300 Best Graduation Quotes and Sayings Guaranteed to Inspire

Graduation. It’s kind of a big deal.

One of those few single momentous days in life that marks a milestone change.

It’s a push from the safety nest. It’s a rite of passage from the “carefree kid life” to “what do you want to do with the rest of your life”.

It’s scary. It’s exciting. And even a little bit sad.

Most of us are fortunate enough to experience this life-changing event, or are about to celebrate someone who is.

Maybe it’s the mom in me, but I fretted over the exact right words of wisdom to write to my own kids, hoping they might reread my advice several times throughout their lives.

So if you’re also struggling with something to say that’s as special as the day, I’ve collected over 300 of the best graduation quotes to get you going.

And these inspiring, positive, and even sometimes funny messages are worth the read even if you don’t have an upcoming graduation.

The snippets of insight from famous celebrities, politicians, business entrepreneurs, and more help give us that motivating kick in the pants we need to deal with life no matter where we are on its path.

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When to use these quotes for graduation.

You’re sure to find that perfect thoughtful thing to write for a:

• High School graduation
• College graduation
• Kindergarten graduation
• Graduation card wording
• Memory book or scrapbook caption
• Yearbook message
• Social media post
• Gift inscription
• Celebratory toast
• Commencement speech
• “Congratulations on your graduation” gift note

Inspirational graduation quotes.

• “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” —Steve Jobs
• “It is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all—in which case, you fail by default.” —J.K. Rowling
• “We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already. We have the power to imagine better.” —J.K. Rowling

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. You have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” —Steve Jobs

• “Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” —Steve Jobs
• “The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart you’ll know when you find it.” —Steve Jobs
• “You can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.” —Jim Carrey

• “Talent is a pursued interest. Anything that you’re willing to practice, you can do.” ―Bob Ross
• “We don’t stop going to school when we graduate.” —Carol Burnett
• “Don’t just get involved. Fight for your seat at the table. Better yet, fight for a seat at the head of the table.” —Barack Obama

“Cynicism has never won a war, or cured a disease, or started a business, or fed a young mind, or sent men into space. Cynicism is a choice. Hope is a better choice.” —Barack Obama

• “It is absolutely still possible to make a difference.” —Michelle Obama
• “Success is only meaningful and enjoyable if it feels like your own.” —Michelle Obama
• “You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not always be able to solve all of the world’s problems at once, but don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious, and hope can take on a life of its own. ” —Michelle Obama

• “We may live in an age of instant messaging, instant gratification, and Instagram, but there is no way to short circuit the path to success.” —Tory Burch
• “Education is something we have to keep pursuing day after day.” — Premier Brian Gallant
• “Your life is your story, and the adventure ahead of you is the journey to fulfill your own purpose and potential.” —Kerry Washington

“Every person you meet knows something you don’t. Learn from them.” —H. Jackson Brown Jr.

• “Instruction ends in the schoolroom, but education ends only with life.” —Frederick W. Robertson
• “What we learn with pleasure we never forget.” —Alfred Mercier
• “Persistence can change failure into extraordinary achievement.” —Mat Bondi

“If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it.” —William Arthur Ward

Graduation quotes for college.

• “You don’t go to university so you can punch a clock. You go to university so you can be in a position to make a difference.” —Janet Napolitano
• “Life is my college. May I graduate well, and earn some honors!” —Louisa May Alcott
• “Be willing to embrace wonder, to experience unexpected discovery, and to go in unknown directions. Never become so enamored of your own smarts that you stop signing up for life’s hard classes.” —Melissa Harris-Perry
• “A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car, but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.” —Theodore Roosevelt

• “When you leave here, don’t forget why you came.” —Adlai E. Stevenson
• “Education is the key to unlocking the world, a passport to freedom.” —Oprah Winfrey
• “Sometimes you find out what you are supposed to be doing by doing the things you are not supposed to do.” —Oprah Winfrey
• “It’s your turn to choose and define what success means to you. Now, others will try to define it for you, but yours is the only voice that matters.” —Octavia Spencer
• “Let us never be betrayed into saying we have finished our education; because that would mean we had stopped growing.” —Julia H. Gulliver

“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.” —Tom Brokaw

• “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” — Nelson Mandela
• “You are about to start the greatest improvisation of all. With no script. No idea what’s going to happen, often with people and places you have never seen before. And you are not in control. So say ‘yes.’ And if you’re lucky, you’ll find people who will say ‘yes’ back.” —Stephen Colbert
• “If we’d all stuck with our first dream, the world would be overrun with cowboys and princesses. So whatever your dream is right now, if you don’t achieve it you haven’t failed and you’re not some loser.” —Stephen Colbert

Graduation quotes for daughter.

