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Graduation quotes Graduation marks both an achievement and a beginning. This collection follows learning beyond the ceremony: the humility to keep listening, the courage to attempt difficult work, the character revealed in action and the relationships that make progress possible. Every selection comes from an identified public-domain text, so a familiar line can be read in its original setting.
How to use this collection: Pair a short quotation with a personal sentence about the graduate’s particular achievement and the next chapter they have chosen.
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59 verified quotes
✓ Source verified “This above all: to thine own self be true.” William Shakespeare
Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3 · View source
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✓ Source verified “Is it not a pleasure, having learned something, to try it out at due intervals?” Confucius
Analects, Book 1 · View source
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✓ Source verified “When I walk along with two others, they may serve me as my teachers.” Confucius
Analects, Book 7 (Shu Er) · View source
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✓ Source verified “Sweet are the uses of adversity.” William Shakespeare
As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 1 · View source
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✓ Source verified “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Essays, First Series — Circles · View source
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✓ Source verified “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” William Shakespeare
As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 7 · View source
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✓ Source verified “I can no other answer make but thanks, and thanks, and ever thanks.” William Shakespeare
Twelfth Night, Act 3, Scene 3 · View source
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✓ Source verified “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.” William Shakespeare
Henry V, Act 4, Scene 3 · View source
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✓ Source verified “Our doubts are traitors, and makes us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.” William Shakespeare
Measure for Measure, Act 1, Scene 4 · View source
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✓ Source verified “The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.” Confucius
Analects, Book 14 (Xian Wen) · View source
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✓ Source verified “Is it not delightful to have friends coming from distant quarters?” Confucius
Analects, Book 1 (Xue Er) · View source
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✓ Source verified “The arms best adapted to old age are culture and the active exercise of the virtues.” Marcus Tullius Cicero
On Old Age, section 3 · View source
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