Find success on your own terms. Be the heroine of your life, not the victim. Listen to your inner voice.

It's graduation season, and students and guest speakers have been busy offering up sage advice to the class of 2007. To celebrate the ceremonies that just passed or are about to take place, we took a look at some memorable graduation speeches.

Let the pomp and circumstance begin!

Will Ferrell

Harvard, 2003

"You're about to enter into a world filled with hypocrisy and doublespeak, a world in which your limo to the airport is often a half-hour late. In addition to not even being a limo at all; oftentimes it's a Lincoln Towncar. You're about to enter a world where you ask your new assistant, Jamie, to bring you a tall, nonfat latte. And he comes back with a short soy cappuccino. Guess what, Jamie? You're fired. Not too hard to get right, my friend. . . .

I'm sorry, graduates, but this is a world where you aren't allowed to use your cell phone in airplanes, during live theater, at the movies, at funerals or even during your own elective surgery. Apparently, the Berlin Wall went back up because we now live in Russia. I mean, just try lighting up a cigar in a movie theater or paying for a dinner for 20 friends with an autograph. It ain't that easy. Strong words, I know. Tough talk. But more like tough love. Because this is where my faith in you guys comes into play, Harvard University's graduating class of 2003, without a doubt, the finest, most talented group of sexual beings this great land has to offer."

Oprah Winfrey

Howard University, 2007

"Don't be afraid, because all you have to know is who you are. . . . You're defined by what you stand for. Your integrity is not for sale."

John F. Kennedy

American University, 1963

"For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal."

Jon Stewart

College of William & Mary, 2004

"College is something you complete. Life is something you experience. So don't worry about your grade, or the results or success. Success is defined in myriad ways, and you will find it, and people will no longer be grading you, but it will come from your own internal sense of decency, which I imagine, after going through the program here, is quite strong, . . . although I'm sure downloading illegal files . . . but, nah, that's a different story."

George W. Bush

United States Military Academy at West Point, 2002

"Today, your last day at West Point, you begin a life of service in a career unlike any other. You've answered a calling to hardship and purpose, to risk and honor. At the end of every day you will know that you have faithfully done your duty. May you always bring to that duty the high standards of this great American institution. May you always be worthy of the long gray line that stretches two centuries behind you."

Anna Quindlen

Mount Holyoke College, 1999

"When I quit The New York Times to be a full-time mother, the voices of the world said that I was nuts. When I quit it again to be a full-time novelist, they said I was nuts again. But I am not nuts. I am happy. I am successful on my own terms. Because if your success is not on your own terms, if it looks good to the world but does not feel good in your heart, it is not success at all. Remember the words of Lily Tomlin: If you win the rat race, you're still a rat."

Nora Ephron

Wellesley College, 1996

"Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim. Because you don't have the alibi my class had. This is one of the great achievements and mixed blessings you inherit: Unlike us, you can't say nobody told you there were other options. Your education is a dress rehearsal for a life that is yours to lead. Twenty- five years from now, you won't have as easy a time making excuses as my class did. You won't be able to blame the deans or the culture or anyone else: You will have no one to blame but yourselves. Whoa."

Gloria Steinem

Tufts University, 1987

"This is the last period of time that will seem lengthy to you at only three or four years. From now on, time will pass without artificial academic measure. It will go by like the wind. Whatever you want to do, do it now. For life is time, and time is all there is."

Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

Emory University, 1998

"If you have only education and knowledge and a lack of the other side, then you may not be a happy person but a person of mental unrest, of frustration. This will always happen. Not only that, but if you combine these two, your whole life will be a constructive and happy life. And certainly you can make immense benefit for society and the betterment of humanity. That is one of my fundamental beliefs: that a good heart, a warm heart, a compassionate heart is still teachable. Please combine these two."

Steve Jobs

Stanford University, 2005

"When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like 'If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right.' It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, 'If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' And whenever the answer has been 'no' for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something."

Bono

University of Pennsylvania, 2004

"Doctor of Laws, wow! I know it's an honor, and it really is an honor, but are you sure? I've broken a lot of laws, and the ones I haven't I've certainly thought about. I have sinned in thought, word and deed and God forgive me; actually God forgave me, but why would you? I'm here getting a doctorate, getting respectable, getting in the good graces of the powers that be. I hope it sends you students a powerful message: Crime does pay."

Back to Top