“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”
Arthur Ashe (1943–1993) American tennis player
Graduation quotes
A collection of quotes on the topic of anniversary, graduation, motivational, success.
Best graduation quotes
“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States
Source: You Learn by Living (1960), p. 29–30
Context: 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.
“The roots of education … are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.”
Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”
Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher
“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
“You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.”
Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist
“Do not wait; the time will never be "just right."”
Napoleon Hill book Think and Grow Rich
Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.
Source: Think and Grow Rich (1938), p. 127
Graduation quotes
“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
Samuel Beckett book Worstward Ho
Worstward Ho (1983)
Variant: Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
Context: All of old. Nothing else ever. Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
“Love the life you live.
Live the life you love.”
Bob Marley (1945–1981) Jamaican singer, songwriter, musician
Variant: Love the life you live. Live the life you love.
“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.”
Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy
“Try to become not a man of success, but try rather to become a man of value.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
As quoted by LIFE magazine (2 May 1955)
1950s
Variant: Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.
“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.”
Dr. Seuss (1904–1991) American children's writer and illustrator, co-founder of Beginner Books
Georges Duhamel in THE HEART'S DOMAIN (1919). As it was composed in French, the wording in English may vary in translation. Theodore Geisel / Dr. Seuss was born in 1904, and would have been about 15 years old at the time that it was published. The full text can be found at the link below: We do not know the true value of our moments until they have undergone the test of memory. Like the images the photographer plunges into a golden bath, our sentiments take on color; and only then, after that recoil and that trans-figuration, do we understand their real meaning and enjoy them in all their tranquil splendor.
Misattributed
“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
Aristotle book Metaphysics
Attributed to Aristotle in Lowell L. Bennion, Religion and the Pursuit of Truth http://books.google.gr/books?id=2HPUAAAAMAAJ&q=, Deseret Book Company, 1959, p. 52, and in American Opinion, Volume 24 http://books.google.gr/books?id=irofAQAAMAAJ&q=, Robert Welch, Inc., 1981, p. 23. Possibly a discombobulation http://publicnoises.blogspot.fi/2009/02/aristotle-and-accuracy.html of the Nicomachean Ethics Book I, 1094b.24 quote above. <br class="br">Disputed <br class="br">Source: Metaphysics
“Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.”
John Dewey (1859–1952) American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer
This is a paraphrase of an idea that Dewey expressed using other words in My Pedagogic Creed (1897) and Democracy and Education (1916); it is widely misattributed to Dewey as a quotation.
Cf. James William Norman, A Comparison of Tendencies in Secondary Education in England and the United States (New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1922), [//books.google.com/books?id=qrmgAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA140 p. 140] (emphasis added): "...there has for years been a strong and growing tendency in the United States under the leadership of Dewey, and more recently of Kilpatrick, to find an educational method correlative of democracy in society with the belief that education is life itself rather than a mere preparation for life, and that practice in democratic living is the best preparation for democracy."
Misattributed
Variant: Education is a social process; education is growth; education is not preparation for life but is life itself.
Malcolm X (1925–1965) American human rights activist
Speech at Founding Rally of the Organization of Afro-American Unity (28 June 1964), as quoted in By Any Means Necessary (1970)
By any means necessary: speeches, interviews, and a letter (1970)
Variant: The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.
Source: Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers' Power
Context: Education is an important element in the struggle for human rights. It is the means to help our children and our people rediscover their identity and thereby increase their self respect. Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs only to the people who prepare for it today.
“Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.”
Judy Garland (1922–1969) actress, singer and vaudevillian from the United States
As quoted in Business Etiquette for the Nineties : Your Ticket to Career Success (1992) by Lou Kennedy, p. 8
Variant: Always be a first rate version of yourself and not a second rate version of someone else.
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
Oscar Wilde Lady Windermere's Fan
Lord Darlington, Act III
Source: Lady Windermere's Fan (1892)
“There are no regrets in life, just lessons.”
Jennifer Aniston (1969) television and film actress from the United States
“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.”
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English playwright and poet
“Either you run the day, or the day runs you.”
