100+ Inspirational Graduation Quotes to Motivate Your Next Chapter

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

- Sun Tzu

"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

"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

"An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest."

- Benjamin Franklin

"The best way to guarantee a loss is to quit."

- Morgan Freeman

"If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly."

- Langston Hughes

"We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort."

- Jesse Owens

"He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life."

- Muhammad Ali

"My dear terrified graduates, you are about to enter the most uncertain and thrilling period of your lives."

- Lin Manuel Miranda

"Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong."

- Ella Fitzgerald

"It's okay to fail; it's not okay to quit."

- Christopher Paul Gardner

"Don't sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them."

- Madam C.J. Walker

"You have to be able to accept failure to get better."

- LeBron James

"Successful people don't have fewer problems. They have determined that nothing will stop them from going forward."

- Benjamin Carson

"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world."

- Harriet Tubman

"You learn more in failure than you ever do in success."

- Jay-Z

"If there is no struggle, there is no progress."

- Frederick Douglass

"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure."

- Colin Powell

"If you fall behind, run faster. Never give up, never surrender, and rise up against the odds."

- Jesse Jackson

"So, I say to you, forget about the fast lane. If you really want to fly, just harness your power to your passion. Honor your calling. Everybody has one. Trust your heart and success will come to you."

- Oprah Winfrey

"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."

- Jim Carrey

"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure."

- Colin Powell

"All that stands between the graduate and the top of the ladder is the ladder."

- Patricia Akins

"Believe you can and you're halfway there."

- Theodore Roosevelt

"Nothing is impossible. The word itself says, 'I'm possible!'"

- Audrey Hepburn

"Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."

- Norman Vincent Peale

"Graduation is not the end; it’s the beginning."

- Senator Orrin Hatch

"Kid, you’ll move mountains."

- Dr. Seuss

"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

"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

"Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life."

- Steve Jobs

"If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it."

- William Arthur Ward

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose."

- Dr. Seuss

"Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game."

- Babe Ruth

"Nothing is impossible. The word itself says ‘I’m possible!’"

- Audrey Hepburn

"Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today."

- Malcolm X

"It is not where you start but how high you aim that matters for success."

- Nelson Mandela

"Education is the key to unlocking the world, a passport to freedom."

- Oprah Winfrey

"Am I good enough? Yes, I am."

- Michelle Obama

"The only impossible journey is the one you never begin."

- Anthony Robbins

"Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today."

- Malcolm X

"Congratulations! Today is your day. You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and away!"

- Dr. Seuss

"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

"Believe you can and you’re halfway there."

- Theodore Roosevelt

"Persistence is the most powerful force on earth, it can move mountains."

- Albert Einstein

"A bright future beckons. The onus is on us, through hard work, honesty and integrity, to reach for the stars."

- Nelson Mandela

"Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself."

- John Dewey

"Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible!’"

- Audrey Hepburn

"The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you."

- BB 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

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined."

- Henry David Thoreau

"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

"The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do."

- Steve Jobs

"I never dreamed about success. I worked for it."

- Estée Lauder

"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

"Let us make our future now, and let us make our dreams tomorrow’s reality."

- Malala Yousafzai

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm."

- Winston Churchill

"You’re off to great places. Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So ... get on your way."

- Dr. Seuss

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind."

- C.S. Lewis

"It always seems impossible until it’s done."

- Nelson Mandela

"Don't be afraid. Be focused. Be determined. Be hopeful. Be empowered."

- Michelle Obama

"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

"Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars."

- Norman Vincent Peale

"You don’t become what you want, you become what you believe."

- Oprah Winfrey

"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

"I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

- Michael Jordan

"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."

- A.A. Milne

"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

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go..."

- Dr. Seuss

"The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible."

- Arthur C. Clarke

"It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great."

- Jimmy Dugan

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

- Lao Tzu

"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope and confidence."

- Helen Keller

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school."

- Albert Einstein

"I look to the future because that is where I’m going to spend the rest of my life."

- George Burns

"You’re only given a little spark of madness, you mustn’t lose it."

- Robin Williams

"You can’t be that kid standing at the top of the water slide overthinking it. You have to go down the chute."