• “The best protection any woman can have is courage.” —Elizabeth Cady Stanton
• “And though she be but little, she is fierce.” —Shakespeare
• “There’s something so special about a woman who dominates in a man’s world. It takes a certain grace, strength, intelligence, fearlessness, and the nerve to never take no for an answer.” —Rihanna

• “Never grow a wishbone, daughter, where your backbone ought to be.” —Clementine Paddleford
• “All the dreams I prayed you’d be, are all the things you are. You were once my little girl, and now my shining star.” —Uknown
• “For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.” —Audrey Hepburn
• “You have what it takes to be a victorious, independent, fearless woman.” —Tyra Banks

“She believed she could so she did.” —R.S. Grey

• “There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish.” —Michelle Obama
• “I can’t think of any better representation of beauty than someone who is unafraid to be herself.” —Emma Stone
• “Whatever you choose, however many roads you travel, I hope that you choose not to be a lady. I hope you will find some way to break the rules and make a little trouble out there. And I also hope that you will choose to make some of that trouble on behalf of women.” —Nora Ephron

Graduation quotes for son.

• “The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.” —Benjamin Disraeli
• “A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.” —David Brinkley
• “If I have a monument in this world, it is my son.” —Maya Angelou

• “Do not pray for easier lives, pray to be stronger men.” —John F. Kennedy
• “A father is a man who expects his son to be as good a man as he meant to be.” —Frank A. Clark
• “Men are what their mothers made them.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

Graduation quotes from movies and characters.

• “The brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all.” —Princess Diaries
• “Carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.” —Dead Poets Society
• “You must always have faith in people. And, most importantly, you must always have faith in yourself.” —Legally Blonde
• “Spread joy. Chase your wildest dreams.” —Patch Adams
• “Do or do not. There is no try.” —Yoda

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” —Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

• “Don’t let anyone ever make you feel like you don’t deserve what you want. Go for it.” —10 Things I Hate About You
• “It’s fine to live in the now. But the best thing about now is that there’s another one tomorrow. I’m gonna start makin’ them count.” —The Spectacular Now 
• “It is not our abilities that show what we truly are. It is our choices.” —Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• “There’s a million things I haven’t done. Just you wait, just you wait.” —Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton

 

• “If you focus on what you left behind, you will never be able to see what lies ahead.” —Ratatouille
• “There’s just no telling how far I’ll go.” —Moana
• “Sometimes the right path is not the easiest one.” —Pocahontas
• “You control your destiny. You don’t need magic to do it.” —Brave

Short graduation quotes.

• “Do not let making a living prevent you from making a life.” —John Wooden
• “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” —Steven Jobs
• “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” —Wayne Gretzky
• “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” —Albert Einstein
• “If you can believe it, the mind can achieve it.” — Ronnie Lott
• “You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.” —Oprah Winfrey
• “Follow your passion. It will lead you to your purpose.” —Oprah Winfrey
• “Kid, you’ll move mountains.” —Dr. Seuss
• “Don’t underestimate the power of your dreams.” — Corinna Ko

“Graduation is not the end; it’s the beginning.” —Senator Orrin Hatch

• “Get busy living or get busy dying.” —Stephen King
• “Intelligence without ambition is like a bird without wings.” —Dali
• “The only thing that ever sat its way to success was a hen.” —Sarah Brown
• “You can never be overdressed or overeducated.” —Oscar Wilde
• “The road to success is always under construction.” —Lily Tomlin
• “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” —Abraham Lincoln
• “Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be.” —Grandma Moses
• “Nothing can dim the light that shines from within.” —Maya Angelou
• “The highest result of education is tolerance.” —Helen Keller
• “It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” —Babe Ruth

• “Love the life you live. Live the life you love.” —Bob Marley
• “The only impossible journey is the one you never begin.” —Anthony Robbins
• “The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.” —B.B. King
• “Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.” —Babe Ruth
• “If you aren’t going all the way, why go at all?” —Joe Namath
• “Be bold, be courageous, be your best.” —Gabrielle Giffords
• “Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.” —Omar Khayyam
• “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” —Bobby Kennedy

