just put down our phones, we would have the opportunity to think and wonder.

31. “Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.”

This quote isn’t from the often-quoted Oh, The Places You’ll Go! Instead, you can find this thoughtful line from One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish .

Some high schools and colleges allow their graduates to decorate their mortarboards at graduation. Here are a few more short phrases to use if cap decoration is allowed. 

32. “Swing for the fences.” —H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

This quote is found in Life’s Little Instruction Book by H. Jackson Brown, Jr. Encourage those graduating around you to “give it their all” as they enter this new phase in life. 

33. “TPWK” —Harry Styles

Undoubtedly, those in your high school or college graduation class will know what “TPWK” means. However, for those who aren’t aged 12-25, “TPWK” stands for “Treat People With Kindness.” 

34. “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” —Richard Carlson, Ph.D.

Yes, this is a book title, and yes, it would make a great short quote for a graduation cap. Some graduation speeches are about how to achieve great things and the importance of working hard. This quote would lend a little balance to those messages.

35. “The best is yet to come.” —Carolyn Leigh

Although this phrase appears in many different places, it is the title of a song made famous by Frank Sinatra. This quote reminds fellow graduates that life doesn’t have to peak in high school.

36. “Adventure is out there.”

This phrase can be found in Disney’s Up , among other places. For those who don’t know the reference, we encourage you to watch the movie. But, we highly recommend that you have a box of tissues nearby. 

Graduation ceremonies bring out a wide variety of emotions: happiness, sadness, excitement, and . . . relief! These emotions ring true for both the graduates and their parents. 

Here are some graduation quotes that cover a wide variety of emotional states. 

37. “It takes a whole village to raise a child.” African Proverb

Some parents of graduates feel thankful on graduation day for all of the people who played an essential role in their child’s life. Their child’s village may have included teachers, school staff, bus drivers, coaches, youth ministers, neighbors, scout leaders, and friends.

38. “Go forth and set the world on fire.” —St. Ignatius of Loyola

Show your graduate that you are excited about their new phase of life. 

39. “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, As long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be.” —Robert Munsch

You may recognize these words as being from the best-selling children’s book, Love You Forever . If you view your graduate as your baby or chubby-cheeked toddler, you’ll connect with this quote.

40. “When they hand you your diploma, keep moving. Just in case they try to take it back.” —Unknown

Are you and your graduate relieved that this day has finally come? Then add a little levity to the situation by sharing this quote with your son or daughter. 

41. “Dance like nobody’s watching, because they are not, they are all checking their phones.” —Unknown

We love this bit of advice from an unknown source. Use the quote to remind your graduate that life is too short to worry about what others think about you.

If you are the aunt or uncle of the graduate, you may want to offer a bit of life advice as they go out into the world. So here are some quotes to share with your niece or nephew.

42. “People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” —Isaac Asimov

Remind your niece and nephew that you are still the smart one in the family, regardless of if they just graduated from high school or college.

43. “Congratulations on getting through the easiest part of life.” —Unknown

Maybe this isn’t the warm, fuzzy quote you were looking for, but it’s funny.

44. “The future is always uncertain, but we who celebrate what you have done, who celebrate all of your achievements, we are certain of one thing on this day: You will not let us down.” —Tom Hanks

Are you confident that your niece or nephew will make positive changes in the world? Then here’s a nice quote to share with the graduate in your family.

45. “Keep your face toward the sunshine and shadows will always fall behind you.” —Walt Whitman

We know that this advice about staying positive is easier said than done, but it is a good reminder about how we should live.

46. “Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.” —Martin Luther King Jr.

In other words, tell your family member who just graduated to use their knowledge for good instead of evil.

If your faith is important to you, share it with the graduate. Here are some religious graduation quotes that will remind the young person that there’s more to life than school.

47. “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” Jeremiah 29:11

This quote is from the text of a letter Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles. 

48. “Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.” Proverbs 16:3

No matter what the graduate plans to do for a career, this is good advice to share.

49. “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6

This is one of our favorite quotes from the Old Testament. 

50. “Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith and your purity.” 1 Timothy 4:12

The Bible is full of important messages for young people to hear, but this verse from 1 Timothy is an excellent reminder to adults. 

51. “For with God nothing shall be impossible.” Luke 1:37

Reassure your graduate that they can achieve their dreams with this quote from Luke. 

Are you moving on from high school, college, grad school, or a doctoral program? Congratulations! These milestones are often times for reflection and thanksgiving (as well as celebration). 

Here are some quotes about having a positive outlook for your future and the importance of perseverance. 

52. “When things go wrong, as they sometimes will.  When the road you’re trudging seems all up hill, When care is pressing you down a bit,  Rest. If you must– but don’t you quit.” – Unknown

We aren’t sure who to attribute this quote to, but your accomplishments, plus these words, will surely inspire others.

53. “If you really want something, you can figure out how to make it happen.” – Cher

Here are words of advice from someone who never seems to age.

54. “You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try.” – Beverly Sills

This quote will inspire others to invest in their future.

55. “It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

This would be a good quote to use in a graduation speech.

56. “Fall seven times, stand up eight.” – Japanese Proverb

Your road to graduation may not have been smooth. However, you kept putting one foot in front of the other.

57. “The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be only the beginning.” – George Baker

Congratulations on your new beginning.

58. “Oh god, give us the serenity to accept what cannot be changed; courage to change what should be changed, and wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.” – Reinhold Niebuhr

Read this quote every day.

59. “Grant me the courage not to give up even though I think it is hopeless.” – Chester W. Nimitz

Face your challenges in life with this attitude.

60. “The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity.” – Leo Tolstoy

You may serve others through your work or during your time away from work.

61. “We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.” – Mother Teresa

We love this quote. Dust it off and read it when you’re feeling small.

62. “What you think of yourself is much more important than what others think of you.” – Seneca

Remember this if you face rejection after graduation.

Choosing a yearbook quote is an important right of passage in some schools. The selection you choose is pretty important — after all, people don’t throw away yearbooks. Your quote will be there for all to see until the end of your life.

While you might be tempted to include a quote that includes a double entendre or inside joke, your choice might make you cringe later in life. Instead, here are some quotes to uplift or inspire you.

63. “Don’t compromise yourself. You are all you’ve got.” – Janis Joplin

Sometimes people choose a quote based on WHO said it instead of WHAT is said.

64. “All the wonders you seek are within yourself.” – Sir Thomas Brown

Sir Thomas Brown was a British polymath, defined as “a person of wide-ranging knowledge or learning.”

65. “We are the choices we make.” – Meryl Streep

So we must choose wisely.

66. “Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads.” – Erica Jong

We hope your talent and courage get you far in life.

67. “I celebrate myself, and sing myself.” – Walt Whitman

These lines, of course, are from Whitman’s work, “Leaves of Grass.”

68. “If you ask me what I came into this world to do, I will tell you: I came to live out loud.” – Emile Zola

We love this quote about grabbing the bull by the horn.

69. “Seize the day, put no trust in tomorrow.” – Horace

70. “in the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins . . . not through strength, but through persistence.” – unknown.

This quote can be illustrated in some of the wonders of nature.

71. “A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” – Chinese Proverb

This often-repeated quote should encourage those entering a new phase of life.

72. “Don’t wait for something big to occur. Start where you are, with what you have, and that will always lead you into something greater.” – Mary Manin Morrissey

Mary Manin Morrissey is the author of “Building Your Field of Dreams.”

73. “The person who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” – Chinese Proverb

So get started!

74. “The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.” – Mark Twain

Many self-help books have been written with this theme. We’ve saved you a lot of reading time by offering this short quote from Mark Twain. 

Finding a quote for a graduation announcement should be a relatively simple process. After all, you can use any inspiring quote or one that offers advice on living a good life. Here are some quotes to choose from as you design your invitations.

75. “I don’t want life to imitate art. I want life to be art.” – Carrie Fisher

Here’s a quote for the art majors.