- Tina Fey

"All dreams are within reach. All you have to do is keep moving towards them."

- Viola Davis

"That’s a great motto for all of us — find somebody to be successful for. Raise their hopes. Rise to their needs."

- Barack Obama

"Look back on the journey that brought you here. What moments challenged you most? When were you asked to step outside of your familiar territory in order to rise to the occasion of your potential? I want you to remember those moments because they will embolden you."

- Kerry Washington

"You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation."

- Brigham Young

"You’ll be on your way up! You’ll be seeing great sights! You’ll join the high fliers who soar to high heights."

- Dr. Seuss

"Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a better person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You."

- Dr. Seuss

"A great accomplishment shouldn’t be the end of the road, just the starting point for the next leap forward."

- Harvey Mackay

"If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."

- Henry David Thoreau

"It is you, the young and fearless at heart, the most diverse and educated generation in our history, who the nation is waiting to follow."

- Barack Obama

"Why fit in when you were born to stand out?"

- Dr. Seuss

"Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in."

- Bill Bradley

"All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them."

- Walt Disney

"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

"I celebrate you as you remember the power of grace and pride, and I challenge you to choose freedom over fear."

- Janelle Monáe

"There will be times when your best isn’t good enough. There can be many reasons for this, but as long as you give your best you’ll be OK."

- Robert de Niro

"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

"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

"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

"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

"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

"Keep your face toward the sunshine and shadows will always fall behind you."

- Walt Whitman

"The desire to reach the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise and most possible."

- Maya Angelou

"Your self worth is determined by you. You don’t have to depend on someone telling you who you are."

- Beyoncé

"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

"If you focus on what you left behind, you will never be able to see what lies ahead."

- Ratatouille

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

- Anatole France

"If you own this story you get to write the ending."

- Brené Brown

"Your talent determines what you can do. Your motivation determines how much you are willing to do. Your attitude determines how well you do it."

- Lou Holtz

"Life loves to be taken by the lapel and be told, ‘I am with you kid. Let’s go!’"

- Maya Angelou

"Set your course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship."

- Omar Bradley

"You change the world by being yourself."

- Yoko Ono

"Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground."

- Theodore Roosevelt

"You get whatever accomplishment you are willing to declare."

- Georgia O'Keeffe

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

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

- Mahatma Gandhi

"Success is getting what you want, happiness is wanting what you get."

- Ingrid Bergman

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."

- Helen Keller

"When you have a dream, you’ve got to grab it and never let go."

- Carol Burnett

"You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us. And the world will live as one."

- John Lennon

"A #2 pencil and a dream can take you anywhere."

- Joyce Meyer

"Passion first and everything will fall into place."

- Holly Holm

"The beginning is always today."

- Mary Shelley

"Celebrate endings — for they precede new beginnings."

- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

"The harder the battle, the sweeter the victory."

- Les Brown

"A star is a rock that never gave up on its dream to rise."

- Matshona Dhliwayo

"Success is loving life and daring to live it."

- Maya Angelou

"Through discipline comes freedom."

- Aristotle

"Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out."

- Robert Collier

"What could we accomplish if we knew we could not fail?"

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great."

- John D. Rockefeller

"Be so good they can’t ignore you."

- Steve Martin

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone."

- Neale Donald Walsch

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."

- Mark Twain

"Success is not the absence of failure; it’s the persistence through failure."

- Aisha Tyler

"Accept no one’s definition of your life. Define yourself."

- Harvey Fierstein

"Today’s accomplishments were yesterday’s impossibilities."

- Robert H. Schuller

"Your education has prepared you for what lies ahead."

- Conan O'Brien

"What we learn with pleasure we never forget."

- Alfred Mercier

"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."

- Oliver Goldsmith

"Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving."

- Albert Einstein

"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful."

- Albert Pujols

"Dreams can become a reality when we possess a vision, a plan, and the courage to chase after it relentlessly."

- Walt Disney

"The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you're not going to stay where you are."

- J.P. Morgan

"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today."

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

"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

"Be the hardest working person you know. Because if you’re not, someone else will be."