Jim Rohn (1930–2009) American motivational speaker
Napoleon Hill book Think and Grow Rich
Variant: Do not wait: the time will never be 'just right'. Start where you stand, and work whatever tools you may have at your command and better tools will be found as you go along.
Source: Think and Grow Rich (1938), p. 127
Context: Do not wait; the time will never be "just right." Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.
“Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting!”
Dr. Seuss (1904–1991) American children's writer and illustrator, co-founder of Beginner Books
Variant: Today is your day, your mountain is waiting. So get on your way.
“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German writer, artist, and politician
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States
Ch. IX : Outdoors and Indoors, p. 336; the final statement "quoted by Squire Bill Widener" as well as variants of it, are often misattributed to Roosevelt himself.
Variant: Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
Attributed to Roosevelt in Conquering an Enemy Called Average (1996) by John L. Mason, Nugget # 8 : The Only Place to Start is Where You Are. <!-- The Military Quotation Book, Revised and Expanded: More than 1,200 of the Best Quotations About War, Leadership, Courage, Victory, and Defeat (2002) by James Charlton -->
Variant: Do what you can, with what you've got, where you are.
Context: There are many kinds of success in life worth having. It is exceedingly interesting and attractive to be a successful business man, or railroad man, or farmer, or a successful lawyer or doctor; or a writer, or a President, or a ranchman, or the colonel of a fighting regiment, or to kill grizzly bears and lions. But for unflagging interest and enjoyment, a household of children, if things go reasonably well, certainly makes all other forms of success and achievement lose their importance by comparison. It may be true that he travels farthest who travels alone; but the goal thus reached is not worth reaching. And as for a life deliberately devoted to pleasure as an end — why, the greatest happiness is the happiness that comes as a by-product of striving to do what must be done, even though sorrow is met in the doing. There is a bit of homely philosophy, quoted by Squire Bill Widener, of Widener's Valley, Virginia, which sums up one's duty in life: "Do what you can, with what you've got, where you are."
“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life”
Muhammad Ali (1942–2016) African American boxer, philanthropist and activist
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher
Laozi in the Tao Te Ching, Chapter 64
Misattributed, Chinese
“All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
“Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
Variant: Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education.
“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?”
Dr. Seuss (1904–1991) American children's writer and illustrator, co-founder of Beginner Books
“Creativity is intelligence having fun.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”
Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher
“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Variant: Never let your schooling interfere with your education.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Attributed to Winston Churchill in The Prodigal Project : Book I : Genesis (2003) by Ken Abraham and Daniel Hart, p. 224 and other places, though no source attribution is given. It actually derives from an advertising campaign for Budweiser beer in the late 1930s.
Misattributed
Variant: Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
Source: http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/09/03/success-final/
“The final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.”
Anne Frank (1929–1945) victim of the Holocaust and author of a diary
“You are what you believe yourself to be.”
Paulo Coelho book The Witch of Portobello
Source: The Witch of Portobello (2007), p. 152.
Context: You are what you believe yourself to be.
Don't be like those people who believe in "positive thinking" and tell themselves that they're loved and strong and capable. You don't need to do that because you know it already. And when you doubt it — which happens, I think, quite often at this stage of evolution — do as I suggested. Instead of trying to prove that you're better than you think, just laugh. Laugh at your worries and insecurities. View your anxieties with humor. It will be difficult at first, but you'll gradually get used to it. Now go back and meet all those people who think you know everything. Convince yourself that they're right, because we all know everything, it's merely a question of believing.
Believe.
“There are no have-to's, just choices”
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”
Anne Frank (1929–1945) victim of the Holocaust and author of a diary
Source: Anne Frank's Tales from the Secret Annex
“The best way to predict your future is to create it.”
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States
“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.”
Les Brown (1945) American politician
Variant: Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living out fears.
“Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you.”
Walt Whitman (1819–1892) American poet, essayist and journalist
This has become attributed to both Walt Whitman and Helen Keller, but has not been found in either of their published works, and variations of the quote are listed as a proverb commonly used in both the US and Canada in A Dictionary of American Proverbs (1992), edited by Wolfgang Mieder, Kelsie B. Harder and Stewart A. Kingsbury.