76. “Life is a verb, not a noun.” – Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Here’s a quote for the English majors. Though, they may not choose to use it because it’s incorrect in the literal sense.

77. “So I, with eager voice and news-flushed face, cry to those caught in comas, stupors, sleeping: Come, everything is running, flying, leaping, hurtling through time! And we are in this race.” – Jessica Powers

Jessica Powers was an American poet.

78. “The important thing is to somehow begin.” – Henry Moore

Henry Moore was an artist known for semi-abstract bronze sculptures.

79. “Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step: only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find his right road.” – Dag Hammarskjold

Dag Hammarskjold was the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

80. “Be the change you want to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi

You’ll see this quote on a lot of graduation websites.

81. “Be Here Now.” – Ram Dass

Read this quote again. Then put down your device.

82. “The way to happiness: Keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry. Live simply, expect little, give much. Scatter sunshine. Forget self, think of others. Try this for a week and you will be surprised.” – Norman Vincent Peale

Hang this quote on your refrigerator or mirror.

83. “The purpose of life on earth is that the soul should grow — So grow! By doing what is right.” – Zelda Fitzgerald

Zelda Fitzgerald wrote this line in a letter to her husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald.

84. “To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable” – Helen Keller

Here are words of inspiration for the graduate.

85. “Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.” – Karen Kaiser Clark

Karen Kaiser Clark writes books about going through changes.

86, “Life isn’t a matter of milestones, but of moments.” – Rose Kennedy

Rose Kennedy was the mother of JFK. 

87. “I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.” – Laura Ingalls Wilder

Many graduation quotes are about achieving great things and living important lives. However, this quote may appeal to those who enjoy the simple parts of life.

Here’s your chance! Share what you have learned about life by writing a poignant quote in the graduate’s card.

88. “If I had my life to live over again . . . I would have more actual troubles and less imaginary ones.” – Nadine Stair

This is good advice for someone who may be anxious about their future.

89. “Life is like a ten-speed bike. Most of us have gears we never use.” – Charles Schulz

Of course, follow this quote with words to encourage the graduate to use all of their gifts.

90. “Life is a great big canvas; throw all the paint on it you can!” – Danny Kaye

Danny Kaye was an actor, dancer, and singer.

91. “Remember, life is not what happens to you but what you make of what happens to you. Everyone dies, but not everyone fully lives. Too many people are having “near-life experiences.” – Unknown

What did you do today to show that you are fully living?

92. “Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love, and to work, and to play, and to look up at the stars.” – Henry Van Dyke

This quote may help the graduate gain an essential perspective on life.

93. “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.” – Marcus Antonius

Junk in — junk out.

94. “The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.” – Joseph Addison

Everyone needs a reason to get up in the morning.

95. “We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.” – Charles Kingsley

Charles Kingsley was an English priest and professor.

96. “Life is like playing a violin solo in public, and learning the instrument as one goes on.” – Samuel Butler

This quote is excellent on many levels. 

97. “If you want my final opinion on the mystery of life and all that, I can give it to you in a nutshell. The universe is like a safe to which there is a combination, But the combination is locked up in the safe.” – Peter De Vries

Peter De Vries wrote “The Tunnel of Love.”

98. “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” – Winston Churchill

This quote encourages the graduate to give back to society. 

Graduation is a milestone event, making it a time of reflection. Here are some quotes about the spiritual side of life. 

99. “This is the day which the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” – Psalms 118:24

King David wrote many of the Psalms.

100. “Let your aim be the good of all.” 

This quote is from the Bhagavad Gita. 

101. “The only way to live is to accept each minute as an unrepeatable miracle, which is exactly what it is: a miracle and unrepeatable.” – Storm Jameson

Margaret Ethel Storm Jameson was an English journalist and author.

102. “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” – Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein’s quotes always surprise us.

103. “All the things of the universe are perfect miracles, each as profound as any.” – Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman lived from 1819 to 1892.

104. “There is a giant asleep within every man. When that giant awakes, miracles happen.” – Frederick Faust

Frederick Faust was an author known for creating the character Dr. James Kildare.

105. “They understand but little who understand only what can be explained.” – Marie Ebner-Eschenbach

 Marie Ebner-Eschenbach was an Austrian writer known for her psychological novels.

106. “Faith is like electricity. You can’t see it, but you can see the light.” – Unknown

Encourage the graduate to be a light in the world.

107. “Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around.” – Henry David Thoreau

Thoreau was known for writing Walden, his story about living in nature. 

108. “If a blade of grass can grow in a concrete walk and a fig tree in the side of a mountain cliff, a human being empowered with an invincible faith can survive all odds the world can throw against his tortured soul.” – Robert H. Schuller

Robert Schuller was an American pastor who died in 2015.

109. “Faith is not knowledge of what the mystery of the universe is, but the conviction that there is a mystery, and that it is greater than us.” – Rabbi David Wolpe

Rabbi David Wolpe is a weekly columnist for New York Jewish Week.

110. “Faith is knowing that there is an ocean because you have seen a brook.” – William Arthur Ward

William Arthur Ward was an American motivational writer. 

111. “Faith is not being sure where you’re going but going anyway.” – Frederick Buechner

This is a good quote for someone leaving school.

What Was the Best Advice You Ever Received?

As you read these inspiring, inspirational, and positive quotes, you may consider the best advice you have ever received. It may have been shared with you at your high school or college graduation. 

Was the advice about the importance of keeping a positive attitude? Perhaps it reminded you that you would need to work hard to achieve great things in life. Maybe it was a friendly reminder that the people you choose to surround yourself with will assist or hinder you in achieving your dreams.   

Take thought in the advice that you give to the graduate. Instead of merely writing “good luck” on the graduation card, share the best advice that you had ever received. Or tell the graduate some of what you have learned about life through the years.   

You never know how the power of your words could change a person’s life. 

If you're looking for more on what to do when a loved one graduates, read our guides on physical therapy (DPT) graduation gifts and medical school graduation gifts .

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How to make a gratitude speech for graduation

Is one of your loved ones or besties graduating and you must say something during the graduation? Relax, do not be anxious, and worry less. Folks, the aim is to mark the lasting impact of a memorable graduation speech. 

But that’s not all! Dive into proven strategies for public speaking, managing stage fright, and drawing inspiration from iconic commencement speeches. Discover how personal growth stories add depth to your message and explore themes that leave a lasting impact on your peers as they step forward into new beginnings.

The goal of any graduation speech is to find words that capture the essence of years spent learning and growing. Today, we’ll guide you through that process and help you craft a memorable graduation speech.

Understanding the Purpose of Your Speech

The purpose of graduation is multifaceted. A gratitude speech aims to thank, inspire, and reflect. Thus, a clearly defined purpose is essential for your speech. A statement of purpose helps in this regard. It lets you understand what we wish to achieve at the end of our speech. Knowing this, you are better equipped to decide on the contents of your speech and draw up a clear outline.

Why are you making a speech? What do you aim to achieve at the end of your presentation? Every speech or presentation has a purpose. You and I have often attended presentations, at the end of which we were left wondering what the speaker was trying to convey. This may have happened because the speaker was unclear about his/her objective.

While planning our speech, it is important to find an answer to the question, ‘Why am I making this speech?’. It is vital to be clear about our purpose, as it becomes the basis for our content. Expressing the purpose of our speech or presentation in one sentence or writing down a statement of purpose provides clarity. Generally, a speech is made to inform, persuade, or entertain. If our purpose changes, so does our content. Hence, it is a vital step in the planning process.

Planning Your Speech

One of the most important benefits of planning a speech is building self-confidence. While the ultimate goal of planning is to find what to do and make adjustments, building confidence in yourself and your material is extremely important. The more comfortable you are with your material, the better your delivery. You will have to research and write your speech; now it is time to plan it.

Brainstorming Content

On planning, brainstorming is simply reflecting on your experiences and listing who and what you are thankful for. You can think about personal stories or anecdotes highlighting these relationships or experiences. In other words, think about what you want to say in your speech; what are the highlights of your journey so far? What lessons have you learned along the way? 

