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We've hand-picked over 350 addresses going back to 1774. Search by name, school, date or theme.

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Andy Samberg at Harvard || Commencement 2012 (Max Sabo)

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Andy Samberg at Harvard || Commencement 2012 (Max Sabo)

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Andy Samberg's 2012 Harvard Commencement speech demonstrated excellence in writing/presenting speeches, from beginning to end. His overarching idea seemed to be that as college graduates, you're whole life is still ahead of you and it's important that you do what you love. He spoke to the audience with a constant smile on his face, coating his words with a cheerful layer of humor. This humor used the Pathos appeal to make the audience feel comfortable listening to him speak. However, as a good public speaker should, he crafted the humor so as not to completely distract the audience from the point he's trying to get across.

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We've hand-picked over 350 addresses going back to 1774. Search by name, school, date or theme.

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Rocky Balboa inspirational self doubt speech

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Rocky Balboa inspirational self doubt speech

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This isn't a graduation speech but I feel like the significance of this scene has a lot of importance to self doubt. Rocky tells his son that people can't change the way you are, you have the power to decide what you want to be. Living in the shadows is no way to live.
"You stopped being you. You let people stick a finger in your face and tell you you’re no good. And when things got hard, you started looking for something to blame, like a big shadow." Rocky talks about how self doubt controls your life. That you can't listen to the people who try to bring you down.
"But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward." Even when life brings you down, you still have the power to change. To do something better for yourself no matter the situation.

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Rocky Balboa's Inspirational Speech To His Son [HD]

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Barack Obama, 2010, University of Michigan. (Emily L) 

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Barack Obama, 2010, University of Michigan. (Emily L) 

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Barack Obama has Pathos, Logos, and Ethos in his speech, making it very powerful. He starts off with humor, to gain audience's attention, and to help people feel like he's a regular person, and empathize with what he says. Then he quickly establishes his credibility (ethos), by remarking (humorously) on his profession as President.  He then uses Pathos again by telling a story that is important to him, and relates to his message, so that he is humanized. Throughout he uses logos by using facts, and uses language, pauses, and hand gestures to make himself seem confident, making his speech very eloquent.

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President Obama at Michigan Commencement

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Bill Clinton, Yale University Commencement Speech,point, 2010 (Malone)

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Bill Clinton, Yale University Commencement Speech,point, 2010 (Malone)

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Bill Clinton addressed the Yale University class of 2010 in a much different light then I have seen before. To start off his speech, he lightened the mood of the crowd with humor, reminiscing on his time at Yale. About 10 minutes in, he starts to reveal his overarching point, emphasizing how all humans are 99.5 percent related. To add to that, he connects how the similarity between us goes to show how we are all going through struggles together. He lists the main elements that he felt the world was lacking: It is too unstable, it is too unequal, and it is unsustainable. And eventually, he shows to the crowd that as we are 99.5 percent similar, global warming and global climate change is affecting us humans at the same rate, and it relates to the three main problems with our world today.

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We've hand-picked over 350 addresses going back to 1774. Search by name, school, date or theme.

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Bill Clinton, Yale University Commencement Speech, 2010 (Malone)

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Bill Clinton, Yale University Commencement Speech, 2010 (Malone)

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J.K Rowling. Harvard Commencement Speech, 2008 (Shaleena) 

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J.K Rowling. Harvard Commencement Speech, 2008 (Shaleena) 

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J.K Rowling's speech to Harvard's graduating class of 2008 teaches the students about failure. Of course first and most obviously used is logos because of Rowling's famous book series, Harry Potter. Making jokes about the world of Harry Potter, relating them to real life. She speaks about how high expectations are and how much responsibility you have, but then jokes about how they are graduating Harvard. She then uses Pathos to talk about her own experiences with failure, talking about her failed marriage seven years out of college. She was poor, but still had a home and her daughter. She used that failure as a foundation of her success. She said that life can not be lived without failure: "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."

