Inspirational Words, Quotes for Graduates:

“Congratulations! Today is your day.  You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and away! You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own.

And you know what you know. You are the guy who’ll decide where to go.”

—Dr. Seuss, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!”

Oh, the Places You’ll Go is so true. You’ve run the course and passed the finish line! So much hope and promise lie before you. Here are a few pieces of advice that will help you navigate your brave new world.

Friendships - Surround yourself with people who will laugh with you, dream with you and hold your hand through the scary parts.

Change - Even the best life has a certain level of pressure. Find a productive, healthy outlet for stress. Run. Write. Walk. Take up knitting. Just make sure it’s good for you.

Stress Relief - Even the best life has a certain level of pressure. Find a productive, healthy outlet for stress. Run. Write. Take up knitting. Just make sure it’s good for you.

Pray - Pray. Even if all you can say is, “Help me Lord, I need you.”

Be Adventurous - You’re infinitely more talented than you know. Try new things.

Be Positive - Don’t get into the habit of complaining all the time and keep negative people as far away from you as possible.

Learn - You will have tough critics, mean bosses, and difficult co-workers. These people are here to make you stronger and smarter. Learn from them.

Mistakes - You will mess up. Big time. Majorly. And in one or two cases, beyond fixability. It’s okay. Just figure out what went wrong, take responsibility and, above all, try again.

Your Strengths - Know your strengths. Hone your skills. Don’t be afraid to tell people what you’re good at. Somewhere out there, a group of people need something done that only you can do.

Last and Most Important... Be yourself. You’ll attract the ones who get it. Everyone else is just a spectator.

Quotes to have around:

Graduation is a Process - 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

Believe in Your Dreams - The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. — Eleanor Roosevelt

Change the World - Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. — Nelson Mandela

Follow Your Heart and Intuition - Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. 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. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. — Steve Jobs

Make Your Own Path - Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Work Hard and Take Risks - You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. You can’t get there by bus, only by hard work and risk and by not quite knowing what you’re doing, but what you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover will be yourself. — Alan Alda

Take a Big Step - Don’t be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated; you can’t cross a chasm in two small jumps. — David Lloyd George

Be Your Best - Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else. — Judy Garland

Become a Person of Value - Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value. — Albert Einstein

Do Something Remarkable - Don’t live down to expectations. Go out there and do something remarkable. — Wendy Wasserstein

Explore. Dream. Discover. - Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that 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 Always Have a Choice - When faced with the inevitable, you always have a choice.... As I learned during my liberal arts education, any symbol can have, in the imaginative context, two versions, a positive and a negative. If you spill your milk, you’re left with a glass which is either half empty or half full.... You may not be able to alter reality, but you can alter your attitude towards it, and this, paradoxically, alters reality. Try it and see. – Margaret Atwood

The Importance of Patience - It is important to have determination and optimism and patience. If you lack patience, even when you face some small obstacle, you lose courage. There is a Tibetan saying, “Even if you have failed at something nine times, you have still given it effort nine times.” I think that’s important. Use your brain to analyze the situation. Do not rush through it, but think. Once you decide what to do about that obstacle, then there’s a possibility that you will achieve your goal. – The Dalai Lama

Spread Your Eagle Wings - And God says to all of us, you are no chicken; you are an eagle. Fly, eagle, fly. And God wants us to shake ourselves, spread our pinions, and then lift off and soar and rise, and rise toward the confident and the good and the beautiful. Rise towards the compassionate and the gentle and the caring. Rise to become what God intends us to be--eagles, not chickens. – Desmond Tutu

The Power of Love and Prayer - Never underestimate the power of other people’s love and prayer. When you put someone else at the center of your frame, the entire world changes for you. – Tony Snow