Here, you consider your experiences, your challenges, and accomplishments. Now, think about how you can share them in a way that will be meaningful and inspiring to your audience. Write down any ideas that come to your mind, and try to narrow them down to the most important points.

Choosing a Theme

The one thing that many speakers today miss is that they lack purpose, or maybe they get lost in their pack of facts thus forgetting the main goal of a speech; to make a point. When the purpose is to entertain, we intend to amuse the audience. Speeches, where the speaker attempts to regale the audience with humor, stories, anecdotes, etc., are planned with this purpose in mind. 

Humorous speeches made by entertainers are the best examples as their sole purpose is to delight the audience and make them happy. While humor can be a part of an informative or persuasive speech, the purpose is not to entertain.

Structuring Your Speech

Your graduation will demand more than just planning. You will need to structure it too. The introduction, body, and conclusion should create an aligned link connecting you to your audience.

Introduction

Start strong; you must always open with a memorable statement or a brief personal story. The first words of your graduation speech are crucial. They set the stage for what’s to come and grab your audience’s attention. 

Think about starting strong by sharing a personal anecdote that ties into the broader experience of your class. You can begin with, “Today, I want to tell you three stories from my life.” This technique instantly piques interest because it promises narratives that have shaped who you are.

An impactful opening also acknowledges shared experiences. Perhaps you could reflect on how moments in classrooms turned strangers into lifelong friends. Or, for university commencements, consider touching upon those late-night study sessions that tested perseverance but ultimately led to academic achievements worth celebrating today.

In crafting the body content, intertwine lessons learned throughout high school years or during university courses with aspirations for what lies ahead. For instance, share how overcoming obstacles like balancing extracurricular activities and academics taught valuable time management skills.

To add depth, incorporate quotes from luminaries like Oprah Winfrey or draw parallels between classroom learning and real-world applications. Dive deeper by discussing milestones achieved together as a graduating class and recognizing the hard work everyone put in to make it to this monumental occasion. Organize the main part of your speech around different groups to thank (e.g., family, teachers, peers).

Your conclusion needs to end on a high note. You should reinforce your theme, look to the future, and express optimism and hope. The conclusion should inspire fellow graduates while helping them celebrate high school memories one last time—or honor those unforgettable college years if addressing higher education grads.

Closing remarks could include heartfelt gratitude towards teachers’ support and parental guidance. You might even crack a joke or two. These personalized touches paired with universal truths resonate most deeply as students step forward into new chapters post-graduation. 

The conclusion wraps up the presentation by summarizing what the audience was supposed to have learned or been persuaded to do during the presentation. You can signal that the conclusion is approaching by using key phrases, such as “finally,” “let me close by saying,” and “in conclusion.” Because the conclusion is the last opportunity to motivate your listeners, it should end strongly with an impact statement.

Writing Tips

You should make sure your graduation speech is something you would want to listen to if you were in the audience. Think of this experience as a time to share an important moment with your audience.

Advice on writing clearly and authentically.

You are much more likely to give a memorable speech if you keep it clear and stay true to yourself. Let your speech showcase your unique voice. Be true to yourself and your experiences. To be more clear; know your audience, use simple language, and organize your speech logically. However, authenticity will help you to be calm and flow with your story which you are drawing from your own experiences. You should relax and let your words fall out. Do not force anything to avoid fumbling. Ensure that you put it in mind to let go of the idea of perfection.

Importance of being concise and avoiding clichés.

Graduation ceremonies are already long, and the audience is usually asked to listen to multiple speeches. Keep this in mind, and say what you would like to say in the briefest way possible. Try and be inspiring without resorting to clinches. Using personal anecdotes and weaving personality into your speech is a great way to help you avoid tired and overused statements.

Avoid overwhelming your audience with unnecessary details or introducing new information. Instead, reinforce key takeaways, leaving them with a solid understanding of your message that they can remember and apply. This enhances your credibility and ensures that your audience leaves with a clear and impactful understanding of your speech. Try and engage them as well. This invites them to continue the discussion.

Techniques for weaving in gratitude naturally and effectively.

Additionally, expressions of gratitude also increase prosocial behavior (behaviors intended to benefit others) by enabling individuals to feel social worth and support while simultaneously reducing their uncertainty about whether they can help effectively. To end a speech on a high note, use a memorable closing technique that captures your audience’s attention and leaves them with a positive impression.

There are many ways to close a speech, such as using a quote, a story, a question, a joke, a challenge, or a visual aid. The key is to choose a technique that fits your topic, tone, and purpose—one that connects with your audience’s interests, emotions, and expectations. A good closing technique adds impact, relevance, and creativity to your speech, making your audience want to hear more from you.

Practicing Your Speech

No matter how well you’ve planned your speech, you must rehearse it several times, preferably in front of a mirror, a recorder, or a friend. This will help you improve your delivery, timing, and tone and make you feel more confident and comfortable.

You should also review before you deliver your speech and make any adjustments or improvements based on the situation and the audience. Practice and review can help you avoid mistakes, overcome nerves, and deliver a flawless speech.

Tips on rehearsal techniques to improve delivery and confidence.

As you practice, you’ll find that your presentation will evolve. It will become a more effective presentation as you make tweaks and adjustments. This evolution is likely to take more time than you anticipate. To ensure you’ve given yourself lots of time to be stage-ready, work backward from the day you will be delivering your presentation, and then schedule presentation practice time, with practices starting at least two weeks before you plan to walk on stage.

Don’t practice your presentation in the theatre of your mind. Only by articulating the words out loud will you understand the messaging that works and the messaging that doesn’t. I tell my clients they should practice until they get sick of hearing their voice—that once that happens, they’ll know they have practiced enough. 

They look at me in disbelief because they usually want the hard numbers. But you don’t need a prescriptive or magic number of hours to practice. It’s knowing that you intuitively can speak to all of your content fluidly and you can transition from concept to concept with ease.

Importance of practicing in front of others to receive feedback.

In addition to hearing you speak, it is also important to see how others will see you. If you are going to use gestures during your speech, this is the time when you will notice how they will look at an audience. You may find that you need to make adjustments. Are your facial expressions appropriate to the words you are using? Practice making a mistake, perhaps using the wrong fact or misstating it. Practice apologizing to the audience and see how that will look. 

Ask someone who will give you honest feedback to listen and watch your rehearsal. Even if you watch your videotape or listen to your recording a hundred times, you will still miss something that a different pair of eyes and ears will discern. It is always desirable to get the benefit of someone else’s opinion. If possible, rehearse in front of a small group of people, even family members. Ask them to be constructively critical and to make suggestions on how your speech could be made better. Rehearsing in front of a small group is a particularly good way to combat anxiety, and that will help you to alleviate your fears.

Delivering Your Speech

All now said, it is time to make it happen. Delivering your speech is the most important segment and here is what you should deploy to sound almost perfect to your audience.

Tips on public speaking

My first rule of thumb is not to be tempted to memorize your presentation word for word. Audiences can tell when a speaker has memorized their presentation. It’s obvious because there is a flavor of performance art—the delivery is a bit disassociated from the words. 

Memorized presentations sound robotic because it’s hard to instill passion in them—they lose their fresh, conversational vibe. Rote memorization also sets you up for a big problem. Forget one word; you’ll look like a deer in headlights and grapple with what to speak to next.

1. Maintaining eye contact

Eye contact helps you maintain concentration and focus while showing confidence in what you say or present. Maintaining eye contact with them can make you feel better knowing they’re paying attention and thinking about your topic. Also, it improves authority and empathy. You gain their attention and build a stage of consideration for your sayings. Empathy develops their connection with you.

It is a fact of public speaking that the more eye contact you make with an audience, the more effectively your message will be communicated. Try to select several audience members and make eye contact throughout the speech. 

It could be people you know well who are there to support you, or you can select a stranger. However, be careful not to constantly make eye contact with the same person unless they are a close friend and have permitted you to do so. Too much eye contact with the same person will make that person uncomfortable.

