The 6 Best Graduation Speeches on YouTube

It’s graduation time for Year 12 students in Australia. Emotions are high as students reflect on their years at school and look forward to university and the many years of adulthood that lie ahead. Graduation is a time of emotional speeches and life advice, and this post is no exception.

Here are my six favourite graduation speeches on YouTube. Watch them and be inspired.

1. Steve Jobs on “connecting the dots” (2005)

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

2. JK Rowling on “blaming your parents” (2008)

“There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you.”

3. Neil deGrasse Tyson on “thinking outside the box” (2012)

“You realize when you know how to think, it empowers you far beyond those who know only what to think. Now, let me tweet that”.

4. Oprah Winfrey on “doing what makes you come alive” (2013)

“Theologian Howard Thurman said it best. He said, ‘Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.'”

5. Bill Gates on “being an activist” (2007)

“Don’t let complexity stop you. Be activists. Take on the big inequities. It will be one of the great experiences of your lives.”

6. Barack Obama on “sacrifice and decency” (2009)

“Acts of sacrifice and decency without regard to what’s in it for you – those also create ripple effects – ones that lift up families and communities; that spread opportunity and boost our economy; that reach folks in the forgotten corners of the world who, in committed young people like you, see the true face of America: our strength, our goodness, the enduring power of our ideals.”

Know of any more that should be in this list? Share them in the comments section below.