In football we always said that the other team couldn’t beat us. We had to be sure that we didn’t beat ourselves. And that’s what people have to do, too–make sure they don’t beat themselves.
– Woody Hayes
Commencement Address at Ohio State University, 1986
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When we experience our fear, when we say the words “I am scared,” we have the choice, the ability to acknowledge that being ‘scared’ is not who we are. It is not our identity.
– Paul Glaser
Commencement Address at Stanford School of Medicine, 2004
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We all go through life bristling at our external limitations, but the most difficult chains to break are inside us.
– Bradley Whitford
Commencement Address at University of Wisconsin, 2006…………………………………………………………………………………………..
You have untold strengths and resources inside. You have your glorious self.
– Sue Monk Kidd
Commencement Address at Scripps College, 2010…………………………………………………………………………………………..
Whatever blocks you encounter, you have learned that there is a way over, around or through them. It is not those obstacles that inhibit your progress but your confidence, and will to break the inertia of fear and doubt.
– Douglas Smith
Commencement Address at DeVry University, 2010…………………………………………………………………………………………..
We live by what we believe not but what we see.
Angela Ahrendts – Commencement Address at Ball State University, 2010…………………………………………………………………………………………..
The way to be happy is to like yourself. That’s the real reason not to lie or cheat or turn away in fear. There’s that old joke, not very funny, that goes “no matter where you go, there you are.” That’s true. The person who you’re with most in life is yourself and if you don’t like yourself you’re always with somebody you don’t like.
– Mark Lewis
Commencement Address at University of Texas at Austin, 2000
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Don’t let your fears overwhelm your desire. Let the barriers you face—and there will be barriers—be external, not internal. Fortune does favor the bold, and I promise that you will never know what you’re capable of unless you try.
– Sheryl Sandberg
Commencement Address at Barnard College, 2011…………………………………………………………………………………………..
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.
– Westheimer
Commencement Address at Trinity College, 2004
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Fear is primarily a creation of the mind. I create it in my mind—it doesn’t really exist outside the mind. I can dissolve it there as well.
– John Mackey
Commencement Address at Bently College, 2008
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Go off-road…Practice a little daring.
– Tony Snow
Commencement Address at Catholic University of America, 2007
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The world is not checking in with us to see what skills we’ve picked up, what idea we’ve concocted, what dreams we carry in our hearts. When a job opens, whether it’s in the chorus line or on the assembly line, it goes to the person standing there. It goes to the eager beaver the boss sees when he looks up from his work: the pint-sized kid standing at the basketball court on the playground waiting for one of the older boys to head home. “Hey, kid, wanna play?”
– Chris Matthews
Commencement Address at Fordham University, 2006
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You must achieve the confidence of knowing that you possess absolute, unbending, unimpeachable integrity. Everyone must know that. Above all else, it is integrity that defines your character.
– David Calhoun
Commencement Address at Virginia Tech, 2005
In football we always said that the other team couldn’t beat us. We had to be sure that we didn’t beat ourselves. And that’s what people have to do, too–make sure they don’t beat themselves.