2. Using notes effectively

Note cards accomplish three goals: they can contain the right amount of information to remember important points in your speech, they are easy to use, and they will not be seen by an audience. 

Make sure the cards are numbered in numerical order. This is very important because your cards will be sorted in the order you deliver your speech. If you drop your cards, it might be disastrous to remember the proper order. On each card, you will write the main point for each section of your speech and then the important evidence you will be citing to support your main point. You will also make notes about inflection and emphasizing certain points.

3. Overcoming Nervousness and Stage Fright

Nervousness is normal, but don’t let it dictate your performance. Before speaking, take deep breaths to steady yourself—a calm body encourages a calm mind. An effective method for easing anxiety is visualization. Imagine delivering each line perfectly and receiving an enthusiastic response from listeners—envisioning success can make it so. 

If you are nervous, it is best to keep your hands on the podium at all times, out of sight of the audience. Nervous people tend to have shaky hands, which will be seen by the audience. 

Refrain from drinking water during a speech if you are nervous because your hands will be shaking, and the glass will, too. If the speaker feels that the audience notices this, it will make the speaker even more nervous. However, if you are comfortable using your hands to make gestures during a speech, it is a powerful way of communicating your message.

Personalizing Your Message

Make sure your speech reflects your voice and experiences. Avoid using overly generic language, and be authentic and genuine in your delivery.

Here are the top 3 most successful ways you can personalize your message and How to add unique touches that reflect your personality and make your speech memorable.

1. Know your audience

When giving a speech. Research your topic. Know your audience and understand their goal, background, and their culture. You need to clear the air on who they are and their backgrounds, goals, challenges, and preferences. How do they communicate, and what tone lights them up? 

You can identify the best way to connect with them and address their concerns by answering these questions. It’s also crucial to use simple language and adjust to their level of understanding. Avoid using big words, jargon, and complex concepts to accommodate your audience.

2. Use stories and examples

Stories and examples can illustrate your points, evoke emotions, and create a rapport. It also makes your speech more relatable, relevant, and memorable. In a nutshell – personal anecdotes. Very often, everything we have to say has been said before. We can add a new and personal angle to an existing concept, proving its worth.

A well-chosen and well-delivered personal story works up the ears and elicits listeners’ genuine interest. It will be a beacon of differentiation in a sea of numbers. To choose the right stories and examples, think about what your audience can relate to, what they care about, and what they find interesting or surprising.

3. Adapt your language and style

Depending on the context and purpose of your speech, you may need to use more formal or informal language, more technical or simple terms, more humor more serious more logical, or more emotional. Also, you may need to adjust your pace, volume, or pitch. And gestures to match your audience’s expectations and preferences.

Be mindful of your audience’s cultural background. You may have an excellent presentation that’s been well received by your audience in one country, for example, but the same thing could fall flat in another market. 

Adjust stories, language, and tone accordingly. Be yourself. Don’t change your speech delivery style. Imagine a new joiner listening to you and writing your script accordingly. Start with a small story or personal experience.

Conclusion 

Delivering a memorable graduation speech can sound daunting when preparing it. However, it always requires a balance of inspiration, reflection, and practical advice. This article will ease your task appropriately. Read on, and you will get templates to help you structure your speech confidently. Whether the student is a close person to you or not; you are guaranteed a significant personal moment for the graduates and their families as you deliver your speech.

In conclusion, writing a graduation speech can be a challenging but rewarding task. Following the steps mentioned above, you can craft a memorable and meaningful speech that celebrates your achievements and inspires your classmates as you move on to the next phase of your life.

Vincent Otieno

Vincent Otieno is a passionate jewelry enthusiast and writer at Getnamenecklace, an e-commerce store dedicated to offering exquisite jewelry and thoughtful gifts for your loved ones. With a keen eye for detail and a deep appreciation for the art of gift-giving, Vincent curates a collection that celebrates the beauty of craftsmanship and the joy of making family moments unforgettable.

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Graduation Speech: Complete Guide & Inspiring Graduation Speech Examples

Ready to toss your caps in the air and bid farewell to the hallowed halls of academia? 

Not so fast…There’s one final thing left to learn about: graduation speeches!

Sure, they might seem like just another routine part of commencement, but graduation speeches are much more than just a formality. 

From tear-jerking tales to laugh-out-loud lessons, the best graduation speeches can be vehicles to share wisdom, life lessons, and unforgettable memories. 

Maybe you’re feeling uncertain about how to craft a graduation speech that people actually want to hear… Or wondering what can turn a good one into a great one…Or, simply looking for inspiration on memorable graduation speech examples. 

Read on to explore all of the above and more in this comprehensive guide on graduation speeches. 

• What is a graduation speech?
• What is the purpose of a graduation speech?

What makes a great graduation speech?

• Steps to Write a Student Graduation Speech [7 Steps]
• Inspiring Graduation Speech Examples [8 Examples]

What is a graduation speech? 

First things first: Let’s define what a graduation speech is exactly. 

A graduation speech is more than just a ceremonial tradition —it’s a speech that combines a heartfelt send-off, a final farewell, and a celebration of achievement all rolled into one.

These speeches are typically delivered by a selected speaker, such as a notable figure, a faculty member, or a student representative, at the commencement, or graduation ceremony.

But what exactly is the purpose behind these speeches, and why do we place such importance on them?

A graduation speech serves as a symbolic bridge between the academic journey and the adventures that lie ahead. It’s a chance for speakers to reflect on the accomplishments, challenges, and growth experienced by graduates throughout their academic careers. And most importantly, it’s an opportunity to share some wisdom, inspiration, and encouragement as graduates embark on their next chapter.

What is the purpose of a graduation speech? 

The purpose of a graduation speech varies depending on the context and the goals of the speaker. But generally, it serves several key purposes:

Let’s break it down:

• Celebrate: Graduation is a big deal, right? So, the speech is a way to celebrate all the hard work and sweat equity that graduates have contributed towards their student experience. And its graduation is a huge achievement worth celebrating!
• Inspire and Motivate: Many graduates feel nervous and apprehensive about what comes next after graduation. As happy as they may be to finally be graduating, many students feel a sense of confusion and discouragement about the future. Graduation speeches are meant to motivate and encourage the graduating class as they wrap up their student experience. It’s all about making them feel inspired as they look towards their future.
• Reflect: Remember all those fun times you had in school? Even the monotonous and routine hustle of being in school will become times you can look back on, joke about, and reminisce on for the rest of your life. Graduation speeches offer a chance to look back on the graduating class memories and once-in-a-lifetime experience.
• Bringing Everyone Together: Graduation is a time for friends, family, and teachers to come together and cheer the graduating class on. The speech helps everyone feel connected and proud of what’s been achieved.
• Closure: Graduation speeches offer closure to the academic journey, providing a symbolic farewell and a sense of completion to graduates as they bid farewell to their alma mater. 
• Legacy: Graduation speeches leave a lasting legacy for graduates, offering timeless wisdom, inspiration, and guidance that they can carry with them as they embark on their future endeavors. They serve as a reminder of the values, lessons, and aspirations that define the graduate experience and shape the path forward.

Overall, the purpose of a graduation speech is to leave a lasting impact on the audience, imparting valuable insights, encouragement, and inspiration that resonate long after the ceremony has ended.

Great graduation speeches captivate audiences by weaving together universal themes, inspiring messages, and deep reflection to create a memorable and inspiring experience.

So what makes a graduation speech great ? While every speech is unique in itself, there are some common elements that all great speeches have.

