Words of Wisdom: Starting Your New Life: Inspiring Words from Commencement Speeches

Spring is in the air. So are graduation caps and words of wisdom. See how notable speakers from various fields (including a cartoonist, scientist, and president) have inspired the rising of new generations. For more motivation, click here.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. indispensable
    absolutely necessary
    You need to arrive early, stay late, you need to make yourself indispensable--you should also probably get rid of those facebook photos of you passed out on bourbon street. —Anderson Cooper
  2. untouchable
    beyond the reach of criticism or attack or impeachment
    Do what you really love to do and if you don’t know quite what that is yet, well, keep searching, because if you find it, you’ll bring that something extra to your work that will help ensure you will not be automated or outsourced. It will help make you an untouchable radiologist, an untouchable engineer, or an untouchable teacher. —Thomas L. Friedman
  3. audacity
    fearless daring
    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. —Sue Monk Kidd
  4. improvisation
    a performance given without planning or preparation
    Life is just a big extended improvisation. Embrace the ever changing, ever evolving world with the best rule I’ve ever found. Say “YES AND.” —Jane Lynch
  5. inevitable
    incapable of being avoided or prevented
    You will lose. You will embarrass yourself. You will suck at something. There is no doubt about it. That’s probably not a traditional message for a graduation ceremony but hey, I’m telling you, embrace it because it’s inevitable. —Denzel Washington
  6. determine
    shape or influence; give direction to
    You will have failures in your life, but it is what you do during those valleys that will determine the heights of your peaks. —Rahm Emanuel
  7. indulge
    give free rein to
    If you indulge your natural curiosity and retain a sense of fun in new experience, I think you'll find it functions as a sort of shock absorber for the bumpy road ahead. —Bill Watterson
  8. clarity
    the quality of being coherent and easily understood
    The beauty is that through disappointment you can gain clarity, and with clarity comes conviction and true originality. —Conan O’Brien
  9. sow
    place seeds in or on the ground for future growth
    Success is not like rain that falls from the sky equally upon everyone. Success is what you reap when you sow with passion and optimism. —Ahmed H. Zewail
  10. ultimate
    furthest or highest in degree or order; utmost or extreme
    It is the ultimate luxury to combine passion and contribution. It’s also a very clear path to happiness. —Sheryl Sandberg
  11. transform
    change or alter in appearance or nature
    It takes only one strike to transform a prospector into a gold miner, only one “Yes” to turn a proposal into a marriage. —Chris Matthews
  12. earnest
    not distracted by anything unrelated to the goal
    You can be as earnest and ridiculous as you need to be, if you don’t attempt it in isolation. The ridiculously earnest are known to travel in groups. And they are known to change the world. —Barbara Kingsolver
  13. aspire
    have an ambitious plan or a lofty goal
    Every man and every woman on this earth is born to lead. A leader's greatest obligation is to make possible an environment where people's minds and hearts can be inventive, brave, human and strong, where people can aspire to do useful and significant things, where people can aspire to change the world. —Carly Fiorina
  14. legacy
    a gift of personal property by will
    that's what building a body of work is all about--it's about the daily labor, the many individual acts, the choices large and small that add up over time, over a lifetime, to a lasting legacy. —Barack Obama
  15. commence
    take the first step or steps in carrying out an action
    We are a nation of accomplishment, and this ceremony is a great testament to that. But the unspoken requirement of a commencement is that you now must commence. —Michael Dell
  16. pinnacle
    the highest level or degree attainable
    So from the wise old pinnacle of my 49 years, I want to tell you that what you’re looking for is already inside you. You’ve heard this before, but the holy thing inside you really is that which causes you to seek it. You can’t buy it, lease it, rent it, date it or apply for it. —Anne Lamont
  17. optimism
    the hopeful feeling that all is going to turn out well
    Despite difficulties, always keep optimism. ‘I can overcome these difficulties.’ That mental attitude itself will bring inner strength and self-confidence. —Dalai Lama
  18. facet
    a smooth surface (as of a bone or cut gemstone)
    Our world hangs like a magnificent jewel in the vastness of space. Every one of us is a part of that jewel. A facet of that jewel. And in the perspective of infinity, our differences are infinitesimal. We are intimately related. May we never even pretend that we are not. —Fred Rogers
  19. commitment
    the act of binding yourself to a course of action
    You will find on your diplomas, and my diploma, the motto of the University of Pennsylvania, which in Latin reads: “Leges sine moribusvanae.” “Laws without morals are useless.” I would add that morals without commitment are empty. —Jodie Foster
  20. caveat
    a warning against certain acts
    I am about to make my own ancestral guess as to what life is all about, and what young people should do with it. I will again issue the caveat that I am as full of baloney as anybody, and that anybody who says for sure what life is all about might as well lecture on Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, and Tooth Fairies, as well. —Kurt Vonnegut
Created on Mon May 19 18:49:15 EDT 2014 (updated Wed Jun 04 16:34:48 EDT 2014)

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