High School Graduation Quotes
Our high school graduation quotes may both inspire and amuse you. Choose from this collection for yearbook write-ups, card messages, and graduation party invites.
High school graduation comes at a very important time in a person’s life. The options seem limitless, and yet there may be a certain amount of fear of the unknown. Some of these insights might help ease that uncertainty.
You may either use the jump menu to go to the high school graduation quotes of most interest or simply continue to scroll down. Enjoy!
Best High School Graduation Quotes
1.) There is more to life than simply increasing its speed.
Mahatma Gandhi
2.) Life is not about how you survive the storm; it’s about how you dance in the rain.
Unknown
3.) Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
Arthur Ashe
4.) It is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all—in which case, you fail by default.
J.K. Rowling
5.) There are two great days in a person’s life – the day we are born and the day we discover why.
Mark Twain
6.) Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.
Henry David Thoreau
7.) Kid, you’ll move mountains.
Dr. Seuss – Check out Dr. Seuss’s Quotations and Verses
8.) The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
9.) Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.
Marcus Aurelius
You Did It!
10.) A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit, and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy?
Albert Einstein
11.) 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
12.) All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make, the better.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
13.) And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.
Abraham Lincoln
Funny High School Graduation Quotes
14.) You will find the key to success under the alarm clock.
Benjamin Franklin
15.) Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.
Will Rogers
16.) Just remember, you can’t climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
17.) At graduation, you get to wear a cap and gown, but it’s a good idea to also wear something underneath it.
Greg Tamblyn
18.) Better an “oops” than a “what if?”
Unknown
19.) The grass is always greener where you water it.
Unknown
Check out: Congratulations Graduation Messages
Success in Life Quotations
20.) 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.
Steven Colbert
21.) Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!”
Hunter S. Thompson
22.) Here is what I’ve learned: 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. It takes hard work, tenacity, and patience.”
Tory Burch
23.) Life is my college. May I graduate well and earn some honors!
Louisa May Alcott
24.) A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car, but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.
Theodore Roosevelt
25.) To those of you who received honors, awards, and distinctions, I say well done. And to the C students, I say you, too, may one day be president of the United States.
George W. Bush
Tip: Consider using these high school graduation quotes for Facebook posts, Instagram captions, card messages, texts, and more.
Wise Life Quotes
26.) 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
27.) Don’t be afraid of fear. Because it sharpens you, it challenges you, it makes you stronger, and when you run away from fear, you also run away from the opportunity to be your best possible self.
Ed Helms
28.) Real courage is holding on to a still voice in your head that says, ‘I must keep going.’ It’s that voice that says nothing is a failure if it is not final. That voice that says to you, ‘Get out of bed. Keep going. I will not quit.
Unknown
29.) Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your own heart and intuition.
Steve Jobs
30.) That clock you hear is the sound of your own heart. Sink your teeth into this life, and don’t get let go.
Lin-Manuel Miranda
31.) 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, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, dream, discover.
Mark Twain
See College Graduation Quotes.
Quotations for the High School Graduate
32.) If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.
Thomas Jefferson
33.) People who give the best are those who give of themselves – your time, talents, words, and knowledge.
Omoakhuana Anthonia
34.) Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.
Marcus Aurelius
35.) There are two great days in a person’s life – the day we are born and the day we discover why.
William Barclay
36.) The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet.
James Oppenheim
37.) To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone, and a funnybone.
Reba McEntire
38.) What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Are you in the picture paints a thousand words camp? Check out Graduation Images and Memes.
Good High School Graduation Quotes
39.) Here is a little habit that can make a big difference. Send sunbeams. Intentionally send a word of encouragement or appreciation every day to one person.
Steve Goodier
40.) Dance. Smile. Giggle. Marvel. TRUST. HOPE. LOVE. WISH. BELIEVE. Most of all, enjoy every moment of the journey and appreciate where you are at this moment instead of always focusing on how far you have to go.
Mandy Hale
41.) Perhaps they are not stars but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy.
Eskimo Saying
42.) My mission in life is not merely to survive but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.
Maya Angelou
43.) 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
44.) The fireworks begin today. Each diploma is a lighted match. Each one of you is a fuse.
Edward Koch
Lifelong Advice
45.) 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
46.) My dear terrified graduates, you are about to enter the most uncertain and thrilling period of your lives. The stories you are about to live are the ones you will be telling your children, grandchildren, and therapists.
Lin-Manuel Miranda
47.) In response to those who say to stop dreaming and face reality, I say keep dreaming and make a reality.
Kristian Kan
48.) Always be a first-rate version of yourself instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.
Judy Garland
49.) Instruction ends in the schoolroom, but education ends only with life.
Frederick W. Robertson
50.) 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
51.) The unfortunate yet truly exciting thing about your life is that there is no core curriculum. The entire place is an elective.
Jon Stewart
Short High School Graduation Quotes
52.) An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.
Benjamin Franklin
53.) The horizon leans forward, offering you space to place new steps of change.
Maya Angelou
54.) The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.
B.B. King
55.) There are no regrets in life. Just lessons.