Here are some key elements that contribute to a great graduation speech:

• Authenticity: A great graduation speech is authentic and genuine, reflecting the speaker’s personality, values, and experiences. 
• Personal Touch: Incorporating personal anecdotes, stories, and reflections adds depth and emotional resonance to a graduation speech. Sharing personal experiences allows the speaker to connect with the audience and make the speech more engaging.
• Inspiring Message: A great graduation speech delivers an inspiring and uplifting message that motivates graduates to embrace their potential, pursue their passions, and make a difference in the world. The message should be positive, empowering, and filled with hope for the future.
• Relevance: A great graduation speech is relevant to the occasion and the audience, addressing the unique challenges, triumphs, and experiences shared by graduates. It acknowledges the journey they’ve been on and offers guidance as they embark on the next chapter of their lives.
• Clear Structure: A well-structured graduation speech flows smoothly from one point to the next, with a clear beginning, middle, and end.
• Engaging Delivery: A great graduation speech is delivered with passion, energy, and enthusiasm, capturing the attention and interest of the audience from start to finish. 
• Humor and Wit: Incorporating humor and wit into a graduation speech can lighten the mood, break the ice, and make the speech more enjoyable for the audience. Humorous anecdotes, clever wordplay, and well-timed jokes can add charm to the speech, making it more entertaining.
• Universal Themes: A great graduation speech explores universal truths that resonate with all graduates, regardless of their background or experiences. It touches on timeless values such as perseverance, resilience, gratitude, and the power of human connection, inspiring graduates to embrace these principles as they navigate life’s challenges.

By incorporating these elements into your own graduation speech, you can create memorable, inspiring, and impactful words that leave a lasting impression on everyone in attendance.

Steps to Write a Student Graduation Speech

Feeling overwhelmed at the thought of writing a graduation speech? That’s normal! 

Even for famous and/or notable figures, writing a commencement or graduation speech can be a nerve-wracking experience.

And while writing a commencement speech may seem like a daunting task, breaking it down into basic steps can make the process more manageable and enjoyable.

Here’s a simple guide to help you craft a memorable and inspiring graduation speech:

Step 1: Understand Your Audience

Before you begin writing your speech, take some time to understand your audience. That is, the graduating class, faculty and staff, and family and friends of everyone involved in the ceremony. 

Consider the demographics of the graduates, their interests, experiences, and the significance of the occasion.

Tailoring your speech to resonate with the audience will make it more relatable and impactful.

Step 2: Choose a Theme or Message

Every great speech has a central theme or message that ties everything together. 

Think about what you want to convey to the graduates—whether it’s words of wisdom, encouragement, or reflections on their journey.

Choose a theme that resonates with the occasion and reflects your personal values and experiences.

Step 3: Brainstorm Ideas and Stories

Once you have a theme in mind, brainstorm ideas, stories, and anecdotes that support your message.

Reflect on your own experiences, lessons learned, and moments of inspiration that you can share with the graduates.

Consider incorporating personal stories, quotes, or examples that illustrate your points and make them more memorable.

Step 4: Create an Outline

Organize your ideas into a clear and coherent outline for your speech.

Start with an introduction that grabs the audience’s attention and introduces your theme. Then, outline the main points you want to cover in the body of the speech. Use supporting stories and examples to illustrate each point.

Finally, conclude your speech with powerful closing remarks that reinforces your message and leaves a lasting impression.

Step 5: Write the Speech

With your outline as a guide, start writing your speech , focusing on clarity, conciseness, and authenticity.

Write in a conversational tone, as if you’re speaking directly to the graduates, and use concise language.

Be sure to include transitions between sections to help the speech flow smoothly and keep the audience engaged.

Step 6: Edit and Revise

Once you’ve written a draft of your speech, take time to edit and revise it for clarity, coherence, and impact.

Cut out any unnecessary or repetitive information, and refine your language to make it more concise and compelling.

Pay attention to pacing, tone, and rhythm, and make sure your speech is well-balanced and engaging from start to finish.

Step 7: Practice, Practice, Practice

Finally, practice delivering your speech aloud multiple times to ensure smooth delivery and confident presentation.

Pay attention to your pacing, timing, hand gestures , and body language, and make adjustments as needed. 

Practicing your speech will help you feel more comfortable and confident on the day of the graduation ceremony.

Here are some tips to help you write a memorable speech:

• Share Your Journey: Reflect on your time in school, highlighting challenges you overcame, lessons you learned, and accomplishments you achieved.
• Inspire with Stories: Share inspiring anecdotes or life lessons that have shaped you and can resonate with your peers.
• Express Gratitude: Thank teachers, family, and friends for their support and guidance throughout your academic journey.
• Offer Encouragement: Provide motivation and encouragement to your fellow graduates as they embark on their future endeavors.

By following these basic steps and tips, you can write a graduation speech that is memorable and impactful, leaving a lasting impression on graduates and audience members for years to come.

8 Inspiring Graduation Speech Examples

If you’re looking to get inspired or need some examples to work from, check out some of the most memorable graduation speeches delivered by today’s notable figures. 

These speeches showcase how some of the world’s most influential people have delivered impactful messages of change, hard work, success, and life lessons to graduating classes throughout the years.

By incorporating personal stories, motivational quotes, and heartfelt advice, these examples showcase the profound impact a well-crafted speech can have on any audience.

While we’ve only featured eight graduation speech examples here, please note that there are countless other inspiring speeches that you can learn from throughout history. A quick online search will help guide you in the direction of more examples if you don’t find what you’re looking for in this list. 

#1 – Steve Jobs’ Stanford University Graduation Speech (2005)

Jobs’s speech is a classic for a reason. He challenged graduates to “stay hungry, stay foolish,” and to never lose sight of their dreams. 

#2 – Oprah Winfrey’s Harvard University Graduation Speech (2013)

Oprah Winfrey reflects on her own journey to success, emphasizing the importance of finding purpose, serving others, and remaining true to oneself in the face of adversity.

#3 –  Chadwick Boseman’s Howard University Graduation Speech (2018)

The late Chadwick Boseman, shortly before his passing, delivered an inspiring speech about the power of purpose and never giving up on your dreams.

#4 – J.K. Rowling’s Harvard University Graduation Speech (2008)

J.K. Rowling shares insights on the benefits of failure and the importance of imagination, empathy, and resilience in overcoming life’s challenges and achieving success.

#5 – Michelle Obama’s CCNY Graduation Speech (2016)

Michelle Obama reflects on the power of education and the importance of resilience, determination, and hope in overcoming obstacles and achieving one’s dreams.

#6 – David Foster Wallace’s Kenyon College Graduation Speech (2005)

David Foster Wallace’s speech, titled “This is Water,” is a profound meditation on mindfulness and empathy. Wallace delivers a thought-provoking speech about the value of mindfulness, empathy, and perspective in leading a meaningful and fulfilling life.

#7 – Satya Nadella’s University of Chicago Graduation Speech (2018)

The CEO of Microsoft spoke about the future of technology and the need for human-centered innovation. Nadella shares insights on the role of empathy, curiosity, and continuous learning in driving innovation and success in today’s rapidly changing world.

#8 – Ken Burns’ Stanford University Graduation Speech (2016)

The documentarian urged graduates to be curious, to challenge themselves, and to fight for what they believe in.

Learn From Graduation Speech Examples From Notable Figures

As we’ve seen from speeches like the ones listed above, throughout history, famous individuals have delivered impactful speeches that resonate with audiences and offer valuable lessons for graduates.

So how do these notable figures inspire through their speeches?

• Emphasizing Change: Notable figures often highlight the importance of embracing change and adapting to new beginnings in their speeches.
• Hard Work and Success: Through personal anecdotes, they stress the significance of hard work and determination in achieving success.
• Life Lessons: Graduation speeches by renowned figures are filled with insightful life lessons that guide and motivate graduates on their journey ahead.
• Words of Encouragement: Notable graduation speeches give encouragement, confidence, and hope to the audience as they move ahead.

Throughout this guide, we’ve explored how these speeches are more than just a routine part of commencement—they’re opportunities to share wisdom, life lessons, and unforgettable memories.

Whether you were feeling uncertain about crafting a speech that resonates or curious about the secrets behind turning a good speech into a great one, we’ve covered it all.