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J.K. Rowling Harvard Commencement Speech | Harvard University Commencement 2008

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Jonathan Safran Foers, Middlebury College, 2013 (Parker)

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Jonathan Safran Foers, Middlebury College, 2013 (Parker)

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Jonathan talks about being human and how nobody is perfect. He quotes "It can be messy, painful, and almost impossible difficult. It is what we get in exchange in having to die and that is beautiful". He talks more about the good in life and what it has to offer even when it is hard. He uses good eye contact with the crowd . He is constantly looking at his paper and then back at the crown. He uses humor and makes the crowd laugh . He tells jokes which shows he isn't very nervous. The third thing is he tells stories that reflect to his point. This helps by giving you an idea of what he means and gives you a way to look at life.

http://apps.npr.org/commencement/speech/jonathan-safran-foer-middlebury-college-2013/

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Barbara Bush, University of Wellesley commencement Speech, 1990 (Jozie)

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Barbara Bush, University of Wellesley commencement Speech, 1990 (Jozie)

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George Bush's wife, Barbara Bush gave a commencement speech to the Wellesley class of 1990 graduates. Her words of advice urge those graduating students to leave from their first class education to find where you fit in, not where people think you're supposed to fit in. Be the person you want, to make the change in the world that you want. Barbara also tells the class to leave Wellesley and make your life fun, because it's supposed to be. She uses a quote from a comedy movie, Ferris bueller's day off about life to make the class understand that they need to look around and see their opportunities in life. (Pathos, by making the audience laugh, but also understand the importance of the quote) Then Barbara tell them to cherish their family, friend connections. Its important when you put in so much hard work in dedication to a profession, that you have a supportive group of people you can take a breather/break with and enjoy life. So hold on to those people you enjoy being around.

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Barbara Bush - Wellesley College Commencement

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Barbara Pierce Bush: Commencement Address at Wellesley College, delivered 1 June 1990. Complete transcript and HD audio at: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barbarabushwellesleycommencement.htm

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Conan O'Brien, Dartmouth Commencement Speech, 2011 (Taylor) 

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Conan O'Brien, Dartmouth Commencement Speech, 2011 (Taylor) 

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Conan O'brien uses pathos in his speech. He engages the audience by making them laugh, and cracks jokes about the President, Dartmouth and the struggles of life after college. He uses body language like looking back at the president when making jokes about him, and raising his arm when he's being applauded. He projects his voice and has his chin outwards and shoulders back for good posture. Conan also uses logos, because he researched Dartmouth's history to engage with the student and teachers. He also gets more serious towards the end and offers the students advice for life after college. Some of the advice was not as serious, which made everyone laugh, but he also made a point of telling the student that failing is okay, and to not be afraid of it, but also try your best not to.

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Conan O'Brien Delivers Dartmouth's Commencement Address

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Conan O'Brien, whom The Washington Post has called "the most intelligent of the late-night comics," delivered the main address at Dartmouth College's 2011 Commencement exercises on Sunday morning, June 12.

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Stephen King, Vassar Commencement Speech, 2001 (Mia) 

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Stephen King, Vassar Commencement Speech, 2001 (Mia) 

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On May 20th, 2001 Stephen King stood before the graduating class of Vassar College to talk to them about a grim topic: the brevity of life itself. He quoted songs and singers, old proverbs, etc. in order to make his point; life is incredibly short, like the blink of an eye, and all that we have now and will have will eventually be useless to us. So, of course, for what purpose would we cling to and clutch these ridiculous things such as money, health insurance, microwaves, food, cell phones and other conveniences? Why on earth, when we have so much already, would we be so greedy as to try and keep it all locked away for when we reach death's door? The answer being: there is no good reason, no purpose. If there be no reason to keep it all locked away, if there be no due cause for us to take and save and take and store, then why not use this insignificant stuff right now- give it away so that it does have a purpose: helping those in need and bettering the world! For this is our time and our purpose- doing what we can with what we have to help people right now, because there is no sense in having it all just so that you can lose it all at 93, when your body is frail and your mind is gone.

