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These college graduation quotes provide you with some choices when you’re looking for the right words for the graduate in your life.
To understand the importance of graduating from college, you should ask from those who never achieved it or those who failed at it and never looked back. Whether you are looking for inspiration and great wishes for yourself or a loved one, here are some famous graduation quotes and sayings that can move souls!
Quotes on Graduating College
To accomplish great things, we must not only act but also dream, not only plan but also believe.
Anatole France
There is a good reason they call these ceremonies commencement exercises. Graduation is not the end; it’s the beginning.
Orrin Hatch
It is not the size of the arena in which you find yourself that counts; it is what you do with it.
Dr. Irene C. Kassorla
Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.
John Dewey
There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.
C.S. Lewis
There are no regrets in life. Just lessons.
Jennifer Aniston
We may live in an age of instant messaging, instant gratification, and Instagram, but there is no way to short-circuit the path to success.
Tory Burch
Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
Arthur Ashe
Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.
Anthony J. D’Angelo

Funny College Graduation Quotations
Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.
G.K. Chesterton
So how do you know what is the right path to choose to get the result that you desire? And the honest answer is this. You won’t.
Jon Stewart
Minds are like parachutes – they only function when open.
Thomas Dewar
You are graduating from college. That means that this is the first day of the last day of your life. No, that’s wrong. This is the last day of the first day of school. Nope, that’s worse. This is a day.
Andy Samberg
The college graduate is presented with a sheepskin to cover his intellectual nakedness.
Robert M. Hutchins
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Humorous Wishes
Remember that there’s no one way of doing things … If you just get a hammer and hit it really hard, whatever it is, I guarantee you it’ll open.
Fred Armisen
Share your sparkle wherever you are.
Dodinsky
Now that you’ve graduated, just remember: Bosses don’t usually accept notes from your mother.
Melanie White
You can become someone who is worthy of respect, and someone who can pursue what he wants irrespective of what others say or do.
Unknown
The advantage of a classical education is that it enables you to despise the wealth that it prevents you from achieving.
Russell Green
Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself.
Bill Gates
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College Graduate Sayings
Your life is your story, and the adventure ahead of you is the journey to fulfill your own purpose and potential.
Kerry Washington
The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.
B.B. King
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.
Henry David Thoreau
You don’t go to university so you can punch a clock. You go to university so you can be in a position to make a difference.
Janet Napolitano
Just about a month from now, I’m set adrift, with a diploma for a sail and lots of nerve for oars.
Richard Halliburton
An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.
Benjamin Franklin
Coach said. The quality of a man’s life is in direct proportion to his commitment to excellence, regardless of his chosen field of endeavor.
Sherman Alexie
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 safe harbor, and catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover.
Mark Twain
Your education is a dress rehearsal for a life that is yours to lead.
Nora Ephron
The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.
Dr. Seuss – More Dr. Seuss Verses and Quotes on Graduating
Good College Graduation Quotes
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
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
Take pride in how far you have come, and have faith in how far you will go.
Christian Larson
Just because you don’t know what you want yet, it doesn’t mean that there’s nothing to want.
Emily Henry
The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible.
Arthur C. Clarke
So many of our dreams first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.
Christopher Reeve
Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.
Robert Louis Stevenson
Nothing is predestined: The obstacles of your past can become the gateways that lead to new beginnings.
Ralph Blum
The aim of a college education is to teach you to know a good man when you see one.
William James
My father always told me, Find a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.
Jim Fox
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Graduation Quotes For Daughter
If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it.
William Arthur Ward
Always be a first-rate version of yourself instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.
Judy Garland – Learn more about Judy Garland
The very purpose of our life is happiness, which is sustained by hope…. Hope means keeping going, thinking, ‘I can do this.’ It brings inner strength, self-confidence, the ability to do what you do honestly, truthfully, and transparently.
The Dalai Lama
This above all: To thine own self be true.
William Shakespeare
What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to a human soul.
Joseph Addison
Be Bold. Be Brilliant, and Be You.
Unknown
Being smart and rich are lucky, but being curious and compassionate will save your ass. Being curious and compassionate can take you out of your ego and edge your soul towards wonder.
Mary Karr
Don’t live down to expectations. Go out there and do something remarkable.
Wendy Wasserstein
Love what you do. Get good at it. Competence is a rare commodity in this day and age.