“Nothing is impossible. The word itself says ‘I’m possible!’” —Audrey Hepburn

• “Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try it.” —John F. Kennedy
• “There is no script. Live your life. Soak it all in.” —Dick Costolo
• “Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” —Confucius
• “Follow your fear.” —Tina Fey
• “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” —Milton Berle
• “Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.” —Truman Capote
• “Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.” — Napoleon Hill
• “Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.” —Charles Kettering
• “Dream big and dare to fail.” —Norman Vaughan

“Your imagination is your preview of life’s coming attractions.” —Albert Einstein

• “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” —Mark Twain
• “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement.” —Helen Keller
• “Education is the ability to meet life’s situations.” —John G. Hibben
• “We know what we are, but know not what we may be.” —Shakespeare
• “This above all: To thine own self be true.” —William Shakespeare
• “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” —William Shakespeare
• “May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.” —Nelson Mandela
• “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” —Nelson Mandela
• “Whether you think you can or you can’t, you are right.” —Henry Ford
• “You can never plan the future by the past.” —Edmund Burke
• “Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.” —Jim Rohn

Graduation quotes for friends from song lyrics.

• “Don’t you, forget about me.” —Simple Minds, “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”
•  “If there’s a future, we want it, now.” —Paramore, “Now”
• “Tonight, we are young. So, let’s set the world on fire, we can burn brighter than the sun.” — Fun., “We Are Young”
• “Hey look Ma, I made it.” —Panic! at the Disco, “Hey look Ma, I Made It”

• “I, I did it all, I owned every second that this world could give, I saw so many places, the things that I did, yeah, with every broken bone I swear I lived.” — One Republic, “I Lived”
• “School’s out for summer. School’s out forever.” —Alice Cooper, “School’s Out”
• “Life is a highway, I’m gonna ride it all night long.” —Rascal Flatts, “Life is a Highway”

“It’s something unpredictable, but in the end it’s right, I hope you had the time of your life.” —Green Day, “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)”

• “And as our lives change, come whatever, we will still be friends forever.” —Vitamin C, “Graduation (Friends Forever)”
• “These memories are playing like a film without sound.” —Vitamin C, “Graduation (Friends Forever)”
• “I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance. Never settle for the path of least resistance.” —Lee Ann Womack, “I Hope You Dance”

“Today is where your book begins. The rest is still unwritten.” — Natasha Bedingfield, “Unwritten”

• “They love to tell you stay inside the lines but something’s better on the other side.” —John Mayer, “No Such Thing”
• “Half time goes by suddenly you’re wise.” —Five For Fighting, “100 Years”
• “It ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side. It’s the climb.” —Miley Cyrus, “The Climb”
• “You can take me anywhere the wind blows, right into the great unknown.” —American Authors, “What We Live For”

More unattributed graduation messages and sayings.

• “And so the adventure begins…” —Unknown
• “The world is calling…” —Unknown
• “Behind you all your memories, before you all your dreams, around you all who love you, within you all you need.” —Unknown

• “And this is the part where you find out who you are.” —Unknown
• “This is the beginning of anything you want.” —Unknown
• “The tassel’s worth the hassle.” —Unknown

Religious graduation quotes.

• “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” —Deuteronomy 31:8
• “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” —Jeremiah 29:11
• “God never said that the journey would be easy, but He did say that the arrival would be worthwhile.” —Max Lucado

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” —Philippians 4:13

• “You start to live when you commit to a cause higher than yourself. You must learn to depend on divine power for the fulfillment of a higher calling.” —Lailah Gifty Akita
• “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” —Timothy 4:12
• “She is clothed in strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.” —Proverbs 31:25
• Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” —Proverbs 16:3

• “When you find yourself in need of spiritual nourishment, it is in the opportunities to serve others that you will find the abundance you seek.” —Steve Maraboli
• “An unschooled man who knows how to meditate upon the Lord has learned far more than the man with the highest education who does not know how to meditate.” —Rev. Charles Stanley
• “The purpose of human life is to improve one’s character traits, by working on oneself every day. That’s why God gives us today—and tomorrow.” —Sara Yoheved Rigler