Inspiring Commencement Quotes to Motivate Every Graduation Class

"Zealous in the commencement, careless in the end."

"You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings. - Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Axiome: la haine du bourgeois est le commencement de la vertu. Axiom: Hatred of the bourgeois is the beginning of wisdom. - Gustave Flaubert If this day means anything, it means that you are now in the contingent of the responsible. You must be kind, yes, but you must also look beyond your own house. We're depending on you for your efforts and your vision. We are depending on your eye and your imagination to identify what wrongs exist and persist, and on your hands, your backs, your efforts, to right them. - David Remnick What kind of a world are we going to leave the next generation? I, at least, want my children to look back and say, 'My daddy was being arrested at the White House fence and booed off commencement stages. He was trying.' - Chris Hedges Upon the whole, therefore, she found, what has been sometimes found before, that an event to which she had looked forward with impatient desire, did not in taking place, bring all the satisfaction she had promised herself. It was consequently necessary to name some other period for the commencement of actual felicity; to have some other point on which her wishes and hopes might be fixed, and by again enjoying the pleasure of anticipation, console herself for the present, and prepare for another disappointment. - Jane Austen The way in which the persecution of Galileo has been remembered is a tribute to the quiet commencement of the most intimate change in outlook which the human race had yet encountered. Since a babe was born in a manger, it may be doubted whether so great a thing has happened with so little stir - Alfred North Whitehead There happen to be whole large parts of adult American life that nobody talks about in commencement speeches. One such part involves boredom, routine, and petty frustration. - David Foster Wallace That dog is mine said those poor children; that place in the sun is mine; such is the beginning and type of usurpation throughout the earth. [Fr., Ce chien est a moi, disaient ces pauvres enfants; c'est la ma place au soleil. Voila le commencement et l'image de l'usurpation de toute la terre.] - Blaise Pascal Make glorious and fantastic mistakes. - Neil Gaiman"

Commencement Quotes can serve as a brief guideline for life, offering wisdom and insights drawn from the experiences of different individuals. They encapsulate truths about challenges, successes, failures, and the beauty of continuing despite adversities. Each quote carries a world of life lessons within it, subtly encouraging us to persevere, aspire, motivate, and even surprise ourselves. I encourage you to reflect deeply on each of these commencement quotes. You may find that different quotes resonate with you at different stages in your life, helping you understand your journey better. Remember, these aren't just statements; they are philosophies that can guide your choices and shape your perspective on life.

"A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds."

"One must search diligently to find laudatory comments on education (other than those pious platitudes which are fodder for commencement speeches). It appears that most persons who have achieved fame and success in the world of ideas are cynical about formal education. These people are a select few, who often achieved success in spite of their education, or even without it. As has been said, the clever largely educate themselves, those less able aren't sufficiently clever or imaginative to benefit much from education. - Edward Gibbon Go, and make interesting mistakes, make amazing mistakes, make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your being here. - Neil Gaiman You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. - Dr. Seuss There is no such thing as failure. Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction. - Oprah Winfrey Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your being here. - Neil Gaiman Dont teach my boy poetry, an English mother recently wrote the Provost of Harrow. Dont teach my boy poetry; he is going to stand for Parliament. Well, perhaps she was rightbut if more politicians knew poetry, and more poets knew politics, I am convinced the world would be a little better place to live on this Commencement Day of 1956. - John F. Kennedy Do not follow where the path may lead. - Ralph Waldo Emerson Nothing worth knowing can be taught. - Oscar Wilde Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don't. - Bill Nye"