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Jennifer Lee UNH, 2014 Commencement Speech (Jordan P)

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Jennifer Lee UNH, 2014 Commencement Speech (Jordan P)

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Jennifer Lee's commencement speech at UNH for the graduates of 2014 was a strong message to the young adults starting out their lives in the real world to never doubt yourself, otherwise you won't get the opportunities that you crave. Jennifer uses examples from her own life(Pathos) in her early career involving the amount of self doubt that she had. Jennifer uses the example that if she had shut down all the people that tried to give her advice about her movie Frozen
(Ethos) she wouldn't be where she is today. Part of not having self doubt is the ability to accept critique. When Jennifer is speaking you can tell that the subject is something that she has dealt with in her life a lot, she shows this through the emotion she uses throughout her speech. As the listener of her speech it was easier for me to relate knowing that I am not the only one who struggles with self doubt.

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Jefferson Smith, University of Oregon Commencement Speech, 2012 (Melody) 

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Jefferson Smith, University of Oregon Commencement Speech, 2012 (Melody) 

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On May 8th at the University of Oregon Jefferson Smith's Commencement speech addressed the graduating class of 2012. He wanted them to think about what they want to be when they grow up, not something that will be good to show off to neighbors and friends. He wanted them to "do something that you really believe in, not something where there is a ladder you have to climb." He talks about his life when he was in elementary school (pathos) In the class everybody went around and said what they wanted to be. One student said he wanted to be a firetruck and everybody laughed till he said that he was serious, that it was his dream. That's when Jefferson said to the graduating class to do something that you really want to do and to not "Screw yourself over". Jefferson constantly made little jokes here and there to engage the class. He also made little hand gestures to point to the class and refer to them. He even talks about how the world defines success and what history has to show about real success(logos).

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Jefferson Smith Graduation Speech Transcript:

MichelleObama could not be here this morning. My name is Jefferson Smith and class of 2012, friends, family and faculty, I am an Oregon duck. It is said that history has time for but one sentencefor anyone. What will your sentence be?

I sat through this ceremony before this beautiful arena had been built alongside thousands of classmatesand our families. We

asked ourselves essentially the same question. What will we be when we grow up?

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When I was in preschoolwe were going around the class and talking about what we wanted to be whenwe grew up. We were going around and people were saying police officer, firefighter, and Real estate mobile. It came to my friend who I remember because he was the other tallest kid in the class. He said, "I want to be a fire engine." I being a busy body in the class said,"You can't be a fire engine." He said, "My mom told me I could be anything I want." We all looked around the room; our moms had told us pretty much the same thing.

It is not entirely true that you can be anything you wantbut it's not as much of a lie as you might think. The world is pretty open. They say history has time for about one sentence for any of us.

GeorgeWashington was thefather of our country. Harriet Tubman led the Underground Railroad. The generation of earlier last century, they called that the greatest generation. What will your sentence be?

I know I'm supposed to come up here and tell you that many opportunities come for you and I'll say something about that but I want to say something else. You might be screwed. I don't know why you're clapping; you've misunderstood the meaning of that word.

Not just you, not just University of Oregon graduates, in some important respects your whole generation is getting screwed. You're projected to be the first generation of face lower lifetimeearnings than your parents. Many of you're looking for jobs in what economists say over the past five or sixyearshas been the toughest job market since the Great Depression. Your generation faces the greatest wealth disparity since before World War II. There are real questions about whether the systems of our democracy are in the position to solve our biggest problems and address the public interest.Other

generations have had it hardand you've had advantages. You haven't had to face a draft. You've got a cool phone; it's like star trek. Actually it's way better than star trek because they don't have Angry Birds.

The point here isn't to spark comparison about whether you faced relatively more blessingsor relatively more challenges than others. The point hereis that it is up to you to deal with those challenges. I want to offer some thoughts and questions about coming to grips with that. That includes rethinking some of our

fundamental assumptions. This commencement is not a pity party.