As you step onto the stage to deliver your graduation speech, remember the power you hold. Inspire, uplift, and connect us all! 

Here’s to making your mark and leaving a lasting impression as you embark on the next chapter of your journey!

Whether you’re giving a graduation speech or a TEDx talk, this free guide will help expand your reach.

Check out more great articles from the Thought-Leader Blog covering TEDx Talks, success mindsets, and everything else in between

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Wedding invitations, 200+ of the best graduation quotes and sayings.

Written by  Shutterfly Community Last Updated: Apr 15, 2024

Honor your grad by sharing one of these heartfelt or inspirational graduation quotes and sayings to celebrate new graduates during their rite of passage. These words of wisdom are sure to be perfect for stylish graduation announcement cards , and also as gift inscriptions or even graduation Instagram captions. Extending a well-worded wish or graduation congratulations card will underline the gravity of the achievement for the important high school and college seniors, middle schoolers, and soon-to-be doctors and lawyers in your life.

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Graduation Announcements

As a relative or close friend of the grad, you’ve already impacted their lives in many positive ways, including with your wisdom and knowledge, and now it’s time to take a step back and let them shine. Send them graduation gifts or graduation cards and simply cut and paste one of these proud, inspirational graduation quotes into your card. Add your name and something personal and send them off. And if you’re the parent of a graduating high school or college senior, design creative graduation announcements and graduation invitations to share the news and gather to celebrate, and add custom graduation thank you cards to express gratitude for gifts.

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What is a Good Quote for Graduation?

As graduation day looms closer, the hunt for the ultimate words of wisdom kicks into high gear. It’s like a scavenger hunt for inspiration, with each quote acting as a clue to unlock the mysteries of the future. So, let us embark on a journey through a curated collection of quotes, each a shining light to illuminate the path forward as we navigate the thrilling unknown of post-graduation life.

High School Graduation Quotes

• “The most important thing in your life is to live your life with integrity and to not give into peer pressure to try to be something that you’re not.” —Ellen DeGeneres
• “The old rules are crumbling and nobody knows what the new rules are. So make up your own rules.” —Neil Gaiman
• “Graduation is not the end; it’s the beginning.” —Senator Orrin Hatch
• “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” —Arthur Ashe
• “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” —John Dewey
• “There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.” —C.S. Lewis
• “To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe.” —Anatole France
• “Your life is your story, and the adventure ahead of you is the journey to fulfill your own purpose and potential.” —Kerry Washington
• “What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “The fireworks begin today. Each diploma is a lighted match. Each one of you is a fuse.” —Edward Koch
• “There are no regrets in life. Just lessons.” —Jennifer Aniston
• “Take pride in how far you’ve come. Have faith in how far you can go. But don’t forget to enjoy the journey.” —Michael Josephson
• “The only thing you can do in this life is pursue your passions, celebrate your bloopers and never stop following your fear.” —Grace Helbig
• “Kid, you’ll move mountains.” —Dr. Seuss
• “Your imagination is your preview of life’s coming attractions.” —Albert Einstein
• “Every person you meet knows something you don’t; learn from them.” —H Jackson Brown Jr.
• “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” —Mark Twain

College Graduation Quotes

As your grad transitions from being a student to entering the real world, wish them well with these college graduation quotes about the merits of higher education. Your college grad will appreciate any of these quotes in sentimental graduation cards paired with a personalized graduation gift for their new apartment or new office.

• “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
• “There is nothing more beautiful than finding your course as you believe you bob aimlessly in the current. Wouldn’t you know that your path was there all along, waiting for you to knock, waiting for you to become. This path does not belong to your parents, your teachers, your leaders, or your lovers. Your path is your character defining itself more and more everyday like a photograph coming into focus.” —Jodie Foster
• “You are educated. Your certification is in your degree. You may think of it as the ticket to the good life. Let me ask you to think of an alternative. Think of it as your ticket to change the world.” —Tom Brokaw
• “Education makes a people easy to lead, but difficult to drive: easy to govern, but impossible to enslave.” —Henry Peter Brougham
• “What we learn with pleasure we never forget.” —Alfred Mercier
• “Life is my college. May I graduate well, and earn some honors!” —Louisa May Alcott
• “Instruction ends in the schoolroom, but education ends only with life.” —Frederick W. Robertson
• “An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” —Benjamin Franklin
• “Your education is a dress rehearsal for a life that is yours to lead.” —Nora Ephron
• “You don’t go to university so you can punch a clock. You go to university so you can be in a position to make a difference.” —Janet Napolitano
• “The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.” —B.B. King
• “What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the human soul.” —Joseph Addison
• “Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.” —Martin Luther King Jr.
• “We may live in an age of instant messaging, instant gratification and Instagram, but there is no way to short circuit the path to success.” —Tory Burch
• “It is absolutely still possible to make a difference.” —Michelle Obama
• “The highest result of education is tolerance.” —Helen Keller
• “Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.” —Malcolm X

Inspirational Graduation Quotes

• “Now the first suggestion is to aim high, but be aware that even before you have reached your ultimate professional destination, if you always strive for excellence, you can and should have a substantial impact on the world in which you live.” —Sandra Day O’Connor
• “Real courage is holding on to a still voice in your head that says, ‘I must keep going.’ It’s that voice that says nothing is a failure if it is not final. That voice that says to you, ‘Get out of bed. Keep going. I will not quit.’” —Cory Booker
• “When you leave here, don’t forget why you came.” —Adlai E. Stevenson
• “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” —Winston Churchill
• “I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.” —Jim Carrey
• “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” —Steve Jobs
• “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all—in which case, you fail by default.” —J.K. Rowling
• “When you take risks, you learn that there will be times when you succeed and there will be times when you fail, and both are equally important.” —Ellen DeGeneres
• “So, I say to you, forget about the fast lane. If you really want to fly, just harness your power to your passion. Honor your calling. Everybody has one. Trust your heart and success will come to you.” —Oprah Winfrey
• “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” —Henry David Thoreau
• “The most rewarding things in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done.” —Arnold Palmer
• “Now go, and make interesting mistakes, make amazing mistakes, make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for you being here. Make good art.” —Neil Gaiman
• “If you hear a voice within you say “you cannot paint,” then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.” —Vincent Van Gogh
• “In response to those who say to stop dreaming and face reality, I say keep dreaming and make reality.” —Kristian Kan
• “If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.” —Thomas Jefferson
• “You have to dance a little bit before you step out into the world each day, because it changes the way you walk.” —Sandra Bullock
• “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” —Dr. Seuss

Graduation Quotes About Life

• “Don’t ever confuse the two, your life and your work. The second is only part of the first.” —Anna Quindlen
• “I encourage you to live with life. Be courageous, adventurous. Give us a tomorrow, more than we deserve.” —Maya Angelou
• “Get busy living or get busy dying.” —Stephen King
• “Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it.” —Charles Swindoll
• “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” —Thomas Edison
• “Do not let making a living prevent you from making a life.” —John Wooden
• “In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love.” —Mother Teresa
• “Things turn out best for people who make the best out of the way things turn out.” —Art Linkletter
• “If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it.” —William Arthur Ward
• “Love the life you live. Live the life you love.” —Bob Marley
• “You can never be overdressed or overeducated.” —Oscar Wilde
• “Opportunity does not knock, it presents itself when you beat down the door.” —Kyle Chandler
• “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.” —Dr. Seuss
• “Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.” —Babe Ruth
• “The only impossible journey is the one you never begin.” —Anthony Robbins
• “Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be.” —Grandma Moses