- Ian Brennan

"Every person you meet knows something you don’t; learn from them."

- H. Jackson Brown Jr.

"Take pride in how far you’ve come. Have faith in how far you can go. But don’t forget to enjoy the journey."

- Michael Josephson

"Go make your big beautiful dent, and as you do so come down on the side of boldness. If you err, may it be for too much audacity, and not too little. For you really are enough. You have untold strengths and resources inside. You have your glorious self."

- Sue Monk Kidd

"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young."

- Henry Ford

"You are about to start the greatest improvisation of all. With no script. No idea what's going to happen, often with people and places you have never seen before. And you are not in control. So say 'yes.' And if you're lucky, you'll find people who will say 'yes' back."

- Stephen Colbert

"I look to the future because that is where I'm going to spend the rest of my life."

- George Burns

"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

"Success is not about wealth or fame, but about inner happiness and fulfillment."

- Margot Robbie

"Life is my college. May I graduate well, and earn some honors!"

- Louisa May Alcott

"A great accomplishment shouldn't be the end of the road, just the starting point for the next leap forward."

- Harvey Mackay

"A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new."

- Albert Einstein

"Nobody likes to fail, but failure is an essential part of life and of learning. If your uniform isn’t dirty, you haven’t been in the game."

- Ben Bernanke

"If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. If you don’t step forward, you’re always in the same place."

- Nora Roberts

"Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one."

- Malcolm S. Forbes

"Things turn out best for people who make the best out of the way things turn out."

- Art Linkletter

"By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest."

- Confucius

"When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us."

- Alexander Graham Bell

"Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny."

- Lao Tzu

"It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old; they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams."

- Gabriel García Márquez

"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

"Be willing to embrace wonder, to experience unexpected discovery, and to go in unknown directions. Never become so enamored of your own smarts that you stop signing up for life’s hard classes."

- Melissa Harris-Perry

"Let us never be betrayed into saying we have finished our education; because that would mean we had stopped growing."

- Julia H. Gulliver

"A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him."

- David Brinkley

"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

"If I must give any of you advice it would be say yes. Say yes, and create your own destiny."

- Maya Rudolph

"Sometimes you find out what you are supposed to be doing by doing the things you are not supposed to do."

- Oprah Winfrey

"Carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary."

- Dead Poets Society

"You must always have faith in people. And, most importantly, you must always have faith in yourself."

- Legally Blonde

"Don’t let anyone ever make you feel like you don’t deserve what you want. Go for it."

- 10 Things I Hate About You

"It’s fine to live in the now. But the best thing about now is that there’s another one tomorrow. I’m gonna start makin’ them count."

- The Spectacular Now

"It is not our abilities that show what we truly are. It is our choices."

- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

"Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance."

- Samuel Johnson

"Frustration, although quite painful at times, is a very positive and essential part of success."

- Bo Bennett

"You can never be the best. The only thing you can be the best at is developing yourself."

- Natalie Portman

"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

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"When people tell you not to believe in your dreams, and they say 'Why?' say 'Why not?'"

- Billie Jean King

"There is no such thing as failure. Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction."

- Oprah Winfrey

"I’m a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it."

- Thomas Jefferson

"Sometimes the problem feels so big that changing one life doesn’t feel like enough. But it is."

- America Ferrera

"Heroes are ordinary people who make themselves extraordinary."

- Gerard Way

"Every day is a new opportunity to change your life and be who you want to be."

- Demi Lovato

"Don’t ever doubt yourselves or waste a second of your life. It’s too short and you’re too special."

- Ariana Grande

"Success is only meaningful and enjoyable if it feels like your own."

- Michelle Obama

"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are."

- E.E. Cummings

"I can’t think of any better representation of beauty than someone who is unafraid to be herself."

- Emma Stone

"In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love."

- Mother Teresa

"So often in life things that you regard as an impediment turn out to be great good fortune."

- Ruth Bader Ginsburg

"There are no regrets in life. Just lessons."

- Jennifer Aniston

"Change takes courage."

- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

"You're never a loser until you quit trying."

- Mike Ditka

"It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up."

- Babe Ruth

"Stay hungry. Stay foolish."

