Life

15 Inspirational Graduation Quotes

by Chelsey Grasso

When you graduate, you really feel on top of the world — that, or you're utterly terrified of the life that awaits you in the future. Either way, some inspirational graduation quotes might do you some serious good. Whether they're adding more fuel to your fire or striking a much needed match in your soul, you really can't go wrong.

Graduation represents so many things, but perhaps the most important is the fact that you'll be embarking on a new adventure following the ceremony. Life comes at you quickly, and you can never be prepared for every curve ball that it's going to throw your way... but that doesn't mean you can't take a swing at it with all that you've got.

If you've been fortunate enough to gain a good education, be it high school, college, graduate school, or a doctorate program, then you're already 10 steps ahead of a majority of the people on this earth. Use that to your advantage, and more significantly, use it in a way that will give back to the community from which you came. We really can change the world, and what better day is there to start than the day you graduate?

1. "A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality." — Yoko Ono

2. "What lies behind us, and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

3. "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." — Nelson Mandela

4. "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." — J.K. Rowling

5. "Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." — Winston Churchill

6. "I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions." — Stephen Covey

7. "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones that you did, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, dream, discover." — Mark Twain

8. "The important thing is to not stop questioning." — Albert Einstein

9. "There is no such thing as failure. Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction." — Oprah Winfrey

10. "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." — Maya Angelou

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

12. "The world is more malleable than you think and it's waiting for you to hammer it into shape." — Bono

13. "The future depends on what you do today." — Gandhi

14. "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. 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

15. "Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value." — Albert Einstein

Images: Giphy