Misattributed
“Life is what you make it. Always has been, always will be.”
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States
“We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey”
Kenji Miyazawa (1896–1933) Japanese poet and author of children's literature
“Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.”
Bruce Lee (1940–1973) Hong Kong-American actor, martial artist, philosopher and filmmaker
“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.”
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States
As quoted in Art of Communicating Ideas (1952) by William Joseph Grace, p. 389
Disputed
“Learning is the only thing the mind never exhausts, never fears, and never regrets.”
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
“Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”
Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896) Abolitionist, author
“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.”
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer
“Though she be but little, she is fierce!”
William Shakespeare A Midsummer Night's Dream
Source: A Midsummer Night's Dream
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States
Often attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt without an original source in her writings, for example in the introduction to It Seems to Me : Selected Letters of Eleanor Roosevelt (2001) by Leonard C. Schlup and Donald W. Whisenhunt, p. 2 http://books.google.com/books?id=UeFWjTMcLZYC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA2#v=onepage&q&f=false. But archivists have not been able to find the quote in any of her writings, see the comment from Ralph Keyes in The Quote Verifier above. <br class="br">Disputed
“To do nothing is the way to be nothing.”
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864) American novelist and short story writer (1804 – 1879)
“Education is the key to unlocking the world, a passport to freedom.”
Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist
“A ship is safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for.”
William Greenough Thayer Shedd (1820–1894) American theologian
Attributed without citation in Gary Ninneman, C.I.A.: Church in Atrophy (Xulon Press, 2006), p. 167. This is possibly a confusion with John Augustus Shedd.
“The question is—what is the question?”
John Archibald Wheeler (1911–2008) American physicist
Leonard Susskind, The Black Hole War (2008), chapter 13
Tom Watson (1874–1956) American businessman
Attributed to Watson in: William G. Dickerson (1995) In search of the ultimate practice. p. 19.
“Worry is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere”
Erma Bombeck (1927–1996) When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent le…
“To accomplish great things we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.”
Anatole France (1844–1924) French writer
Variant: To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act.
Source: Discours de réception, Séance De L'académie Française (introductory speech at a session of the French Academy), 24th December 1896, on Ferdinand de Lesseps' work on the Suez Canal.
Context: To accomplish great things we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.
“When you know better… You do better.”
Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist
“We can do no great things; only small things with great love.(mother Teresa)”
Robert Fulghum book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
Source: All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
“To know and not to do is really not to know.”
Stephen R. Covey (1932–2012) American educator, author, businessman and motivational speaker
“The best protection any woman can have… is courage.”
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902) Suffragist and Women's Rights activist
“The brave may not live forever – But the cautious do not live at all”
Richard Branson (1950) English business magnate, investor and philanthropist
Source: Like a Virgin: Secrets They Won't Teach You at Business School
“There is only one success … to be able to spend your life in your own way.”
Christopher Morley Where the Blue Begins
Where the Blue Begins (1922)
“You see persons and things not as they are but as you are.”
Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer
“As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.”
Bill Gates (1955) American business magnate and philanthropist
“If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, then they can sure make something out of you.”
Muhammad Ali (1942–2016) African American boxer, philanthropist and activist
Variant: Go to College,
Stay in school,
If they can make penicillin out of mouldy bread,
they can sure make something out of you.
“You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
An abbreviated version of a quote by California politician Dianne Feinstein, from an interview with Cosmopolitan magazine in October 1985 https://books.google.com/books?id=zmxNAQAAIAAJ&dq=You+have+to+learn+the+rules+of+the+game+and+then+you+have+to+play+better+than+anyone+else&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22rules+of+the+game%22, on the topic of women running for public office. The original was: "... I really do have staying power. That's important for women who run for office. When you get in there and push for a lot of new things all at once and don't get them, you don't just leave. You have to commit, be a team player, learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play it better than anyone else." <br class="br">Misattributed
“That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.”
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States
“If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.”
