100 Proud and Inspiring Graduation Quotes to Celebrate Your Achievement

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

- Senator Orrin Hatch

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

- C.S. Lewis

"Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition."

- Steve Jobs

"She believed she could, so she did."

- R. S. Grey

"Always aim high, work hard, and care deeply about what you believe in. And, when you stumble, keep faith. And, when you're knocked down, get right back up and never listen to anyone who says you can't or shouldn't go on."

- Hillary Clinton

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

- William Shakespeare

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

- Anatole France

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

- Kerry Washington

"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

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

- Steve Jobs

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

- John F. Kennedy

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

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"You will find true success and happiness if you have only one goal. There really is only one, and that is this: To fulfill the highest, most truthful expression of yourself as a human being."

- Oprah Winfrey

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

- Napoleon Hill

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

- Charles Kettering

"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

"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

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

- Oprah Winfrey

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

- A.A. Milne

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

- Dr. Seuss

"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

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

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"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

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

- Les Brown

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

- Michelle Obama

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

- Maya Angelou

"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

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

- Anthony Robbins

"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

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

- Estée Lauder

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

- Muhammad Ali

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

- Nelson Mandela

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

- Eleanor Roosevelt

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

- Audrey Hepburn

"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

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

- Audrey Hepburn

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

- John Dewey

"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

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

- Colin Powell

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

- Gabriel García Márquez

"Learn from every mistake because every experience, encounter, and particularly your mistakes are there to teach you and force you into being more who you are. And then figure out what is the next right move. And the key to life is to develop an internal moral, emotional G.P.S. that can tell you which way to go."

- Oprah

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

- Nelson Mandela

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

- Aisha Tyler

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

- Albert Einstein

"Be the best of whatever you are."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

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

- Henry David Thoreau

"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

"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

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

- Steve Jobs

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

- Oprah Winfrey

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

- Malala Yousafzai

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

- Steve Jobs

"The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams."

- Oprah Winfrey

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

- Mahatma Gandhi

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

- Malcolm X

"The only way to do great work is to love what you do."

- Steve Jobs

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

- Dr. Seuss

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."

- Winston Churchill

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

- Theodore Roosevelt

"Your time is now. Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can."

- Arthur Ashe

"You are capable of more than you know. Choose a goal that seems right for you and strive to be the best, however hard the path."

- E.O. Wilson

"Stay hungry. Stay foolish."

- Steven Jobs

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

- Theodore Roosevelt

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

- Albert Einstein

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

- Arthur Ashe

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

- Helen Keller

"Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world."

- Nelson Mandela

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

- Kerry Washington

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

- Dr. Seuss

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

- Nelson Mandela

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

- Viola Davis

"Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it."

- Bruce Lee

"Don't watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going."

- Sam Levenson

"The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same."

- Colin R. Davis

"The future is not in the hands of fate, but in ours."

- Jules Jusserand

"Put blinders on to those things that conspire to hold you back, especially the ones in your own head."

- Meryl Streep

"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

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

- Frederick W. Robertson

"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

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

- H. Jackson Brown Jr.

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

- Michelle Obama

"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

"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

"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

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

- Norman Vincent Peale

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

- Maya Angelou

"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

"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

"To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly."

- Henri Bergson

"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

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

- Matshona Dhliwayo

"Through discipline comes freedom."

- Aristotle

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

- Robert Collier

"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

"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 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

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

- Leonardo DiCaprio

"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

"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

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

- Malcolm X

"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

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

- Jennifer Garner

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

- Maya Rudolph

"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

"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

"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

"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

"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."

- 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

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

- Kristian Kan

"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

"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

"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

"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

"There are multiple sides to all of us. Who we are — and who we might be if we follow our dreams."

- Miley Cyrus

"We're only here for so long. Be happy, man. You could get hit by a truck tomorrow."

- Timothée Chalamet

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

- Albert Einstein

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

- Vince Lombardi

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

- Will Rogers

"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

"You will never have more energy or enthusiasm, hair, or brain cells than you have today."

- Tom and Ray Magliozzi

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

- Oprah Winfrey

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

- Robin Williams

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

- Muhammad Ali

"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

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

- Zig Ziglar

"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

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

- Ratatouille

"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

"Adventure is out there!"

- Charles Muntz

"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

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

- George Burns

"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

"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

"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

"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

"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

"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

"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 has been broken."

- Amy Poehler

"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

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

- Julia H. Gulliver

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

- Shakespeare

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

- David Brinkley

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

- Winston Churchill

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

- Lilli Vaihere

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

- Robert F. Kennedy

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

- Dick Costolo

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

- Truman Capote

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

- Shakespeare

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

- Babe Ruth

"Do more than just exist."

- Steve Maraboli

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

- Neil Gaiman

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

- Edward Koch

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

- Jennifer Aniston

"Kid, you’ll move mountains."

- Dr. Seuss

"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

"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

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

- Thomas Jefferson

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

- Gabrielle Giffords

"Dream big and dare to fail."

- Norman Vaughan

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

- Maya Angelou

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

- Walt Disney

"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

"The horizon leans forward, offering you space to place new steps of change."

- Maya Angelou

"Go forth and set the world on fire."

- St. Ignatius of Loyola

"Just go for it. Whatever it is, don’t be afraid to start it. Nothing is ever perfect, but it can’t be improved until it exists."

- Issa Rae

"It is in your hands to create a better world for all who live in it."

- Nelson Mandela

"There is no excuse to wait a day to do what you want to do and to change the way that you want to change."

- Sophia Bush

"Fall forward. Every failed experiment is one step closer to success. You've got to take risks."

- Denzel Washington

"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

"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

"You don't have a job? Get one. Any job! Don't sit at home waiting for the magical opportunity. Do something until you can do something else."

- Shonda Rhimes

"Try to learn something about everything and everything about something."

- T. H. Huxley

"Follow your arrow, wherever it points."

- Kacey Musgraves

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

- George Burns

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

- Toy Story

"I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart: I am, I am, I am."

- Sylvia Plath

"I scorched the earth with my talent and I let my light shine."

- Andre Leon Talley

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

- Ingrid Bergman

"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

"God will never give you anything you can’t handle, so don’t stress."

- Kelly Clarkson

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

- Omar Bradley

"If at first you don’t succeed, find out if the loser gets anything."

- William Lyon Phelps

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

- Frank Zappa

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

- Sarah Brown

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

- Will Rogers

"Part of the journey is the end."

- Avengers Endgame

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

- Margot Robbie

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

- Betty Reese

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

- Charles Schulz

"Life is like one big Mardi Gras. But instead of showing your boobs, show people your brain, and if they like what they see, you’ll have more beads than you know what to do with."

- Ellen DeGeneres

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

- Elbert Hubbard

"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

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

- Mahatma Gandhi

"The love of learning, the sequestered nooks, And all the sweet serenity of books."

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"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

"Forever is composed of nows."

- Emily Dickinson

"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

"Now that you’ve graduated, just remember: Bosses don’t usually accept notes from your mother."

- Melanie White

"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."

"The tassel’s worth the hassle."