English Speeches with Audio & Transcripts | Books & Articles
You are future record-breakers and world travelers… future volunteers and philanthropists… future winners and future leaders. I’m here to tell you… from the other side of graduation… that leaving a familiar world behind and finding new ones is incredibly, deeply, wonderfully exciting.
Run, don’t walk. Remember, either you’re running for food, or you are running from becoming food. And often times you can’t tell which. Either way, run! And for your journey, take along some of my learnings, that you will have the humility to confront failure, admit a mistake, and ask for help.
Well starting tomorrow, work is the rest of your life.That’s right. Ouch! Exactly!So my first wish is for you to find joy in work, find work that gives you great joy, or just fall in love with whatever work you do.
I hope you will see setbacks as new opportunities. Your pain and suffering will strengthen your character, your resilience and agility, and they are the ultimate superpowers. Of all of the things that I value most about my abilities, intelligence is not top of that list.
And when you wake up tomorrow, no longer the person you were today and not yet the person you will become next, I hope you will draw courage and confidence from knowing that you, graduates, are water – the force that shapes the shore.
As Lincoln understood that the real threat always and still comes from within this favored land. Insist that we support science and the arts, especially the arts. They have nothing to do with the actual defense of our country; They just make our country worth defending.
May you continue to approach your dealings with diligence and integrity—to treat others with care and compassion—and to support and encourage one another as you have done these many days.
The times we’re in call for us to no longer seek refuge in ivory towers and gated communities. Today, and each day for the rest of our lives, we must do more than simply be successful . . . work hard . . . try to be perfect. We must make the affirmative choice to be good.
Uncertainty is uncomfortable. But I encourage you to dive into the deep end of discomfort, and as you do, bring with you a Beginner’s mind, an ethic of not knowing. As Emily Dickinson had said, “Not knowing when the Dawn will come, I open every Door.”
We are standing on the rubble of the world that was, and we must have the foresight and courage to imagine – and create the world as it should be: more compassionate, more equal, more sustainable – a world safe from fascists and tyrants.
Leadership is about fighting through the most intractable problems. It’s about challenging anger, frustration, and heartbreak to find a solution. It’s about doing what you believe is right, even when it’s hard and lonely.
So you’re at center court and it’s time for tip-off. The game is about to begin. 1. Always keep good teammates. 2. Give of your time, talent and treasure. 3. Know your crystal balls from your rubber balls. 4. Do the right thing. 5. Rebound with grace; and 6. Conduct yourself like a GROWN-up — grateful, ready, open, willing and nice.
Hold tight to all the things you carry from Berkeley, and may they always serve you — and the world around you — well. We are immensely proud of what you have done, and even more, of who you will become.
When you leave the safety of this campus, this faculty, this community, keep hoping, keep dreaming, keep striving, keep giving, keep failing, and keep fighting. The future of this small world rests on your shoulders. Just as it rested on mine, and on my parents’, and their parents’.
I wish four things:1. That you are bold and have good fortune. Fortune favors the bold. 2. That you give and get the feedback you need. Feedback is a gift. 3. That you empower everyone. Nothing is somebody else’s problem. 4. That you support equality. Lean In!
I hope you will carry with you MIT’s tradition of taking – and making – moonshots. Be ambitious in every facet of your life. And don’t ever let something stop you because people say it’s impossible. Let those words inspire you.
It’s not enough to be technologists — we have to make sure that technology serves people. It’s not enough or even possible to be neutral — tools are shaped by the minds that make them and by the hands that use them. And it’s not enough to have a good idea — you have to know when to stop a bad one.
There’s never a clear path to the top. But what makes it all worth it is learning that you are often stronger than you imagined, and that if you ask for help, you’ll be amazed by the people who will be there to keep you steady and on course.
One of the greatest joys in life is the feeling of using your skills to the limit, to do something important for others: your community, your discipline, your institution, your country – or even the whole human family and our fragile planet.
This has given me a mine of precious materials from which to draw, from the national to the quotidian. I love each, and I love them all together. I still do not understand all I need to, but as they intersect, I understand each better. I hope and expect you will find the same is true in your lives.