- Steven Jobs

"You get in life what you have the courage to ask for."

- Oprah Winfrey

"To give any less than your best is to sacrifice a gift."

- Steve Prefontaine

"This above all: To thine own self be true."

- William Shakespeare

"Do. Or do not. There is no try."

- Yoda

"Be bold, be courageous, be your best."

- Gabrielle Giffords

"It is absolutely still possible to make a difference."

- Michelle Obama

"Be persistent and never give up hope."

- George Lucas

"All the people who knock me down, only inspire me to do better."

- Selena Gomez

"Be humble, hungry, and always be the hardest worker in the room."

- Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

"Don't be afraid of failure. This is the way to succeed."

- LeBron James

"Life's a climb. But the view is great."

- Miley Cyrus

"It is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate."

- George Burns

"All of our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them."

- Walt Disney

"Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can."

- Arthur Ashe

"Nothing is impossible. The word itself says 'I'm possible.'"

- Audrey Hepburn

"A champion is someone who gets up when he can't."

- Jack Dempsey

"Don’t you ever let a soul in the world tell you that you can’t be exactly who you are."

- Lady Gaga

"Keep your eyes on the finish line and not on the turmoil around you."

- Rihanna

"Success is falling nine times and getting up ten."

- Jon Bon Jovi

"Thankfully, perseverance is a great substitute for talent."

- Steve Martin

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."

- Dr. Seuss

"Dream big and dare to fail."

- Norman Vaughan

"Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great."

- John D. Rockefeller

"The future depends on what you do today."

- Mahatma Gandhi

"Your life is your story, and the adventure ahead of you is the journey to fulfill your own purpose and potential."

- Kerry Washington

"Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be."

- Grandma Moses

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

- Edward Koch

"The only thing you can do in this life is pursue your passions, celebrate your bloopers and never stop following your fear."

- Grace Helbig

"We are all deserving and we don’t need permission or an invitation to exist and to step into our power."

- Ilhan Omar

"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

"In order to be the best version of yourself, you have to dedicate time, effort, and support to other people who need it."

- Laurence Fishburne

"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

"Like what you do, and then you will do your best."

- Katherine Johnson

"If you look at how long the Earth has been here, we're living in the blink of an eye. So, whatever it is you want to do, you go out and do it."

- Jamie Foxx

"Never dull your shine for somebody else."

- Tyra Banks

"You can fool people. You can fool anybody any time of the day, but you can't fool yourself. At night, when you go home, you've got to be straight up with you."

- Whitney Houston

"If everything was perfect, you would never learn and you would never grow."

- Beyoncé

"Life has no remote…get up and change it yourself."

- Mark A. Cooper

"Get up. Stand up. Speak up. Do something."

- Tamara Burke

"If your dream is only about you, it's too small."

- Ava DuVernay

"Now I think it’s one of the most useless questions an adult can ask a child—What do you want to be when you grow up? As if growing up is finite. As if at some point you become something and that’s the end."

- Michelle Obama

"If you can't figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For your passion will lead you right into your purpose."

- Bishop T.D. Jakes

"You can and should set your own limits and clearly articulate them. This takes courage, but it is also liberating and empowering, and often earns you new respect."

- Rosalind Brewer

"I know that in life there will be sickness, devastation, disappointments, heartache - it's a given. What's not a given is the way you choose to get through it all. If you look hard enough, you can always find the bright side."

- Rashida Jones

"If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one."

- Dolly Parton

"Opportunity dances with those who are already on the dance floor."

- H. Jackson Browne Jr.

"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."

- Jodie Foster

"Fight for what makes you optimistic about the world. Find it, insist on it, dig into it, go after it."

- Jennifer Garner

"Just remember, you can’t climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets."

- Arnold Schwarzenegger

"Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it."

- Charles Swindoll

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

"There’s just no telling how far I’ll go."

- Moana

"No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else."

- The Greatest Showman

"Do not let making a living prevent you from making a life."

- John Wooden

"Intelligence without ambition is like a bird without wings."

- Dali

"You can never be overdressed or overeducated."

- Oscar Wilde

"Never limit yourself because of other’s limited imagination; never limit others because of your own limited imagination."

