Hitch your wagon to a star.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson“Civilization,” 1870
Graduation Speech Quotes
Six sourced lines for commencement speeches
A good graduation quote does one of two things: it points the audience toward the future, or it thanks the people behind the achievement. Pick one line, introduce it in a sentence, then tell the graduates what it means for them. Every quote below lists its author, work and year, so you can cite it with confidence.
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
— Alfred, Lord Tennyson“Ulysses,” 1842
O brave new world,
That has such people in’t!
— William ShakespeareThe Tempest, 1611
Not knowing when the Dawn will come,
I open every Door;
— Emily DickinsonPublished 1896
Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.
— Horace MannAntioch College baccalaureate address, 1859
Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
— Langston Hughes“Mother to Son,” 1922
Using a quote in a graduation speech
Open or close with the quote, not both. Say who wrote it and when, spend two sentences tying it to the graduates’ own story, and pause after the line so it lands. One well-chosen quote does more than three.