Funny Graduation Quotes

• “My dear terrified graduates, 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.” —Lin-Manuel Miranda
• “The only thing that ever sat its way to success was a hen.” —Sarah Brown
• “Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.” —Will Rogers
• “Follow your passion. Stay true to yourself. Never follow someone else’s path, unless you’re in the woods and you’re lost and you see a path. By all means, you should follow that.” —Ellen DeGeneres
• “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” —Mark Twain
• “Your families are extremely proud of you. You can’t imagine the sense of relief they are experiencing. This would be a most opportune time to ask for money.” —Gary Bolding
• “To those of you who received honors, awards and distinctions, I say well done. And to the C students, I say you too may one day be president of the United States.” —George W. Bush
• “If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in the dark with a mosquito.” —Betty Reese
• “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well neither does bathing; that’s why we recommend it daily.” —Zig Ziglar
• “Always borrow money from a pessimist. He won’t expect it back.” —Oscar Wilde
• “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” —Thomas Edison
• “The elevator to success is out of order. You’ll have to use the stairs . . . one step at a time.” —Joe Girard
• “The road to success is always under construction.” —Lily Tomlin
• “There may be days when you’ll say to yourself, ‘I can’t. I literally can’t even.’ But you can! You can even!” —Katie Couric
• “Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia.” —Charles Schulz
• “A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car, but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.” —Theodore Roosevelt
• “Nothing is impossible. The word itself says ‘I’m possible!’” —Audrey Hepburn

Short Graduation Quotes

• “Be bold, be courageous, be your best.” —Gabrielle Giffords
• “There is no script. Live your life. Soak it all in.” —Dick Costolo
• “Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” —Confucius
• “Follow your fear.” —Tina Fey
• “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” —Milton Berle
• “Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.” —Truman Capote
• “We know what we are, but know not what we may be.” —Shakespeare
• “The tassel’s worth the hassle.” —Anonymous
• “Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.” — Napoleon Hill
• “Believe and act is if it were impossible to fail.” —Charles Kettering
• “Spread joy. Chase your wildest dreams.” —Patch Adams
• “Dream big and dare to fail.” —Norman Vaughan
• “I go to seek a Great Perhaps.” —Francois Rabelais
• “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” —Albert Einstein
• “You can’t climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets.” —Arnold Schwarzenegger
• “Education is the key to unlocking the world, a passport to freedom.” —Oprah Winfrey
• “Nothing can dim the light that shines from within.” —Maya Angelou

Wisdom Quotes for Graduation

• “There are few things more liberating in this life than having your worst fear realized.” —Conan O’Brien
• “But real leadership comes from the quiet nudging of an inner voice. It comes from realizing that the time has come to move beyond waiting to doing.” —Madeleine Albright
• “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.” —Henry Ford
• “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” —Alexander Graham Bell
• “Graduation is only a concept. In real life every day you graduate. Graduation is a process that goes on until the last day of your life. If you can grasp that, you’ll make a difference.” —Arie Pencovici
• “Knowledge is not power. The implementation of knowledge is power.” —Larry Winget
• “Learning is the only thing the mind never exhausts, never fears, and never regrets.” —Leonardo da Vinci
• “Let us never be betrayed into saying we have finished our education; because that would mean we had stopped growing.” —Julia H. Gulliver
• “You can never plan the future by the past.” —Edmund Burke
• “By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” —Confucius
• “Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.” — Jim Rohn
• “Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.” —Lao-Tze
• “Life is an improvisation. You have no idea what’s going to happen next and you are mostly just making things up as you go along.” —Stephen Colbert
• “If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.” —Vince Lombardi
• In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins: cash and experience. Take experience first; the cash will come later.” —Harold Geneen
• “Keep in mind that neither success nor failure is ever final.” —Roger Babson
• “The important thing is this: to be able to give up in any given moment all that we are for what we can become.” —DeSeaux

Graduation Quotes from Parents

• “Nothing is going to be handed to you. You have to make things happen.” —Florence Griffith-Joyner
• “If at first you don’t succeed, do it like your mother told you.” —Unknown
• “Graduation day is tough for adults. They go to the ceremony as parents. They come home as contemporaries. After 22 years of child-raising, they are unemployed.” —Erma Bombeck
• “Now that you’ve graduated, just remember: Bosses don’t usually accept notes from your mother.” —Melanie White
• “I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.” —Harry S. Truman
• “We may not be able to prepare the future for our children, but we can at least prepare our children for the future.” —Franklin D. Roosevelt
• “Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands.” —Anne Frank
• “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” —Eleanor Roosevelt
• “Life affords no greater responsibility, no greater privilege, than the raising of the next generation.” —C. Everett Koop
• “You don’t have to be famous. You just have to make your mother and father proud of you, and you already have.” —Meryl Streep
• “A person soon learns how little he knows when a child begins to ask questions.” —Richard L. Evans
• “Never let it be said that to dream is a waste of one’s time, for dreams are our realities in waiting. In dreams, we plant the seeds of our future.” —Unknown
• “I hope your dreams take you to the corners of your smiles, to the highest of your hopes, to the windows of your opportunities, and to the most special places your heart has ever known.” —Unknown
• “Set out each day believing in your dreams. Know without a doubt that you were made for great things.” —Josh Hinds
• “Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.” —Judy Garland
• “You must continue to dream the wild dream that you dreamed when you were young.” —Mike Tomlin
• “It is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate.” —George Burns

Religious Graduation Quotes

• “You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn’t. You get to decide what to worship.” —David Foster Wallace
• “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous laws.” —Psalm 119:105-106
• “‘For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” —Jeremiah 29:11
• “She is clothed in strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.” —Proverbs 31:25
• “God never said that the journey would be easy, but He did say that the arrival would be worthwhile.” —Max Lucado
• “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” —Philippians 4:13
• “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” —Timothy 4:12
• Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” —Proverbs 16:3
• “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” —Deuteronomy 31:8
• “An unschooled man who knows how to meditate upon the Lord has learned far more than the man with the highest education who does not know how to meditate.” —Rev. Charles Stanley
• “Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” —Martin Luther King, Jr.
• “The purpose of human life is to improve one’s character traits, by working on oneself every day. That’s why God gives us today—and tomorrow.” —Sara Yoheved Rigler
• “The best remedy for those who are frightened, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be alone with the sky, nature and God. For only then can you feel that everything is as it should be and that God wants people to be happy amid nature’s beauty and simplicity.” —Anne Frank
• “All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.” —Dalai Lama
• “You start to live when you commit to a cause higher than yourself. You must learn to depend on divine power for the fulfillment of a higher calling.” —Lailah Gifty Akita
• “When you find yourself in need of spiritual nourishment, it is in the opportunities to serve others that you will find the abundance you seek.” —Steve Maraboli

Graduation Wishes for Son

• “The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.” —Benjamin Disraeli
• “Do not pray for easier lives, pray to be stronger men.” —John F. Kennedy
• “Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.” —Albert Einstein
• “You don’t raise heroes, you raise sons. And if you treat them like sons, they’ll turn out to be heroes, even if it’s just in your own eyes.” —Walter M. Schirra, Sr.
• “A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.” —David Brinkley
• “Men are what their mothers made them.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “There are two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots. The other is wings.” —Hodding Carter, Jr.
• “If I have a monument in this world, it is my son.” —Maya Angelou
• “A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.” —Bob Dylan
• “There is only one success: to be able to spend your life in your own way.” —Christopher Morley
• “Give me a stock clerk with a goal, and I will give you a man who will make history. Give me a man without a goal, and I will give you a stock clerk.” —James Cash Penney
• “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” — Nelson Mandela
• “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” —Abraham Lincoln
• “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” —E. E. Cummings
• “A father is a man who expects his son to be as good a man as he meant to be.” —Frank A. Clark
• “A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.” —John C. Maxwell
• “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” —Thomas Jefferson