- Mae Jemison

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."

- Robert F. Kennedy

"Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try it."

- John F. Kennedy

"Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor."

- Truman Capote

"Don’t wait. The time will never be just right."

- Napoleon Hill

"Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail."

- Charles Kettering

"We know what we are, but know not what we may be."

- Shakespeare

"Go forth and set the world on fire."

- St. Ignatius of Loyola

"I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work."

- Thomas Edison

"The elevator to success is out of order. You’ll have to use the stairs . . . one step at a time."

- Joe Girard

"We have a powerful potential in out youth, and we must have the courage to change old ideas and practices so that we may direct their power toward good ends."

- Mary McLeod Bethune

"Wherever you go, go with all your heart."

- Confucius

"If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door."

- Milton Berle

"Nothing can dim the light that shines from within."

- Maya Angelou

"Learning is the only thing the mind never exhausts, never fears, and never regrets."

- Leonardo da Vinci

"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment."

- Jim Rohn

"Keep in mind that neither success nor failure is ever final."

- Roger Babson

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

- Judy Garland

"She believed she could, so she did."

- R. S. Grey

"There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish."

- Michelle Obama

"I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do."

- Leonardo da Vinci

"Nothing will work unless you do."

- Maya Angelou

"If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, then make that change."

- Michael Jackson

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."

- Barack Obama

"You have to believe in yourself when no one else does."

- Serena Williams

"Everything negative - pressure, challenges - is all an opportunity for me to rise."

- Kobe Bryant

"Be the best of whatever you are."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Believe in yourself and have confidence that you can compete against all odds. Have a vision of what you'd like to accomplish and be able to articulate that vision."

- Robert Johnson

"You can't just sit there and wait for people to give you that golden dream. You've got to get out there and make it happen for yourself."

- Diana Ross

"Knowledge is not power. The implementation of knowledge is power."

- Larry Winget

"All kids need is a little help, a little hope and somebody who believes in them."

- Magic Johnson

"Age is no barrier. It's a limitation you put on your mind."

- Jackie Joyner-Kersee

"Within our dreams and aspirations, we find our opportunities."

- Sugar Ray Leonard

"The road to success is always under construction."

- Lily Tomlin

"A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives."

- Jackie Robinson

"You can always become better."

- Tiger Woods

"If there is a book that you want to read, but hasn't been written yet, you must be the one to write it."

- Toni Morrison

"Be so good they can't ignore you."

- Steve Martin

"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 you’re not."

- Ellen DeGeneres

"The old rules are crumbling and nobody knows what the new rules are. So make up your own rules."

- Neil Gaiman

"Your imagination is your preview of life’s coming attractions."

- Albert Einstein

"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

"Education makes a people easy to lead, but difficult to drive: easy to govern, but impossible to enslave."

- Henry Peter Brougham

"Instruction ends in the schoolroom, but education ends only with life."

- Frederick W. Robertson

"The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you."

- BB King

"What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the human soul."

- Joseph Addison

"The highest result of education is tolerance."

- Helen Keller

"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

"When you leave here, don’t forget why you came."

- Adlai E. Stevenson II

"Becoming isn’t about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey doesn’t end."

- Michelle Obama

"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

"When you take risks, you learn that there will be times when you succeed and there will be times when you fail, and both are equally important."

- Ellen DeGeneres

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

- Arnold Palmer

"Now go, and make interesting mistakes, make amazing mistakes, make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for you being here. Make good art."

- Neil Gaiman

"If you hear a voice within you say “you cannot paint,” then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced."

- Vincent van Gogh

"In response to those who say to stop dreaming and face reality, I say keep dreaming and make reality."

- Kristian Kan

"If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done."

- Thomas Jefferson

"Don’t ever confuse the two, your life and your work. The second is only part of the first."

- Anna Quindlen

"I encourage you to live with life. Be courageous, adventurous. Give us a tomorrow, more than we deserve."

- Maya Angelou

"Get busy living or get busy dying."

- Stephen King

"Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it."

- Charles Swindoll

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."

- Thomas Edison

"To simply wake up every morning a better person than when I went to bed."

