There might be a lot of times when you need to say goodbye to the years behind you. But there’s only one occasion when you get to do it at a usually young age. Inspirational graduation quotes are necessary to leave a mark in your goodbye speech, thank you notes, or social media posts celebrating your learning journey.
While writing a graduation speech, you may want to share the wisdom about life that you or those before you acquired. If you’re going with a less flashy approach and opt to write a social media post, this list will help you decide what to write about. Or if you have anyone close to you taking this big new step, you might need graduation wishes to let the world know how proud of them you are.
With no further ado, throw your cap into the air and dive into this list of sweet and short expressions embracing new beginnings. And with the help of inspirational quotes for graduation, set the bar high for the future generations to come!
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"What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us." — Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Your imagination is your preview of life's coming attractions." — Albert Einstein
"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind." — Dr. Seuss
"He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life." — Muhammad Ali
"Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education." — Martin Luther King Jr.
"You can never be the best. The only thing you can be the best at is developing yourself." — Natalie Portman
"It is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate." — George Burns
"I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." — Michael Jordan
"The meaning of life is to find your gift, the purpose of life is to give it away." — Joy J. Golliver
"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." — Eleanor Roosevelt
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." — Sun Tzu
Sun Tzu didn't say that. Laozi #64, 千里之行始於足下 a journey of a thousand miles starts under your feet.
"There may be people that have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do." — Derek Jeter
"In response to those who say to stop dreaming and face reality, I say keep dreaming and make reality." — Kristian Kan
"Cynicism has never won a war, or cured a disease, or started a business, or fed a young mind, or sent men into space. Cynicism is a choice. Hope is a better choice." — Barack Obama
"No job or task is too small or beneath you. If you want to get ahead, volunteer to do the things no one else wants to do, and do it better." — Bobbi Brown
"Real courage is holding on to a still voice in your head that says, ‘I must keep going.’ It’s 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
"It’s your turn to choose and define what success means to you. Now, others will try to define it for you, but yours is the only voice that matters." — Octavia Spencer
"I am here to tell you that whatever you think your dream is now, it will probably change. And that's okay." — Conan O'Brien
“There are few things more liberating in this life than having your worst fear realized.” — Conan O’Brien
“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.” — Henry Ford
“Fortune does favor the bold, and I promise that you will never know what you’re capable of unless you try.“ — Sheryl Sandberg
“The most important thing in life is to stop saying 'I wish' and start saying 'I will'“ — Charles Dickens
“The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking spaces.“ — Will Rogers
“The man who graduates today and stops learning tomorrow is uneducated the day after.“ — Newton D. Baker
This statement was made long before its recorded credits by an anonymous author and original words were "An educated man who stops learning tomorrow is an uneducated fool." I spent many hours reading these words which was written on a card that was pasted over my guidance counselor desk.
"There will be times when your best isn’t your good enough. There can be many reasons for this, but as long as you give your best you’ll be OK." — Robert De Niro
"You can’t climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets." — Arnold Schwarzenegger
"You have to dance a little bit before you step out into the world each day, because it changes the way you walk." — Sandra Bullock
Nice! My walk is with pronounced hip action, which helps work out a bit of the tightness in my lower back.
