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Graduation Quotes

Real Simple Author
By Real Simple Editors Updated August 29, 2014
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Boy wearing a paper hat
Credit: Monica Buck
Send a grad on his her way by sharing these inspiring (and humorous) words of wisdom.
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1 of 8

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There is nothing like a dream to create the future.

Boy wearing a paper hat
Credit: Monica Buck

Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

1 of 8

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Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith.

Lockers used as storage
Credit: Aimee Herring

Steve Jobs, in a commencement speech at Stanford University (2005)

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The future holds great opportunities. It also holds pitfalls. The trick will be to avoid the pitfalls, seize the opportunities, and get back home by six o’clock.

Kids in tree
Credit: Stephanie Rausser

Woody Allen, Side Effects

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We want men who will fix their eyes on the stars, but who will not forget that their feet must walk on the ground.

Children running in a field
Credit: Stephanie Rausser

Theodore Roosevelt, Selections From Roosevelt

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Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.

Candles on a window ledge
Credit: Victor Schrager

B.F. Skinner, “Education in 1984,” New Scientist (1969)

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There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.

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Edith Wharton, “Vesalius in Zante”

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The test and the use of man’s education is that he finds pleasure in the exercise of his mind.

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Jacques Barzun, The Saturday Evening Post (1958)

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The road less traveled is sometimes fraught with barricades, bumps, and uncharted terrain. But it is on that road where your character is truly tested―and your personal growth realized.

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Credit: Laurie Frankel

Katie Couric, in a commencement address at Williams College (2007)

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    1 of 8 There is nothing like a dream to create the future.
    2 of 8 Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith.
    3 of 8 The future holds great opportunities. It also holds pitfalls. The trick will be to avoid the pitfalls, seize the opportunities, and get back home by six o’clock.
    4 of 8 We want men who will fix their eyes on the stars, but who will not forget that their feet must walk on the ground.
    5 of 8 Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.
    6 of 8 There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.
    7 of 8 The test and the use of man’s education is that he finds pleasure in the exercise of his mind.
    8 of 8 The road less traveled is sometimes fraught with barricades, bumps, and uncharted terrain. But it is on that road where your character is truly tested―and your personal growth realized.

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