University of Notre Dame: Barack Obama
We know these things; and hopefully one of the benefits of the wonderful education you have received is that you have had time to consider these wrongs in the world, and grown determined, each in your own way, to right them. And yet, one of the vexing things for those of us interested in promoting greater understanding and cooperation among people is the discovery that even bringing together persons of good will, men and women of principle and purpose, can be difficult.
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George Mason University: Steve Case
After graduating from college, I ended up in entry level jobs at a couple of companies, but all the while was obsessing about this interactive world, and trying to figure out when and how I could make a move to be part of what I saw as a coming revolution.
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USMA West Point: Robert Gates
I believe that for so long as we seek to be free men and women, for so long as the bright light of liberty shines, there will be those whose sole ambition, whose sole obsession, will be to extinguish that light. “I believe that only strength, eternal vigilance, and the continuing courage and commitment of warriors like you – and your willingness to serve at all costs – will keep the sacred light of American liberty shining: A beacon to all the world. “You have taken an oath to protect and defend the Constitution and we, the American people. The nation stands in awe of you. And I salute you.
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University of Illinois: Carl Schramm
Apart from military service and perhaps service in the clergy, to suggest that a career in the non-profit world is intrinsically better or more virtuous or more honorable than working in business is to advance a false dichotomy. The choice that awaits you is not one between head and heart. Most likely the choice you make will be one where you satisfy your heart by using your head. Most of you will make your way into the private sector. You will be nurses, and lawyers, and professors, architects, scientists, designers, salespeople, and builders. You will work with for-profit firms. Your head, if you are like most people, will take you into business. And as millions of people before you have done, you will take your heart along with you.
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Stanford University: Anthony Kennedy
Freedom must remain a central part of your story. From the beginning of our Republic, Americans have defined freedom by a moral principle. It is this: With our own freedom comes the duty to secure it for others. Freedom is the birthright of all. When we help others find freedom, we save our own.

Now, two people or two million people or two billion people cannot enjoy freedom without rules. So freedom goes hand in hand with law. This is just high school civics stuff. No surprise here. But the principles are so fundamental that it seems appropriate to discuss them at your commencement, as you consider how best to shape your life and your work.
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New York University: Hillary Rodham Clinton
The biggest challenges we face today will be solved by the 60 percent of the world's population under the age of 30. And already, young people, like all of you, are using their talents and ingenuity to help fashion their own brand of service and diplomacy.
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University of Michigan: Larry Page
Everyone in my family went to school here at Michigan: me, my brother, my Mom and Dad -- all of us. My Dad actually got the quantity discount: all three and a half of his degrees are from here. His Ph.D. was in Communication Science because they thought Computers were just a passing fad. He earned it 44 years ago. He and Mom made a big sacrifice for that. They argued at times over pennies, while raising my newborn brother. Mom typed my Dad's dissertation by hand. This velvet hood I'm wearing, this was my Dad's. And this diploma, just like the one you're are about to get, that was my Dad's. And my underwear, that was... oh never mind.
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USC: Arnold Schwarzenegger
I was lucky growing up because I did not have television or didn't have telephones, I didn't have the computers and the iPods. And, of course, Twitter was then something that birds did outside the window. I didn't have all these distractions and all this. I spent a lot of time by myself, so I could figure out and listen to what is inside my heart and inside my head.
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