- Sidney Poitier

"Love the life you live. Live the life you love."

- Bob Marley

"Opportunity does not knock, it presents itself when you beat down the door."

- Kyle Chandler

"You pray for rain, you gotta deal with the mud too. That's a part of it."

- Denzel Washington

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

- Anatole France

"Follow your passion. Stay true to yourself. Never follow someone else’s path, unless you’re in the woods and you’re lost and you see a path. By all means, you should follow that."

- Ellen DeGeneres

"The meaning of life is to find your gift, the purpose of life is to give it away."

- Joy J. Golliver

"A problem is a chance for you to do your best."

- Duke Ellington

"Do more than just exist."

- Steve Maraboli

"Part of the journey is the end."

- Avengers Endgame

"Adventure is out there!"

- Charles Muntz

"You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it."

- Robin Williams

"That wasn’t flying; that was falling with style."

- Toy Story

"There is no script. Live your life. Soak it all in."

- Dick Costolo

"Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens."

- Jimi Hendrix

"Without faith, nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible."

- Mary McLeod Bethune

"I never wanted to be famous. I only wanted to be great."

- Ray Charles

"Sometimes it takes a good fall to know where you stand."

- Hayley Williams

"I am a firm believer that you don’t achieve greatness on your own. There is always someone there to lend a hand."

- Greg Louganis

"Do not fear mistakes. There are none."

- Miles Davis

"If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, they can sure make something out of you."

- Muhammad Ali

"What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others."

- Pericles

"Your imagination is your preview of life's coming attractions."

- Albert Einstein

"And though she be but little, she is fierce."

- Shakespeare

"To those of you who received honors, awards, and distinctions, I say well done. And to the C students, I say you too may one day be president of the United States."

- George W. Bush

"It's amazing what you can get if you quietly, clearly and authoritatively demand it."

- Meryl Streep

"Life is change, growth is optional. Choose wisely."

- Karen Kaiser Clark

"Behind you, all your memories. Before you, all your dreams. Around you, all who love you. Within you, all you need."

- Lilli Vaihere

"The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary."

- Vince Lombardi

"It might be stormy now, but it can’t rain forever."

- John B., The Outer Banks

"There are no goodbyes for us. Wherever you are, you will always be in my heart."

- Mahatma Gandhi

"The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking spaces."

- Will Rogers

"If it’s flipping hamburgers at McDonald’s, be the best hamburger flipper in the world. Whatever it is you do you have to master your craft."

- Snoop Dogg

"There’s something so special about a woman who dominates in a man’s world. It takes a certain grace, strength, intelligence, fearlessness, and the nerve to never take no for an answer."

- Rihanna

"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

"It’s opener, out there, in the wide, open air."

- Dr. Seuss

"Just because you don’t know what you want yet, it doesn’t mean that there’s nothing to want."

- Emily Henry

"Don’t take yourself too seriously. Know when to laugh at yourself, and find a way to laugh at obstacles that inevitably present themselves."

- Halle Bailey

"Be kind to yourself a little more every day."

- Dua Lipa

"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

"No matter what happens in life, be good to people. Being good to people is a wonderful legacy to leave behind."

- Taylor Swift

"There are two types of people who will tell you that you cannot make a difference in this world: those who are afraid to try and those who are afraid you will succeed."

- Ray Goforth

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

- Ferris Bueller

"Ignore the naysayers. Really the only option is: head down and focus on the job."

- Chris Pine

"Life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful."

- Annette Funicello

"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

"We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us."

- Joseph Campbell

"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

"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

"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm."

- Winston Churchill

"The unfortunate, yet truly exciting thing about your life, is that there is no core curriculum. The entire place is an elective."

- Jon Stewart

"You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it."

- Robin Williams

"My dear terrified graduates, you are about to enter the most uncertain and thrilling period of your lives. The stories you are about to live are the ones you will be telling your children, and grandchildren, and therapists."

- Lin Manuel Miranda

"A mind is like a parachute. It doesn't work if it is not open."

- Frank Zappa

"People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well neither does bathing; that’s why we recommend it daily."

