Graduation Quotes

There is so much excitement and hope surrounding a new graduate, but that doesn't mean we always have the right words to express our best wishes for the graduate. That happened to me before.

When my cousin Dawn graduated from university, I wanted to give her some words of encouragement and inspiration. I couldn't find the appropriate words, so I dug out quotes that I believed would serve her well in her new journey ahead.

Quotes are timeless, they express loads of wisdom much better than I could have ever said or wished I've said them.

Whether you scrapbook, make cards, or just want to use these graduation quotes for someone you care about, you'll find a few gems to share with your graduate on this page!

Enjoy these graduation quotes!

All successful people men and women are big dreamers. They imagine what their future could be, ideal in every respect, and then they work every day toward their distant vision, that goal or purpose.
-- Brian Tracy

All our dreams can come true...if we have the courage to pursue them.
-- Walt Disney

An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.
-- Benjamin Franklin

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

Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.
-- Robert Louis Stevenson

Don't live down to expectations. Go out there and do something remarkable.
-- Wendy Wasserstein

During my second year of nursing school our professor gave us a quiz. I breezed through the questions until I read the last one: "What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?" Surely this was a joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Before the class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our grade. "Absolutely," the professor said. "In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say hello." I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy.
-- Joann C. Jones

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

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.
-- Henry David Thoreau

Go for it now. The future is promised to no one.
-- Wayne Dyer

Hitch your wagon to a star.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

I hope your dreams take you to the corners of your smiles, to the highest of your hopes, to the windows of your opportunities, and to the most special places your heart has ever known.
-- Author Unknown

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
-- Aristotle

If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it.
-- William Arthur Ward

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.
-- e.e. cummings

Just about a month from now I'm set adrift, with a diploma for a sail and lots of nerve for oars.
-- Richard Halliburton

My father always told me, "Find a job you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life."
-- Jim Fox

Put your future in good hands - your own.
-- Author Unknown

Sooner or later we all discover that the important moments in life are not the advertised ones, not the birthdays, the graduations, the weddings, not the great goals achieved. The real milestones are less prepossessing. They come to the door of memory unannounced, stray dogs that amble in, sniff around a bit and simply never leave. Our lives are measured by these.
-- Susan B. Anthony

The fireworks begin today. Each diploma is a lighted match. Each one of you is a fuse.
-- Edward Koch

The future lies before you
Like a field of driven snow,
Be careful how you tread it,
For every step will show.
-- Author Unknown

The horizon leans forward, offering you space to place new steps of change.
-- Maya Angelou

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

Things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out.
-- Art Linkletter

Think big thoughts but relish small pleasures.
-- H. Jackson Brown

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.
-- Anatole France

We cannot direct the wind but we can adjust the sails.
-- Author Unknown

When you leave here, don't forget why you came.
-- Adlai Stevenson, to college graduates

Wherever you go, go with all your heart.
-- Confucius

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.
-- Anthony J. D'Angelo

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

You cannot help but learn more as you take the world into your hands. Take it up reverently, for it is an old piece of clay, with millions of thumbprints on it.
-- John Updike

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.
You're on your own.
And you know what you know.
You are the guy who'll decide where to go.
-- Dr. Seuss

Your schooling may be over, but remember that your education still continues.
-- Author Unknown

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