I am here to call you to service. First, how do we define success? Do we measure it materially orexternally by our houses or cars, our consumer electronics, the distance of our vacations, or more from within, in core purpose? An over-reliance on certain measures of success can mess up a person. It can mess upa country. It can encourage folks to ring up unsustainable debtso that life looks good to the neighbors. It can encourage banks to depart from a mission of smart capital accessand to over define their mission is strictly the pursuit of profit.

Even if greed were good, greed it is not enough. BarryDillerled paramountwhen he supervised both MichaelEisner, who became head of Disney and JeffreyKatzenberg, who became the 'K' in DreamWorksSKG. He helped transform paramount and modern movie industry. Big opening weekends were called blockbusters because the line outside the movietheatre would bust the block. Miller told the young Katzenberg "I never want you to fight for a project because you think it might havea market. I only want you to fight for a project because you believe in it."

I thought about that, why wouldBarryDiller say this?He is not somenon-profiteer, some political advocate; this was Barry Diller trying to makemoney for paramount. It occurred to me,I suppose we work harder for somethingif we believe in it. It also occurred to make the perhaps were bad guessers. Evenarmed with polls and focus group information we can't be entirely sure what will please other people. A much better guide is our own internal compass.

WhenI pass along that adviceI do it also because maybe that fighting for things we believe in is one of themost important purposes of our lives. We often visualize success as a

ladder.WhenI sat where you are sitting I certainly did.

Early on, I graduated class president, voted most likely to succeed. After my father, who would've taken care of me and my mother passed from cancer, I was fortunate to be able to get an in-state tuition and great education at

the University of Oregon

I wanted to go to law school and I got into the best one I could, Harvard. I graduated pretty near the top my class and got a job with the highest paying law firm I could find in Manhattan because it was the highest paying law firm I could find. More and more of their work was becoming big tobacco defense. My mother had passed from cancer.

On one of my first Sunday evenings in New York, I didn't know my way around andI walked to a nearby McDonald's. The place was filled with families in their Sunday besthaving come from the church around the corner. I was standing in line next to afamily, an AfricanAmerican man and Latino wife and two small children. The kids were asking their dad for happy meals. The dad said no you can have cheeseburgers and the kids did what I would have done.That's their mother, and she turned to her husband and she said can't they just have happy meals? He looked at her and he wasn't angry; he was scared and he saidthey could.

HereI was,27 years old, projected to make a quarter million dollars that year and next to me was a family obviously working, going to church, doing the right thing, arguing about whether they could afford happy meals for Sunday dinner in the richest countries in the history of the world.
My ladder had gone off its rails a bit after that. I realized I wasn't cut out to represent big tobacco or eventually be a corporate lawyer. Weshow off and have a vision of success as a ladder to climb. But there is no ladder, and it has no top and eventually we have to decide what we want to do, what we want to be,what we want to stand for, and eventually we die.

None of us reach much success alone and we need not define success limited to what we do by ourselves. Iattended a thank you party for politicians ran for office in 2010 and lost. I was asked to say something at what amounted to a political wake and I said, "None of us in this room will be GeorgeWashington. None of us will beGandhi. If we

define our success by the station that we reach we can't winbut if we define success by the movements in which we participate, in what we stand for and what we work towards we can't lose.

When invited to do a talk like this we're supposed to give advice,this assumes that I know more than I do but here's what I

think. My advice for how we might get unscrewed is work hard, define success more meaningfully, work together, you can't do anything you want but you can do more than you think. Find what you care about, what you can do, what you can get good at, and do that. Don't just think about what already exists. Think about what doesn't and do that. Don't just choose between your creative brain and your logical brain. The future belongs to those who can use their whole brain. Don't just be tools of machines or raging against machines but build new machines. Considernot only have a serve yourself but how to serve. We need you.