Jennifer Aniston
56.) Your education is a dress rehearsal for a life that is yours to lead.
Nora Ephron
57.) Education is the key to unlocking the world, a passport to freedom.
Oprah Winfrey
Inspirational High School Graduation Quotes
58.) Life is either a great adventure or nothing.
Helen Keller
59.) Don’t ever confuse the two, your life and your work. The second is only part of the first.
Anna Quindlen
60.) And the corollary to carpe diem is gratitude, gratitude for simply being alive, for having a day to seize. The taking of breath, the beating of the heart. Gratitude for the natural world around us — the massing clouds, the white ibis by the shore. In Barcelona, a poetry competition is held every year. There are three prizes: The third prize is a rose made of silver, the second prize is a golden rose, and the first prize: a rose. A real rose. The flower itself. Think of that the next time the term “priorities” comes up.
Billy Collins
61.) Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked what we would do if the stars only came out once every thousand years. No one would sleep that night, of course… We would be ecstatic, delirious, and made rapturous by the glory of God. Instead, the stars come out every night, and we watch television.
Paul Hawken
What to write on a high school graduation card?
62.) Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.
Winston Churchill
63.) Go make your big beautiful dent, and as you do so, come down on the side of boldness. If you err, may it be for too much audacity and not too little. For you really are enough. You have untold strengths and resources inside. You have your glorious self.
Sue Monk Kidd
Motivational Graduation Quotes
64.) It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.
E. E. Cummings
65.) Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.
Martin Luther King Jr
66.) The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Eleanor Roosevelt
67.) Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.
Malcolm X
68.) Your life is your story, and the adventure ahead of you is the journey to fulfill your own purpose and potential.
Kerry Washington
69.) There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.
C.S. Lewis
70.) Your imagination is your preview of life’s coming attractions.
Albert Einstein
71.) Every person you meet knows something you don’t; learn from them.
H Jackson Brown Jr.
Words of Wisdom For High School Grads
72.) Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world.
Nelson Mandela
73.) We do not need magic to change the world; we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.
JK Rowling
74.) The old rules are crumbling, and nobody knows what the new rules are. So make up your own rules.
Neil Gaiman
75.) Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.;
Albert Einstein
76.) Don’t just get involved. Fight for your seat at the table. Better yet, fight for a seat at the head of the table.
Barack Obama
77.) You may not always have a comfortable life, and you will not always be able to solve all of the world’s problems at once, but 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
78.) 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
What to Write on a high school graduation card
79.) It’s harder to build than destroy. To build is to engage and change. In jazz, we call progressing harmonies changes. Changes are like obstacles on a speed course. They demand your attention and require you to be present. They are coming…they are here — and then they are gone. It’s how life comes. Each moment is a procession from the future into the past and the sweet spot is always the present. Live in that sweet spot. Be present.
Wynton Marsalis – Internationally acclaimed Musician and Composer
80.) My favorite animal is the turtle. The reason is that in order for the turtle to move, it has to stick its neck out. There are going to be times in your life when you’re going to have to stick your neck out. There will be challenges, and instead of hiding in a shell, you have to go out and meet them.
Dr. Ruth Westheimer
81.) You’re going to be doing things, and you are going to be scared. It’s natural. Everybody is. And when that happens, and it’s going to happen more than once, do me a favor: go back to the days of your childhood, go in the 100 Acre Wood, take a deep breath, and just say, “I’m stronger than I seem, I’m braver than I believe, and I’m smarter than I think.” And then go do it; that’s what it is.
James Carville
82.) 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. Make good art.
Neil Gaiman
Confidence is King Quotations
83.) Confidence is a plant of slow growth.
English Proverb
84.) Believe that you can whip the enemy and you have won half the battle.
J.E.B. Stuart
85.) The way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear to do, and get a record of successful experiences behind you.
William Jennings Bryan
86.) Self-trust is the first secret of success.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
87.) Immense power is acquired by assuring yourself in your secret reveries that you were born to control affairs.
Andrew Carnegie
88.) To wish you were someone else is to waste the person you are.
Unknown
Courage Quotations
89.) Life is to be entered upon with courage.
Alexis de Tocqueville
90) One man with courage makes a majority.
Andrew Jackson
91.) Courage is sustained by calling up anew the vision of the goal.
A. G. Sertillanges
92.) Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke.
Benjamin Disraeli
93.) Despair gives courage to the coward.
Unknown
94.) There is, in the end, no remedy but truth. It is the one course that cannot be evil.
Ellis Peters
95.) Act boldly, and unseen forces will come to your aid.
Dorothea Brande
96.) Fortune favors the audacious.
Erasmus
97.) It takes courage to lead a life. Any life.
Erica Jong
98.) It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else.
Erma Bombeck
99.) We ought to face our destiny with courage.
Friedrich Nietzsche
100.) The human spirit is stronger than anything that can happen to it.
George C. Scott
101.) What one has to do usually can be done.
Eleanor Roosevelt
By Mike O’Halloran
Mike has authored four books and is the publisher of Greeting Card Poet.
Encore
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