Bear Grylls book Mud, Sweat, and Tears
Source: Mud, Sweat, and Tears: The Autobiography
“The important thing is not to stop questioning.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
Old Man's Advice to Youth: "Never Lose a Holy Curiosity," http://books.google.com/books?id=dlYEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&dq=Life%2C%202%20May%201955&pg=PA61#v=onepage&q=Life,%202%20May%201955&f=false LIFE magazine (2 May 1955) statement to William Miller, p. 64. <br class="br">1950s <br class="br">Context: The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery each day. Never lose a holy curiosity. … Don't stop to marvel.
“How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”
A.A. Milne (1882–1956) British author
Source: The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh
“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”
Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890) Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890)
In his letter to Theo, from The Hague, 22 October 1882, http://www.webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/11/237.htm <br class="br">1880s, 1882
Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American motivational speaker
As quoted in Secrets of Superstar Speakers: Wisdom from the Greatest Motivators of Our Time (2000) by Lilly Walters, p. 96
Variant: What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.
“A wise man will make more opportunities, than he finds.”
Francis Bacon book Essays
Of Ceremonies and Respect
Essays (1625)
Variant: Wise men make more opportunities than they find.
Source: The Essays
Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American writer and lecturer
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
No published occurrence of such an attribution has yet been located prior to one in Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre — Band 3 http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2411/pg2411.html by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe <br class="br">Disputed <br class="br">Variant: Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.
“The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister
Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) French-German physician, theologian, musician and philosopher
Variant: Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.
“Well-behaved women seldom make history.”
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (1938) American historian
Source: Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History
“You are stronger than you seem,
Braver than you believe,
and smarter than you think you are.”
A.A. Milne book Winnie-the-Pooh
Variant: You are braver than you believe,
Stronger than you seem,
And smarter than you think(:
Source: Winnie-the-Pooh
“Become such as you are, having learned what that is”
Pindar (-517–-437 BC) Ancient Greek poet
Pythian 2, line 72.
Variant translations:
Be what you know you are
Be true to thyself now that thou hast learnt what manner of man thou art
Having learned, become who you are
“The world is more malleable than you think and it's waiting for you to hammer it into shape.”
Bono (1960) Irish rock musician, singer of U2
PENN Address (2004)
“To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.”
Fred Shero (1925–1990) Former ice hockey player and coach
Glenn
Liebman
Hockey Shorts: 1,001 of the games funniest one liners
1996
70, 113 & 229
Contemporary Books
0-8092-3351-7
Michael Dell (1965) Businessman, CEO
Commencement address to University of Texas at Austin in 2003 http://www.graduationwisdom.com/speeches/0048-dell.htm.
Steve Maraboli (1975)
Source: Life, the Truth, and Being Free (2010), p. 73
“The important thing is to be nothing.”
Bram van Velde (1895–1981) Dutch painter
1960's, Conversations with Samuel Beckett and Bram van Velde' (1965 - 1969)
“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.”
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English playwright and poet
Not by Shakespeare, but from Finding Your Strength in Difficult Times: A Book of Meditations, a 1993 self-help book by David S. Viscott.
Misattributed
Source: http://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/06/16/purpose-gift/
Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux (1778–1868) English barrister, politician, and Lord Chancellor of Great Britain
Speech to the House of Commons (January 29, 1828).
“There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing and be nothing.”
Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy
Misattributed <br class="br">Source: Elbert Hubbard, Little Journeys to the Homes of American Statesmen (1898), p. 370 http://hdl.handle.net/2027/osu.32435065322687?urlappend=%3Bseq=458: "If you would escape moral and physical assassination, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing—court obscurity, for only in oblivion does safety lie." Other versions of the saying were repeated in several of Hubbard's later writings.
“These are images of what love is about.”
Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer
"How Happiness Happpens", p. 61
Awareness (1992)
Context: Is it possible for the rose to say, "I will give my fragrance to the good people who smell me, but I will withhold it from the bad?" Or is it possible for the lamp to say, "I will give my light to the good people in this room, but I will withhold it from the evil people"? Or can a tree say, "I'll give my shade to the good people who rest under me, but I will withhold it from the bad"? These are images of what love is about.
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. ”
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States