Graduation Wishes for Daughter

• “For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.” —Audrey Hepburn
• “The brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all.” —Princess Diaries
• “I can’t think of any better representation of beauty than someone who is unafraid to be herself.” —Emma Stone
• “Whatever you choose, however many roads you travel, I hope that you choose not to be a lady. I hope you will find some way to break the rules and make a little trouble out there. And I also hope that you will choose to make some of that trouble on behalf of women.” —Nora Ephron
• “She turned her can’ts into cans and her dreams into plans.” —Kobi Yamada
• “The best protection any woman can have is courage.” —Elizabeth Cady Stanton
• “And though she be but little, she is fierce.” —Shakespeare
• “Never grow a wishbone, daughter, where your backbone ought to be.” —Clementine Paddleford
• “All the dreams I prayed you’d be, are all the things you are. You were once my little girl, and now my shining star.” —Anonymous
• “You have what it takes to be a victorious, independent, fearless woman.” —Tyra Banks
• “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” —Aristotle
• “She believed she could, so she did.” —R. S. Grey
• “You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation.” —Brigham Young
• “There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish.” —Michelle Obama
• “A woman with a voice is, by definition, a strong woman.” —Melinda Gates
• “There’s something so special about a woman who dominates in a man’s world. It takes a certain grace, strength, intelligence, fearlessness, and the nerve to never take no for an answer.” —Rihanna
• “The question isn’t who’s going to let me; it’s who’s going to stop me.” —Ayn Rand

Graduation Sayings for Cards

• “All of our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.” —Walt Disney
• “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” —Bobby Kennedy
• “Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were and ask why not.” —George Bernard Shaw
• “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” —T. H. Huxley
• “I will encourage you not to just make a living, but to live to make something.” —Wesley Chan
• “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” —Aristotle
• “I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.” —Leonardo da Vinci
• “I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.” —Helen Keller
• “The horizon leans forward, offering you space to place new steps of change.” —Maya Angelou
• “Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.” —Malcolm S. Forbes
• “Nobody likes to fail, but failure is an essential part of life and of learning. If your uniform isn’t dirty, you haven’t been in the game.” —Ben Bernanke
• “Follow your arrow, wherever it points.” —Kacey Musgraves
• “Sometimes you find out what you are supposed to be doing by doing the things you are not supposed to do.” —Oprah Winfrey
• “If you’re willing to stand for what you believe in . . . you won’t need advice from me, because you will be able to handle whatever comes.” —Whoopi Goldberg
• “Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” —Steve Jobs
• “From my point of view, which is that of a storyteller, I see your life as already artful, waiting, just waiting and ready for you to make it art.” —Toni Morrison
• “Don’t be afraid of fear. Because it sharpens you, it challenges you, it makes you stronger; and when you run away from fear, you also run away from the opportunity to be your best possible self.” —Ed Helms

Resources Related To Graduation Messages And Wishes

With the flurry of emotions, your loved one is facing on graduation day, a simple graduation quote could make all of the difference. Whether you find words that settle their nerves about embarking on a new path or give them the wisdom they need, you are sending an inspirational message. This is just the positive outlook your graduate should have when preparing for all of the new opportunities that await them. For more inspiration regarding graduation ideas and tips, check out related resources below:

• Personalized Graduation Gifts
• Custom Graduation Announcements
• Photo Graduation Invitations
• Graduation Thank You Cards
• Graduation Cards

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Closing Remarks Speech for Graduation

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Ladies and Gentlemen,

Distinguished guests, faculty, parents, and, most importantly, the graduates,

Thank you all for being here today to celebrate this significant milestone. Today marks the end of one chapter and the exciting beginning of another in the lives of our graduates.

To the graduates : You have worked hard, shown resilience, and achieved a remarkable accomplishment. You have faced challenges, learned lessons, and grown in countless ways. As you step into the next phase of your life, remember to carry with you the values and knowledge you have gained here. Embrace new opportunities, continue to learn, and strive to make a positive impact in whatever you do.

To the faculty and staff : Your dedication and support have been instrumental in guiding these students to this moment. Thank you for your unwavering commitment to their education and personal growth.

To the parents, families, and friends : Your support and encouragement have been the backbone of these graduates’ journeys. Thank you for believing in them and standing by them every step of the way.

As we conclude this ceremony, let us reflect on the journey that brought us here and look forward to the future with optimism and hope. Graduates, take pride in your achievements, stay curious, and never stop striving for excellence. The world is waiting for your contributions, and I have no doubt that you will make it a better place.

Congratulations to the Class of [Year]! May your future be bright, your dreams be big, and your successes be numerous.

Thank you, and have a wonderful day!

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OPINION: Harrison Butker, my life begins far before marriage.

Yes, I too saw the video . In fact, I watched the entire 20-minute speech waiting for the moment at the end when Harrison Butker would say, “sike.” Unfortunately, that part never came.    

If you haven’t seen the horrendous video that I’m speaking of, let me break it down for you. Butker, the Kansas City Chiefs kicker, gave the commencement speech for Benedictine College, a small Catholic school in Kansas. In his 20-minute address, Butker managed to tell women to stay in the kitchen, call pride month a “deadly sin,” state his stance on abortion and birth control, and disregard the success of every female graduate in that room.   

Once again, still waiting for the “sike.”   

Butker began his speech by making his beliefs and ideologies known. He went into his religious beliefs and spoke about how he is a dedicated Catholic, which speaking at a Catholic school, is not out of place.   

Yet, things took a turn for the worse when, suddenly, his blatant homophobia came out of left field.   

As he talked about the AP article regarding the Catholic church stepping back in time, Butker used it as an opportunity to take a stab at the LGBTQ+ community.   

He began by saying the reporters at the AP could not have imagined they would be met with excitement and pride after releasing an article he believes was meant to rebuke and embarrass places like Benedictine.   

“Not the deadly-sin sort of pride that has an entire month dedicated to it, but the true God-centered pride that is cooperating with the Holy Ghost to glorify him,” Butker said.  

Butker has never hidden his religious beliefs from the public, especially in the past few months when he has been outspoken on many political topics. Once again, perfectly normal for a Catholic school commencement speaker to share.    

However, a good majority of the things Butker spoke about in this speech have no place at a commencement of any sort. I mean, if you’re writing a speech to give to a room full of college graduates, and you find yourself putting the words “birth” and “control” next to each other, I strongly recommend reconsidering.  

The part that many people took to social media to protest was when, halfway through his speech, Butker addressed the women in the room.   

Sir, as a man, you have no place to address or ultimately speak for the women.  

But nonetheless, he said, “I want to speak directly to you briefly because I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you.”   

He continued to tell them that some of them may go on to lead successful careers but openly guessed the majority of them were most excited about marriage and children. He went so far to say that his wife's life truly began when she became a wife and a mother.  

Wait, sorry, just to clarify, do you believe life begins when you get married or at conception?  

The blatant insanity of addressing a room of women who spent the past four years working to obtain a degree and telling them none of that matters because the best thing they will ever be able to do is push a baby out of their womb is absurd.  

Butker’s speech resembles the ideologies of the 1950s, a time when women were not allowed to own a credit card , serve on a jury , practice law or simply keep their job if they got p regnant . You’re telling me a cisgender white man who wakes up every morning and reaps the benefits of the patriarchy wants it to stay the same? I’m shocked.  

All of this comes right after Butker quotes his “teammate’s girlfriend” Taylor Swift. Ironic to choose one of the most influential women in the country right now, who also happens to be unmarried, childless and have an honorary doctorate degree.   

The biggest irony of this whole speech is that his mother , Elizabeth Butker, is a medical physicist. The women in his family have done miraculous and incredible things far beyond just getting married and having kids. Yet, he devalued them down to one word: homemakers.  

Don’t get me wrong, in no way is being a mother or a homemaker a simple task — it is incredibly hard work. But, here is the beautiful thing about the world we live in today: as women, we have the right to choose.   

It is our choice whether we go to college and get a degree, whether we want to go into the workforce, whether we want to have children or be their primary caretaker. This isn’t the 1950s. So, we won’t go back.   

To all of the women and little girls who may have heard this speech and questioned what your value is to the world, please know it is more than what a man who doesn’t believe in a future for you outside of the house says. You can do and be anything you want to be. To the women who just graduated college, your life does not begin when you become a wife. Your life has already begun. You are simply on another stepping-stone to becoming the greatest version of yourself. The world is in your hands, and you have a choice about what you do with it.   

Gentry Keener (she/her) is a senior studying journalism and political science.   

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