- Zig Ziglar

"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

"There may be days when you’ll say to yourself, ‘I can’t. I literally can’t even.’ But you can! You can even!"

- Katie Couric

"Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive."

- Elbert Hubbard

"To those of you who received honors, awards and distinctions, I say well done. And to the C students, I say you too may one day be president of the United States."

- George W. Bush

"Memories of our lives, of our works and our deeds will continue in others."

- Rosa Parks

"Follow your fear."

- Tina Fey

"We did it, Joe."

- Barack Obama

"Gave my blood, sweat, and tears for this."

- Taylor Swift

"We may live in an age of instant messaging, instant gratification and Instagram, but there is no way to short circuit the path to success."

- Tory Burch

"If you can do what you do best and be happy, you are further along in life than most people."

- Leonardo DiCaprio

"Men who are in earnest are not afraid of consequences."

- Marcus Garvey

"You're only given a little spark of madness, you mustn't lose it."

- Robin Williams

"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

"You can kill a man but you can't kill an idea."

- Medgar Evers

"When I discover who I am, I'll be free."

- Ralph Ellison

"Never be afraid to sit awhile and think."

- Lorraine Hansberry

"Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there."

- Will Rogers

"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Good manners will open doors that the best education cannot."

- Clarence Thomas

"Success is nothing if you don’t have the right people to share it with; you’re just going to end up lonely."

- Selena Gomez

"Do not live someone else's life and someone else's idea of what womanhood is. Womanhood is you. Womanhood is everything that's inside of you."

- Viola Davis

"Success is the sweetest revenge."

- Vanessa Williams

"Bottom line: if you show a genuine interest in learning about how others became successful, you can open up a world of opportunities."

- Armstrong Williams

"The easy thing to do is to keep doing what’s always been done, but challenging the status quo can show you things you didn’t know were possible."

- Alicia Boler Davis

"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."

- Theodore Roosevelt

"If you feel that you have both feet planted on level ground, then the university has failed you."

- Robert F. Goheen

"The knowledge I have now is not the knowledge I had then."

- Stokely Carmichael

"You will go away with old, good friends. And don't forget when you leave why you came."

- Adlai E. Stevenson II

"There are years that ask questions and years that answer."

- Zora Neale Hurston

"What she tackles, she conquers."

- Gilmore Girls

"Always borrow money from a pessimist. He won’t expect it back."

- Oscar Wilde

"You have to be prepared to die before you can be prepared to live."

- Fred Shuttlesworth

"Anytime you see a turtle up on top of a fence post, you know he had some help."

- Alex Haley

"What, like it’s hard?"

- Elle Woods, Legally Blonde

"It’s something unpredictable, but in the end it’s right. I hope you had the time of your life"

- Green Day

"The Lord gave us two ends: one to sit on and the other to think with. Success depends on which one we use the most."

- Ann Landers

"If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in the dark with a mosquito."

- Betty Reese

"The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice."

- Brian Herbert

"Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia."

- Charles Schulz

"The only thing that ever sat its way to success was a hen."

- Sarah Brown

"Forever is composed of nows."

- Emily Dickinson

"Thank U, Next."

- Ariana Grande

"Watch out for me, I’m bound to glow."

- Drake

"Your families are extremely proud of you. You can’t imagine the sense of relief they are experiencing. This would be a most opportune time to ask for money."

- Gary Bolding

"Goodbye everyone, I’ll remember you in therapy."

- Plankton, Spongebob Squarepants

"Your education is a dress rehearsal for a life that is yours to lead."

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind."

"You're braver than you believe and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."

"Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning."

"All good things must come to an end, but this is just the beginning!"

"The tassel was worth the hassle."

"I did not let anyone or anything stand in my way."

"I believed I could, so I did."

"The things we are racing towards are better than what we leave behind."

"Thank you Mom, Dad, and coffee."

"It’s giving graduate."

"The most expensive piece of paper ever!"

"Hotter by one degree."

"Beauty and brains."

"In my graduate era."

"Serving graduate."

"Very proud, very tired."

"This wasn’t like High School Musical at all."

"Finally earned my B.A. in B.S."

"Ur fav graduate."