"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
"You and you alone are the only person who can live the life that writes the story that you were meant to tell." — Kerry Washington
“You are educated. Your certification is in your degree. You may think of it as the ticket to the good life. Let me ask you to think of an alternative. Think of it as your ticket to change the world.” — Tom Brokaw
"That clock you hear is the sound of your own heart. Sink your teeth into this life, and don’t get let go." — Lin-Manuel Miranda
"It's amazing what you can get if you quietly, clearly and authoritatively demand it." — Meryl Streep
"You cannot dream of becoming something you do not know about. You have to learn to dream big. Education exposes you to what the world has to offer, to the possibilities open to you." — Sonia Sotomayor
"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are." — E. E. Cummings
"Now 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 don’t have to be famous. You just have to make your mother and father proud of you, and you already have." — Meryl Streep
"You will stumble and fall, you will experience both disaster and triumph, sometimes in the same day. But it's really important to remember that like a hangover, neither triumphs nor disasters last forever." — Helen Mirren
"There is no passion to be found in playing small — in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living." — Nelson Mandela
"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." — Henry David Thoreau
"The horizon leans forward, offering you space to place new steps of change." — Maya Angelou
"There is nothing more beautiful than finding your course as you believe you bob aimlessly in the current. Wouldn’t you know that your path was there all along, waiting for you to knock, waiting for you to 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
"You don’t go to university so you can punch a clock. You go to university so you can be in a position to make a difference." — Janet Napolitano
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” — Mark Twain
I went traveling as often and as far as I was able. Now that my circumstances are more circumscribed, I’m so pleased that I chose that route.
“Graduation day is tough for adults. They go to the ceremony as parents. They come home as contemporaries. After 22 years of child-raising, they are unemployed.” — Erma Bombeck
“Now that you’ve graduated, just remember: Bosses don’t usually accept notes from your mother.” — Melanie White
“Love what you do. Get good at it. Competence is a rare commodity in this day and age.“ — Jon Stewart
“Commencement speeches were invented largely in the belief that outgoing college students should never be released into the world until they have been properly sedated.” — Garry Trudeau
“I didn’t go to college, but if I did, I would’ve taken all my tests at a restaurant, ‘cause the customer is always right.” — Mitch Hedberg
"You can’t do it alone. Be open to collaboration. Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you. Spend a lot of time with them and it will change your life." — Amy Poehler
"When we show up, act boldly, and practice the best ways to be wrong, we fail forward. No matter where we end up, we’ve grown from where we began." — Stacey Abrams
"No matter what happens in life, be good to people. Being good to people is a wonderful legacy to leave behind." — Taylor Swift
"Fight for what makes you optimistic about the world. Find it, insist on it, dig into it, go after it." — Jennifer Garner
"You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. You have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future." — Steve Jobs
"If I must give any of you advice it would be say yes. Say yes, and create your own destiny." — Maya Rudolph
"I've learned it's important not to limit yourself. You can do whatever you really love to do, no matter what it is." — Ryan Gosling
"The best remedy for those who are frightened, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be alone with the sky, nature, and God. For only then can you feel that everything is as it should be and that God wants people to be happy amid nature’s beauty and simplicity." — Anne Frank
"Your inexperience is an asset in that it will make you think in original, unconventional ways. Accept your lack of knowledge and use it as your asset." — Natalie Portman
"Take your risks now. As you grow older, you become more fearful and less flexible … Try to keep your mind open to possibilities and your mouth closed on matters that you don't know about. Limit your 'always' and your 'nevers.' Continue to share your heart with people even if it’s been broken." — Amy Poehler
"I can’t think of any better representation of beauty than someone who is unafraid to be herself." — Emma Stone
"I celebrate you as you remember the power of grace and pride, and I challenge you to choose freedom over fear." — Janelle Monáe
"Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have you, you will never, ever have enough." — Oprah
"It is often easier to make progress on mega-ambitious dreams. I know that sounds completely nuts. But, since no one else is crazy enough to do it, you have little competition. There are so few people this crazy that I feel like I know them all by first name. They all travel as if they are pack dogs and stick to each other like glue. The best people want to work the big challenges." — Larry Page
