Convocation Quotes

Obviously, it's a great privilege and pleasure to be here at the Yale Law School Sesquicentennial Convocation. And I defy anyone to say that and chew gum at the same time.

Knowledge is invariably a matter of degree: you cannot put your finger upon even the simplest datum and say this we know.

Time is not measured by the passing of years but by what one does, what one feels, and what one achieves.

At commencement you wear your square-shaped mortarboards.My hope is that from time to time you will let your minds be bold, and wear sombreros.

I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which, was that you can fail at what you don't want so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love

You might as well take a chance on doing what you love.

So many of us choose our path out of fear disguised as practicality.

Graduation is not the end; it's the beginning.

Harry taught me that death isn't the end, it's the beginning.

Openness isn't the end. It's the beginning.

The fireworks begin today. Each diploma is a lighted match. Each one of you is a fuse.

Nothing worth knowing can be taught.

It takes most men five years to recover from a college education, and to learn that poetry is as vital to thinking as knowledge.

A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.

Think of it as your ticket to change the world.

The most rewarding things you do in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done.

There is a good reason they call these ceremonies 'commencement exercises'. Graduation is not the end; it's the beginning.

Don't live down to expectations. Go out there and do something remarkable.

A graduation ceremony is an event where the commencement speaker tells thousands of students dressed in identical caps and gowns that 'individuality' is the key to success.

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who'll decide where to go.

You are the guy who'll decide where to go.

What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God.

So here you are, in your twenties, thinking that you'll have another 40 years to go. Four decades in which to live long and prosper.Bad news. Read the papers. There are people dropping dead when they're 50, 40, 30 years old. Or quite possibly just after finishing their convocation. They would be very disappointed that they didn't meet their life expectancy.I'm here to tell you this. Forget about your life expectancy.

Choose a career you love and you will never have to go to work.

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.

If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.

There are obviously two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live.

The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.

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.

All successful people, men and women, are big dreamers. They imagine what their future could be, ideal in every respect, and then they work every day toward their distant vision, that goal or purpose.

You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.

Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.

A protest meeting on the issue of environmental abuse is not a convocation of accusers, it is a convocation of the guilty. The realization ought to clear the smog of self-righteousness that has always conventionally hovered over these occasions, and let us see the work that is to be done.

Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.

Wherever you go, go with all your heart.

Always be a first-rate version of yourself.

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined...

All your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them.

Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.