10 Memorable Quotes for Graduation

Of the sentiments offered to recent high school and college graduates, only a select few are both short and interesting enough to be remembered in the days and years following the commencement ceremony. The quotes below can all be credited to famous figures in history, literature and entertainment (there are no quotes by "anonymous" listed here). All are fairly terse and to the point, and offer valuable sentiments about success, goal setting, self-actualization and the journey into adulthood.

If addressing a graduating class as a speaker, please attempt to avoid "over-quoting." Sometimes, in an effort to entrench deep meaning into every phrase of a graduation speech, a speaker will offer so many quotations that the listener's mind does not retain any of them as a result of overload. One solid quote with pertinent life application will not only suffice, but will make for a more powerful speech.

After evaluating more than 1000 quotations, these emerge as the most memorable.

"Whatever you are, be a good one." (Abraham Lincoln)

"Education is the best provision for the journey to old age." (Aristotle)

"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but most useful than a life spent doing nothing." (George Bernard Shaw)

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

"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are." (e.e. cummings)

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

"Greatness is not in where we stand, but in what direction we are moving." (Oliver Wendall Holmes)

"The person who gets the farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore." (Dale Carnegie)

"I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it." (Thomas Jefferson)

"The whole secret to a successful life it to find out what it is one's destiny to do, and then do it." (Henry Ford)