Graduation Quotes

By Real Simple Editors Updated August 29, 2014

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Credit: Monica Buck

Send a grad on his her way by sharing these inspiring (and humorous) words of wisdom.

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There is nothing like a dream to create the future.

Credit: Monica Buck

Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

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

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.

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.

Credit: Stephanie Rausser

Theodore Roosevelt, Selections From Roosevelt

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

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.

Credit: Victor Schrager

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.

Credit: Jim Franco

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.

Credit: Laurie Frankel

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

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Graduation Quotes

1 of 8

There is nothing like a dream to create the future.

1 of 8

2 of 8

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

2 of 8

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.

3 of 8

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.

4 of 8

5 of 8

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

5 of 8

6 of 8

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

6 of 8

7 of 8

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

7 of 8

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.

8 of 8

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Graduation Quotes

1 of 8

There is nothing like a dream to create the future.

1 of 8

2 of 8

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

2 of 8

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.

3 of 8

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.

4 of 8

5 of 8

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

5 of 8

6 of 8

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

6 of 8

7 of 8

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

7 of 8

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.

8 of 8

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