Graduation Ceremony Quotes:

There is a good reason they call these ceremonies 'commencement exercises'. Graduation is not the end; it's the beginning.

- Orrin Hatch

topic: Graduation, Exercise, Reason, Memorable Graduation, High School Graduation

Harry taught me that death isn't the end, it's the beginning.

- Jennifer Love Hewitt

source: "Dexter: Popping Cherry". TV series, 2006.

topic: Graduation, Senior, College, Inspirational Graduation, Memorable Graduation

People will frighten you about a graduation.... They use words you don't hear often: And we wish you Godspeed." It is a warning, Godspeed. It means you are no longer welcome here at these prices."

- Bill Cosby

topic: Graduation, Mean, People, Inspirational Graduation, Commencement

Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.

- Steve Jobs

source: Commencement Address at Stanford University, delivered 12 June 2005, Palo Alto, CA

topic: Love, Inspirational, Life, Inner Voice, Job Growth

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.

- Steve Jobs

topic: Inspirational, Death, People, Someone Who Is Dying, Meaningful Death

Openness isn't the end. It's the beginning.

- Margaret Heffernan

source: "Dare to disagree". TED Talk, www.ted.com. June 2012.

topic: Graduation, Senior, College, Memorable Graduation, Inspirational High School Graduation

A graduation ceremony is an event where the commencement speaker tells thousands of students dressed in identical caps and gowns that 'individuality' is the key to success.

- Robert Orben

source: "A Few Tips for the Graduates". The Topeka Capital-Journal, abcnews.go.com. May 20, 2007.

topic: Funny, Graduation, Education, Master Ceremony, Grad

The truth is, I was afraid the day I walked into Stanford. And I was afraid the day I walked out.

- Carly Fiorina

source: "Words of Wisdom / This year's commencement speakers offer career advice for tough days ahead" by Vanessa Hua, www.sfgate.com. June 23, 2001.

topic: Graduation, Memorable, Truth Is, Funny Commencement, Graduation Ceremony

There is no such thing as failure. Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction.

- Oprah Winfrey

topic: Graduation, Moving, Trying, Mistakes Happen, Law Of Averages

Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking.

- Steve Jobs

source: Commencement Address at Stanford University, delivered 12 June 2005, Palo Alto, CA

topic: Inspirational, Life, Graduation, Job Growth, Inner Life

These are days you'll remember. If you recall nothing else from your graduation ceremony, remember you heard the New Jersey Governor quote from 10,000 Maniacs.

- Bill Vaughan

topic: Jersey, Remember, Ceremony, Graduation Ceremony

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying says that death is the graduation ceremony, while living is just a long course in learning and preparing for the next journey. If we acknowledge death as the beginning, then how can we fear it?

- Nikki Sixx

topic: Book, Journey, Long, Graduation Ceremony

Ceremony assists people to adjust to change (a marriage ceremony does this for families), to recognize achievement (a classic example is a graduation ceremony), to relate, to express love, and/or to establish a relationship. Ceremonies are the human way we have to signpost a deal such as a business merger, to trigger off a healthy grief process (such as in divorce or funeral ceremonies), to welcome another human being into the family. So Ceremonies have these excellent effects - they can be used further to announce intentions, to express loyalty and to reinforce a sense of identity.

- Dally Messenger

topic: Loyalty, Grief, Divorce, Marriage Ceremony, Signposts

Like a christening, a wedding, a graduation ceremony, a holy war, a revolutioneven?a fireworksdisplay, agaudy promise of what life ought to be, not life itself.

- Alistair Cooke

topic: War, Promise, Holy, Christening, Graduation Ceremony

I'll co-host TODAY from Los Angeles Saturday morning and then make my way up to Merced for that evening's graduation ceremony. I'm still touching up my remarks, but my challenge to the Class of 2010 will be to break through the deafening and too often negative echo chamber of the digital era and become critical and independent thinkers.

- Lester Holt

source: "Lester Holt: Fulfilling a promise to Class of 2010" by Steve Veres, www.today.com. May 15, 2010.

topic: Morning, Independent, Echoes, Saturday Morning, Graduation Ceremony