It's officially graduation season! Seniors across the country are poised to toss their graduation caps high in the air and leave college in their rear view mirrors. With commencement ceremonies come commencement speeches, and it should come as no surprise that some of the most iconic speeches in history have been delivered by authors. We've rounded up some of our favorite sound bites below. Enjoy!
J.K. Rowling (the Harry Potter series) to the Harvard Class of 2008:
"At your age, in spite of a distinct lack of motivation at university, where I had spent far too long in the coffee bar writing stories, and far too little time at lectures, I had a knack for passing examinations, and that, for years, had been the measure of success in my life and that of my peers." Read the full speech here.
Nora Ephron (I Feel Bad About My Neck, I Remember Nothing: And Other Reflections)
"Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim. Because you don’t have the alibi my class had – this is one of the great achievements and mixed blessings you inherit: unlike us, you can’t say nobody told you there were other options. Your education is a dress rehearsal for a life that is yours to lead." Read the full speech here.
George Saunders (Pastoralia,Tenth of December: Stories) to the Syracuse University Class of 2013:
"So, quick, end-of-speech advice: Since, according to me, your life is going to be a gradual process of becoming kinder and more loving: Hurry up. Speed it along. Start right now. There’s a confusion in each of us, a sickness, really: selfishness. But there’s also a cure. So be a good and proactive and even somewhat desperate patient on your own behalf – seek out the most efficacious anti-selfishness medicines, energetically, for the rest of your life." Read the full speech here.
David Foster Wallace (Infinite Jest, The Pale King) to the Kenyon College Class of 2005:
"As I'm sure you guys know by now, it is extremely difficult to stay alert and attentive instead of getting hypnotized by the constant monologue inside your own head. Twenty years after my own graduation, I have come gradually to understand that the liberal-arts cliche about 'teaching you how to think' is actually shorthand for a much deeper, more serious idea: 'Learning how to think' really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think." Read the full speech here.
Richard Russo (Mohawk, That Old Cape Magic) to Colby College Class of 2004:
"Search out the kind of work that you would gladly do for free and then get somebody to pay you for it. Don't expect this to happen overnight...Your work should be something that satisfies, excites and rewards you, something that gives your life meaning and direction, that stays fresh and new and challenging, a task you'll never quite master, that will never be completed." Read the full speech here.
Toni Morrison (Beloved, The Bluest Eye) to the Wellesley College Class of 2004:
"A citizen and a person, and the person you are is like nobody else on the planet. Nobody has the exact memory that you have. What is now known is not all what you are capable of knowing. You are your own stories and therefore free to imagine and experience what it means to be human without wealth. What it feels like to be human without domination over others, without reckless arrogance, without fear of others unlike you, without rotating, rehearsing and reinventing the hatreds you learned in the sandbox." Read the full speech here.
Susan Sontag (The Benefactor, The Way We Live Now) to the Vassar College Class of 2003:
"Do stuff. Be clenched, curious. Not waiting for inspiration's shove or society's kiss on your forehead... Pay attention. It's all about paying attention. It's all about taking in as much of what's out there as you can, and not letting the excuses and the dreariness of some of the obligations you'll soon be incurring narrow your lives. Attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager. Stay eager." Read the full speech here.
image via fawzihomsi
