The unfortunate, truly exciting thing about your life is that there is no core curriculum. The entire place is an elective. The paths are infinite and the results uncertain. College is something you complete. Life is something you experience. So don't worry about your grade or the results or success. Success is defined in myriad ways, and you will find it, and people will no longer be grading you.
~ Jon Stewart, William & Mary, 2004
Your calling isn't something that somebody can tell you about. It's what you feel. It is the thing that gives you juice. The thing that you are supposed to do. And nobody can tell you what that is. You know it inside yourself.
~ Oprah Winfrey, Howard University, 2007
Relish the fact that the road of your life will probably be a windy road. Something like the yellow brick road in The Wixard of Oz. You see the glory of Oz up ahead, but there are lots of twists and turns along the way - lots of tin men, lots of green women.
~ Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, Mount Holyoke, 2001
There's a ball. There's a hoop. You put the ball through the hoop. That's success.
~ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, UCLA, 2007
