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The Best Graduation Speeches of 2012

1. Neil Gaiman


 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.

“When you start off, you have to deal with the problems of failure. You need to be thickskinned, to learn that not every project will survive.

Commencement Address at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, 2012
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2. David McCullough Jr.


… the great and curious truth of the human experience is that selflessness is the best thing you can do for yourself.


Commencement Address at Wellesley High School, 2012
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3. Aaron Sorkin


 You’re going to fall down, but the world doesn’t care how many times you fall down, as long as it’s one fewer than the number of times you get back up.

“Develop your own compass, and trust it. Take risks, dare to fail, remember the first person through the wall always gets hurt.

Commencement Address at Syracuse University 2012
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4. Jane Lynch


 You can’t make a cloudy day a sunny day, but can embrace it and decide it’s going to be a good day after all.

“Stay fluid and roll with those changes. Life is just a big extended improvisation.”

Commencement Address at
Smith College 2012

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5. Ira Glass


 I cannot stress enough that the answer to a lot of your life’s questions is often in someone else’s face. Try putting your iPhones down every once in a while and look at people’s faces.

Commencement Address at Goucher College, 2012
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