After taking so many tests over the past several years you have some more important questions to answer going forward. What are you going to do? If it takes 10,000 hours to get really good at something, what is worth your 10,000hours? What will be success for you? Not just what you can get but what can you accomplish? How might you find things that are worth fighting for? What can we create, not just by and for ourselves but together? How can you and how will you help get us unscrewed? Can you be the next greatest generation?

When historians are writing about the twenty first century what will they write about and what will they write about you? History has time for a sentence. What will your sentence be?

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Jefferson Smith Graduation Speech - Video & Transcript

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Jefferson Smith Graduation Speech Transcript: MichelleObama could not be here this morning. My name is Jefferson Smith and class of 2012, friends, family and faculty, I am an Oregon duck. It is said that history has time for but one

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Whoopi Goldberg 2011 SCAD Commencement Address (Isabel)

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Whoopi Goldberg 2011 SCAD Commencement Address (Isabel)

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Whoopi Goldberg's commencement speech to Savannah College of Art and Design's class of 2011 had a very clear message; be yourself,  and be open to growth and change.  Whoopi tells stories of her childhood (pathos) to connect to the students.  She makes a strong point that she was "strange".  Whoopi emphasized that being dyslexic, she was not scholarly, but she was able to express herself through art.  People doubted her and questioned her, but she stuck to her dreams and went huge places.  She tells of how she got to where she is, and she wouldn't have gotten there without being open to new ideas and changing her ways.  This speech was very powerful because Whoopi has extreme credibility (ethos), and she used amazing non verbal communication with her hands and facial expressions.

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Whoopi Goldberg Graduation Speech Transcript:

Thanks, thank you.

This is a pretty amazing situation herebecause I amsomeplace I used to dream about when I was a kid.

Now I was lucky as you all are and I know, Dean, that you thanked the parents but I want to turn the lights up on the parents one more time so you can see what I'm saying to you and that I mean from my heart.

The fact that you did not deride your children for their dreams, the fact that youbit whatever was going to come out of your mouth, you swallowed it, you said,"Okay and I hope this works out for you. You know you never want to work but okay..." I want you to lookat what you have produced. These are your children. You did thisand I'm saying to you "Thank you." You did this.

Let me tell you something. I was really lucky. I had really weird mother. She also had another really weird child but I was the weirder of the two. Basically she said to me, "Well, it's ok if you're weird. Are you willing to pay the price for it?" and I was like, "I don't know what you mean." because I was just me. She said,"You realize that not everybodyis going to get you, not everybody is going to see what you see, not everybody's going to feel what youfeeland you can talk until you're white in the face. They still may not get it and not only may they not get it, they may not likeyou. When it's all said and done, are you prepared to take that on, in order to stay an individual?"

It seemed to me that it was easier to be an individual, less people were screaming at you. Most of the time people would just step away from you. When I was a kid I dreamed of this place, a place where film and media and liberal arts and design and fashion and architecturecould live because you see these were all things I was interested in.

I couldn't read because I was dyslexic and didn't learn until I was fifteen but Iknew what I saw. I knew what I felt. I knew what I wanted to do.

I'm so pleased to be here. I know I've done this a bit butt backwards so I want to thank the school and all the adults. I'm not sure that you are an adult, Dean, I'm just not sure. I'm supposed to say something witty and smart to you. Well, I have to say witty and smart and keep it clean.

Here's whatI think, if you believe in what you're doingdo it. It's hard. There are not a lot of people these days that seem to understand it. It's where high schools and grammar schools are having such a hard time. These arts are not looked uponas necessitiesbut they are, for kids like me who couldn't articulate what they needed to do.Thearts were my way of speaking.

For people who may not be able to say exactly what they mean they can draw it. It's a way of communicating and if we cut it offthen we are more than barbarians because we know better.

You all have a lot of things you want to do and you'll get some of them done. Some of them you're not going to get donebut you've got to be flexible, baby, because this is a great room to be in but once you're out thereyou're going to have to learn how to play well with others. I tell you this from experience.

