13 Quotes to Celebrate Graduation

         Announcement cards, senior pictures, farewell speeches, yearbooks, caps, tassels, gowns and diplomas. ...

          You know how, from time to time, your mind sticks on a topic and it’s all you can think about or talk about? At the moment, that’s how it is with me. My head is full of party plans, grocery and guest lists -- and all because my son and his friends will graduate from high school this weekend.

          To celebrate, I’d like to share 13 quotes on graduations.

Header courtesy of samulli




1. “Graduation day is tough for adults. They go to the ceremony as parents. They come home as contemporaries. After years of child-raising, they are unemployed.” -- humorist Erma Bombeck
2. “The fireworks begin today. Each diploma is a lighted match. Each one of you is a fuse.” -- former New York Mayor Edward Koch
3. “There is a good reason they call these ceremonies 'commencement exercises'. Graduation is not the end, it's the beginning.” -- Sen. Orrin Hatch
4. “The tassel's worth the hassle!” --Author Unknown
5. “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.” -- South Africa's Nelson Mandela
6. “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.” -- comedy writer Robert Orben
7. “Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” –- Confucius
8. “Graduation is only a concept. In real life, every day you graduate. Graduation is a process that goes on until the last day of your life. If you can grasp that, you'll make a difference.” -- author Arie Pencovic
9. ”You are educated. Your certification is in your degree. You may think of it as the ticket to the good life. Let me ask you to think of an alternative. Think of it as your ticket to change the world.” -- broadcaster Tom Brokaw
10.  “At commencement you wear your square-shaped mortarboards. My hope is that from time to time you will let your minds be bold, and wear sombreros.” -- Law Prof. Paul Freund
11.  “Commencement speeches were invented largely in the belief that outgoing college students should never be released into the world until they have been properly sedated.” --cartoonist Garry Trudeau
12.   “Just about a month from now I'm set adrift, with a diploma for a sail and lots of nerve for oars.” -- American adventurer and author Richard Halliburton
13.  “Your families are extremely proud of you. You can't imagine the sense of relief they are experiencing. This would be a most opportune time to ask for money.” --Gary Bolding

          Do you have anyone graduating this spring? Or a bit of cap-and-gown wisdom you’d like to pass along? Please share. I'd love to hear from you.