35 Inspirational Graduation Quotes to Read - The Muse

35 Inspirational Graduation Quotes to Read - The Muse35 Inspirational Graduation Quotes to ReadIts graduation season, which means that college students everywhere are getting a heavy dose of advice for finding their passions, chasing success, and thriving in the real world. Which- lets face it- we all could probably use. So today, we rounded up 35 of the best graduation quotes of all time. Sure, theyre great tips for the new grads out there, but theyre bound to offer the rest of us some big-time inspiration, too. 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 to Syracuse University in 2013 Sometimes you find out what you are supposed to be doing by doing the things you are not supposed to do.Oprah Winfrey to Howard University in 2007 Dont buy societys definition of success. Because its not working for anyone. Its not working for women, its not working for men, its not working for polar bears, its not working for the cicadas that are apparently about to emerge and swarm us. Its only truly working for those who make pharmaceuticals for stress, diabetes, heart disease, sleeplessness, and high blood pressure.Arianna Huffington to Smith College in 2013 Do not worry too much about your lawn. You will soon find if you havent already that almost every adult American devotes tremendous time and money to the maintenance of an invasive plant species called pferderennbahn grass that we cant eat. I encourage you to choose better obsessions. John Green to Butler University in 2013And how do you know when youre doing something right? How do you know that? It feels so. What I know now is that feelings are really your GPS system for life. When youre supposed to do something or not supposed to do something, your emotional guidance system lets you know. The trick is to learn to check your ego at the door and start checking your gut instead.Oprah Winfrey to Stanford University in 2008 I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do, ever, was to write novels. However, my parents, both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that would never pay a mortgage or secure a pension. I know that the irony strikes with the force of a cartoon anvil, now.J.K. Rowling to Harvard University in 2008Be bold, be courageous, be your best. Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords to Bard College in 2013 Dont be trapped by dogma- which is living with the results of other peoples thinking. Dont 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 to Stanford in 2005Dont just get involved. Fight for your seat at the table. Better yet, fight for a seat at the head of the table.Barack Obama to Barnard C ollege in 2012 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 to Wellesley in 1996You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesnt. You get to decide what to worship. David Foster Wallace to Kenyon College in 2005 A world where men ran half our homes and women ran half our institutions would be just a much better world.Sheryl Sandberg to Barnard College in 2011 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 to Wellesley College in 2004 There is nothing mora beautiful than finding your course as you believe you bob aimlessly in the current. Wouldnt you know that your path was there all along, waiting for you to knock, waiting for you t o 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 to University of Pennsylvania in 2006Dont ever confuse the two, your life and your work. The second is only part of the first. Anna Quindlen to Villanova University in 2000There is no script. Live your life. Soak it all in. Dick Costolo to University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 2013 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 to UNC in 2007 I encourage you to live with life. Be courageous, adventurous. Give us a tomorrow, more than we deserve. Maya Angelou to UC Riverside in 1977 Thankfully dreams can change. If wed all stuck with our first dream, the world would be overgroe nachfrage with cowboys and princesses. So whatever your dream is right now, if y ou dont achieve it, you havent failed, and youre not some loser. But just as importantly- and this is the part I may not get right and you may not listen to- if you do get your dream, you are not a winner.Stephen Colbert to Northwestern in 2011 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 youre not. Ellen DeGeneres to Tulane in 2009It 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 to Harvard in 2008 The old rules are crumbling and nobody knows what the new rules are. So make up your own rules.Neil Gaiman to The University of the Arts in 2012 And when your journey seems too hard, and when you run into a chorus of cynics who tell you that youre being foolish to keep believing or that you cant do something, or that you should just give up, or you should just settle- yo u might say to yourself a little phrase that Ive found handy these last eight years Yes, we can.Barack Obama to Howard University in 2016Now 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 OConnor to Gettysburg College in 2008Dont 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 to Knox College in 2013Be compassionate to everyone. Dont just search for whatever it is that annoys and frightens you, see beyond those things to the basic human being. Especially see the child in the man or woman. Even if they are destroying you, allow a moment to see how lost in their own delusion and suffering they are.Alice Walker to Naropa University in 2007 Not only can you not plan the impact youre going to have, you often wont recognize it when youre having it.Dick Costolo to University of Michigan in 2013 Real courage is holding on to a still voice in your head that says, I must keep going. Its 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 to Yale University in 2013 There are few things more liberating in this life than having your worst fear realized.Conan OBrien to Dartmouth College in 2011Photos courtesy of Pablo.