“Everybody wants you to do good things, but in a small town you pretty much graduate and get married. Mostly you marry, have children and go to their football games.”
Graduation is an ending that feels like a beginning. These quotes capture the excitement, uncertainty, and wide-open possibility of stepping into whatever comes next — perfect for cards, speeches, or quiet moments of reflection.
“From kindergarten to graduation, I went to public schools, and I know that they are a key to being sure that every child has a chance to succeed and to rise in the world.”
“Everybody wants you to do good things, but in a small town you pretty much graduate and get married. Mostly you marry, have children and go to their football games.”
“In this outward and physical ceremony we attest once again to the inner and spiritual strength of our Nation. As my high school teacher, Miss Julia Coleman, used to say: 'We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles.'”
“It is virtually impossible to compete in today's global economy without a college degree.”
“I was a lesbian for a semester at Wesleyan - it was a graduation requirement.”
“Being considerate of others will take your children further in life than any college degree.”
“I first became interested in women and religion when I was one of the few women doing graduate work in Religious Studies at Yale University in the late 1960's.”
“I'm not retiring. I am graduating. Today is my graduation day. Retirement means that you'll just go ahead and live on your laurels and surf all day in Oceanside. It ain't going to happen.”
“For a man to attain to an eminent degree in learning costs him time, watching, hunger, nakedness, dizziness in the head, weakness in the stomach, and other inconveniences.”
“I got all my work done to graduate in two months and then they were like, I'm sorry, you have to take driver's ed. I just kind of went, Oh, forget it.”
“I was the first boy in the Kennedy family to graduate from college.”
“We don't stop going to school when we graduate.”
“Knowledge is invariably a matter of degree: you cannot put your finger upon even the simplest datum and say this we know.”
“A graduation ceremony is an event where the commencement speaker tells thousands of students dressed in identical caps and gowns that 'individuality' is the key to success.”
“Never go to your high school reunion pregnant or they will think that is all you have done since you graduated.”
“This man used to go to school with his dog. Then they were separated. His dog graduated!”