I am on a show now where I have had to learnto be flexible in my thinking, to hear the other opinion, in case even though they're wrong all the other times, in case there is something fantastic being said. You don't know everything.

You're prepared for muchbut you've got to learn a lot once you step out of these doors. If you're lucky enough to have made friends with folks in the schools then you've got a little bit of a supportsystem.

Don't be afraid to ask the question, "What do you mean?" Don't be afraid to say, "I created this this way and this is whyand I know you want to give me a lot of money but you want too much." because those are the decisions are going to have to make, when to compromise how to compromise, if to compromise at all. You're the big hot stuff right nowbut you're entering into a wholenew groupand you have to hold your own. You cannot hold your own if you're rigid. You have to be able to serve.

Stand up for what you believe in. It's okay to be wrong. It's okay to know stuff in your heart and discover that you were wrong andcomp to it. Say,"You know what? I've changed my mind. This has become a terrible thing to do in this country and only art can bringit back."

There is nothing wrong with continued growth, with evolution it's part of theprocess. Just because you're here now doesn't mean that's where you're going to end up. It's a great ride. There are so many great things to do andif it's in you, you won't be able to do it any other way.

Sure you could try to go work at a bankbut all of those checks that you'relooking at are going to have doodles on them. You'd be writing plays on the back of people'scontracts in the lawyer's office because it's just there. It's in you.

I'm knocked out by you alland so jealous. I would give anythingto live this moment. I've never done this. I wasn't school material. In the old days, when I was

a kid, they said "No she should be in the slow class." because

they didn't have words for what was wrong with mebut it didn't seem to stop me.

Believe and be you. Be unique. Be preparedto be alone sometimes when you're unique. It's not a bad thing. You could travel with the sheep, followeverybody else's stuff but then you're not you. I guess if I want to say anything it's "Be you." Be true to you and that should make the ride a little more interesting.

I could do a big finish. This is the thing that happens when I'm talking from here. If I talk from here it's like, okay that's it. When I'm talking from the B.S.place I could have you laughing for days but I just figured I want to say thank you for letting me come and letting me talk to you aboutmy strangeness and my desire to see youtake the world by storm.

I'm so proud to be with you all, and to all the teachers, bravo.

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Whoopi Goldberg Graduation Speech - Video & Transcript

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Whoopi Goldberg Graduation Speech Transcript: Thanks, thank you. This is a pretty amazing situation herebecause I amsomeplace I used to dream about when I was a kid. Now I was lucky as you all are and I know, Dean, that

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BO JACKSON, University of Auburn Commencement Speech, 2009 (Bryson)

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BO JACKSON, University of Auburn Commencement Speech, 2009 (Bryson)

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On May 9th, University of Auburn graduate Bo Jackson commencement speech addresses the graduating class of 2009.  His message, to "Get outside of the box. Make things happen, be your own person." He tells about several experiences he has gone through in his life that inspires the audience (pathos). He grew up with a speech impediment and was terrified to speak in class. Bo also engages the students by using humor. Bo also uses ethos (credibility). He was an outstanding football  player, in fact a member of the NFL hall of fame, so this one example makes him a credible source. Bo talks a lot about how many opportunities the world offers you, so don't be closed minded.

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We've hand-picked over 350 addresses going back to 1774. Search by name, school, date or theme.

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Jennifer Lee, UNH Commencement Speech, 2014

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Jennifer Lee, UNH Commencement Speech, 2014

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1992 University of New Hampshire graduate Jennifer Lee's commencement speech compels the graduating class of 2014 to "ban self-doubt." She tells several stories (pathos) from her life to make her message relatable to students. As a UNH alumna and director of box office smash "Frozen," Jennifer has ethos (credibility) and uses humor to communicate her compelling message. She also talks with her hands, which is an effective element of her nonverbal communication to her audience. She shares that, even with a blockbuster film under her belt, she has to find self-doubt. Most of us can relate and the message is powerful. If she has self-doubt and can defeat it, we can, too.