The Most Inspiring Graduation Quotes and Sayings

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Updated on March 9, 2022

Love What You Do

graduation quote in black text on a blue and yellow background

The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. – Steve Jobs, American inventor and entrepreneur who co-founded Apple

02 of 15

Embrace Change

This is your time and it feels normal to you, but really there is no normal. There's only change, and resistance to it, and then more change. – Meryl Streep, American actress and singer

03 of 15

Trust Yourself

For the most important decisions in your life, trust your intuition, and then work with everything you have, to prove it right. – Tim Cook, CEO of Apple

04 of 15

The Power of Education

Education is the most powerful weapon for changing the world. – Nelson Mandela, social rights activist, philanthropist, South Africa's first Black president, and author of Prison Letters ($17, Target)

05 of 15

Enjoy the Journey

It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters, in the end. – Ernest Hemingway, American author of The Sun Also Rises ($13, Amazon)

06 of 15

Do Good

Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good. – Minor Myers Jr., former president of Illinois Wesleyan University

07 of 15

Embrace Life

Sometimes, the only way to discover who you are or what life you should lead is to do less planning and more living—to burst the double bubble of comfort and convention and just do stuff, even if you don't know precisely where it's going to lead, because you don't know precisely where it's going to lead. – Daniel Pink, American author of When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing ($11, Target)

08 of 15

Choose Your Path

You're on your own. And you know what you know. And you are the one who'll decide where to go. – Dr. Seuss, American children's book author

09 of 15

Break Rules

And now go, and make interesting mistakes, make amazing mistakes, make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your being here. – Neil Gaiman, English author

10 of 15

Climb the Ladder of Success

Just remember, you can't climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets. – Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian-American actor, businessman, and former Governor of California

11 of 15

Every Day You Graduate

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, commencement speaker

12 of 15

Make Your Own Journey

As you start your journey, the first thing you should do is throw away that store-bought map and begin to draw your own. – Michael Dell, American philanthropist, businessman, and founder of Dell Technologies

13 of 15

Today Is Your Day

You're off to great places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so… get on your way! – Dr. Seuss, American children's book author of Oh, the Places You'll Go ($13, Walmart)

14 of 15

Explore

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things 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, American writer of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ($5, Target)

15 of 15

Everybody Is a Genius

Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. – Albert Einstein, German-born physicist

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