Jon Stewart
The horizon leans forward, offering you space to place new steps of change.
Maya Angelou
The person who gets the farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore.
Dale Carnegie
For Son
The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future.
Plato
Nothing happens unless first a dream.
Carl Sandburg
Go for it now. The future is promised to no one.
Wayne Dyer
First, say to yourself what you would be, and then do what you have to do.
Epictetus
You cannot get to the top by sitting on your bottom.
Proverb
Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A teacher affects eternity: he can never tell where his influence stops.
Henry Adams
The one real object of education is to have a man in the condition of continually asking questions.
Bishop Mandell Creighton
Take it all one day at a time, and enjoy the journey.
Kristi Bartle
Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.
Henry Ford
Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.
Lanston Hughes
For Friends
You are BRAVER than you believe, STRONGER than you seem, and SMARTER than you think.
A.A. Milne
Greatness is not in where we stand but in what direction we are moving. We must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it – but sail we must, and not drift nor lie at anchor.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Learning is the only thing the mind never exhausts, never fears, and never regrets.
Leonardo da Vinci
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
Aristotle
At commencement, you wear your square-shaped mortarboards. My hope is that from time to time you will let your minds be bold, and wear sombreros.
Paul Freund
There is no passion to be found in playing small, in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.
Nelson Mandela
Education is the process by which the individual relates himself to the universe, gives himself citizenship in the changing world, shares the race’s mind, and enfranchises his own soul.
John H. Finley
Inspirational Graduation Quotes
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Eleanor Roosevelt
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.
Steve Jobs
Don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.”
Michelle Obama
What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Live with life. Be courageous and adventurous. Give us a tomorrow, more than we deserve.
Maya Angelou
The meaning of life is to find your gift; the purpose of life is to give it away.
Joy J
Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Your imagination is your preview of life’s coming attractions.
Albert Einstein
The old rules are crumbling and nobody knows what the new rules are. So make up your own rules.
Neil Gaiman
Words of Wisdom
Follow your passion. It will lead you to your purpose.
Oprah Winfrey
Do all the other things, the ambitious things—travel, get rich, get famous, innovate, lead, fall in love, make and lose fortunes…but as you do, to the extent that you can, err in the direction of kindness.
George Saunders
Your life is your story, and the adventure ahead of you is the journey to fulfill your own purpose and potential.
Kerry Washington
Life is an improvisation. You have no idea what’s going to happen next, and you are mostly just making things up as you go along.
Stephen Colbert
Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.
Malcolm X
Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.
Winston Churchill
My dear terrified graduates, you are about to enter the most uncertain and thrilling period of your lives. Lin-Manuel Miranda
Words of Advice
Wouldn’t you know that your path was there all along, waiting for you to knock, waiting for you to become. This path does not belong to your parents, your teachers, your leaders, or your lovers. Your path is your character defining itself more and more every day, like a photograph coming into focus.
Jodie Foster
For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.
Audrey Hepburn
Now go, and make interesting mistakes, make amazing mistakes, make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for you being here. Make good art.
Neil Gaiman
Now the first suggestion is to aim high, but be aware that even before you have reached your ultimate professional destination, if you always strive for excellence, you can and should have a substantial impact on the world in which you live.
Sandra Day O’Connor
You are educated. Your certification is in your degree. You may think of it as the ticket to the good life. Let me ask you to think of an alternative. Think of it as your ticket to change the world.
Tom Brokaw
The best way to create the future is to live it.
Abraham Lincoln
I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.
Jim Carrey
Lighthearted Quotes For Grads
You can’t climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
The unfortunate yet truly exciting thing about your life is that there is no core curriculum. The entire place is an elective.
Jon Stewart
Creativity is intelligence having fun.
Albert Einstein
The fireworks begin today. Each diploma is a lighted match. Each one of you is a fuse.
Edward Koch
A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between, does what he wants to do.
Bob Dylan
It is good to have a journey toward the end, but it is the journey that matters in the end.
Ernest Hemingway
Fall forward. Every failed experiment is one step closer to success. You’ve got to take risks.
Denzel Washington
Graduation is one of the significant milestones in anyone’s life. It is the commencement of perhaps the most important phase in your life when you plan to become a giver and contributor in this world. It is a great moment for everyone around you, especially your parents.
By Mike O’Halloran
Mike is an author and founder of Greeting Card Poet.
Encore
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