"Some life lessons don’t ever change. They need to be highlighted and they need to be remembered throughout our entire lives. But how you embrace them will distinguish you from the pack." — Brooke Shields
"Be the hardest working person you know. Because if you’re not, someone else will be." — Ian Brennan
"Frustration, although quite painful at times, is a very positive and essential part of success." — Bo Bennett
"When people tell you not to believe in your dreams, and they say 'Why?' say 'Why not?'" — Billie Jean King
"As you graduate, as you deal with your excitement and your doubts today, I urge you to try and create the world you want to live in. Minister to the world in a way that can change it. Minister radically in a real, active, practical, get your hands dirty way." — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
"Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today." — Malcolm X
"Dreams are lovely. But they are just dreams. Fleeting, ephemeral, pretty. But dreams do not come true just because you dream them. It's hard work that makes things happen. It's hard work that creates change." — Shonda Rhimes
"I’m a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it." — Thomas Jefferson
"Don’t 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
"Nobody else is paying as much attention to your failures as you are... to everyone else, it’s just a blip on the radar screen, so just move on." — Jerry Zucker
"Your life is your adventure. And the adventure ahead of you is journey to fulfill your own purpose and potential." — Kerry Washington
“Don’t ever confuse the two, your life and your work. The second is only part of the first.” — Anna Quindlen
“Opportunity does not knock, it presents itself when you beat down the door.” — Kyle Chandler
“If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in the dark with a mosquito.” — Betty Reese
“Graduation is only a concept. In real life every day you graduate. Graduation is a process that goes on until the last day of your life. If you can grasp that, you’ll make a difference.” — Arie Pencovici
“Let us never be betrayed into saying we have finished our education; because that would mean we had stopped growing.” — Julia H. Gulliver
“As you set off into the world, don’t be afraid to question your leaders. But don’t ask too many questions at one time or that are too hard because your leaders get tired and/or cranky.” — Will Ferrell
“If you feel that you have both feet planted on level ground, then the university has failed you.”- Robert Goheen
"Understand that one day you will have the power to make a difference, so use it well." — Mindy Kaling
"I'm continually trying to make choices that put me out of my own comfort zone. As long as you're uncomfortable it means you're growing." — Ashton Kutcher
"You must have some vision for your life. Even if you don't know the plan, you have to have a direction in which you choose to go." — Oprah
"Ignore the naysayers. Really the only option is: head down and focus on the job." — Chris Pine
"Remember this: You are awesome. I’m not suggesting you be boastful. No one likes that in men or women. But I am suggesting that believing in yourself is the first necessary step to coming even close to achieving your potential." — Sheryl Sandberg
"When you respect the idea that you are sharing the Earth with other humans, and when you lead with your nice foot forward, you’ll win, every time. It might not be today, it might not be tomorrow, but it comes back to you when you need it." — Kristen Bell
"It's the choice. You have to wake up every day and say 'There's no reason today can't be the best day of my life.'" — Blake Lively
"You could travel with the sheep, follow everybody else’s stuff, but then you’re not you. I guess if I want to say anything it’s ‘Be you.’ Be true to you, and that should make the ride a little more interesting." — Whoopi Goldberg
"It 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
"My favorite animal is the turtle. The reason is that in order for the turtle to move, it has to stick its neck out. There are going to be times in your life when you’re going to have to stick your neck out. There will be challenges, and instead of hiding in a shell, you have to go out and meet them." — Ruth Westheimer
"When someone who loves you hugs you, hug them back with two arms—don’t do the one-arm hug, because when you hug someone with two arms, it allows you to lean on somebody, and we all need someone to lean on." — Sandra Bullock
"Now 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 O’Connor
"Don't just get involved. Fight for your seat at the table. Better yet, fight for a seat at the head of the table." — Barack Obama
"Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there." — Will Rogers
"If we’d all stuck with our first dream, the world would be overrun with cowboys and princesses. So whatever your dream is right now, if you don’t achieve it you haven’t failed and you’re not some loser." — Stephen Colbert
"I encourage you to live with life. Be courageous, adventurous. Give us a tomorrow, more than we deserve." — Maya Angelou
"In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love." — Mother Teresa
“Instruction ends in the schoolroom, but education ends only with life.” — Frederick W. Robertson
"If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way." — James Freeman Clarke
