75 Inspiring Quotes About Graduation and Life for New Grads

Congratulations, graduates! As you embark on this new chapter in your lives, it’s important to remember the lessons that got you here and the ones that will guide you forward. Whether you’re feeling excited, nervous or a little bit of both, these 75 inspiring quotes about graduation and life are here to help you navigate this next phase of your journey.

From celebrities to historical figures, these quotes offer wisdom, encouragement and inspiration to help get you through whatever challenges or successes come next. So take a deep breath, read on, and let these words guide you as you move forward with confidence and determination!

Great Graduation Quotes for High School Grads

• “Don’t be afraid of fear. Because it sharpens you, it challenges you, it makes you stronger; and when you run away from fear, you also run away from the opportunity to be your best possible self.”—Ed Helms
• “Learn from every mistake because every experience, encounter, and particularly your mistakes are there to teach you and force you into being more who you are. And then figure out what is the next right move. And the key to life is to develop an internal moral, emotional G.P.S. that can tell you which way to go.” —Oprah
• Nobody else is paying as much attention to your failures as you are . . . to everyone else, it’s just a blip on the radar screen, so just move on. —Jerry Zucker

Moving Graduation Quotes for High School Grads

• “In response to those who say to stop dreaming and face reality, I say keep dreaming and make reality.” —Kristian Kan
• “You and you alone are the only person who can live the life that writes the story that you were meant to tell.” — Kerry Washington
• “Don’t be afraid. Be focused. Be determined. Be hopeful. Be empowered.” —Michelle Obama

Touching Graduation Quotes for High School Grads

• “He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.” —Muhammad Ali
• “When you respect the idea that you are sharing the Earth with other humans, and when you lead with your nice foot forward, you’ll win, every time. It might not be today, it might not be tomorrow, but it comes back to you when you need it.” —Kristen Bell
• “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

Heartfelt Graduation Quotes for High School Grads

• “Your inexperience is an asset in that it will make you think in original, unconventional ways. Accept your lack of knowledge and use it as your asset.” —Natalie Portman
• “You cannot dream of becoming something you do not know about. You have to learn to dream big. Education exposes you to what the world has to offer, to the possibilities open to you.” —Sonia Sotomayor
• “Fight for what makes you optimistic about the world. Find it, insist on it, dig into it, go after it.” —Jennifer Garner

Rousing Graduation Quotes for High School Grads

• “Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.” —Malcolm X
• “You must have some vision for your life. Even if you don’t know the plan, you have to have a direction in which you choose to go.” —Oprah
• “Your education is a dress rehearsal for a life that is yours to lead.” —Nora Ephron

Energizing Graduation Quotes for High School Grads

• “If you can do what you do best and be happy, you are further along in life than most people.” —Leonardo DiCaprio
• “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
• “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

Best Graduation Quotes for College Grads

• “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
• “Real leadership comes from the quiet nudging of an inner voice. It comes from realizing that the time has come to move beyond waiting to doing.” —Madeleine Albright
• “The horizon leans forward, offering you space to place new steps of change.” —Maya Angelou

Positive Graduation Quotes for College Grads

• “As you graduate, as you deal with your excitement and your doubts today, I urge you to try and create the world you want to live in. Minister to the world in a way that can change it. Minister radically in a real, active, practical, get your hands dirty way.” —Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• “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
• “You could travel with the sheep, follow everybody 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.” — Whoopi Goldberg

Further Graduation Quotes for College Grads

• “I celebrate you as you remember the power of grace and pride, and I challenge you to choose freedom over fear.” —Janelle Monáe
• “You can’t do it alone. Be open to collaboration. Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you. Spend a lot of time with them and it will change your life.” — Amy Poehler
• “That clock you hear is the sound of your own heart. Sink your teeth into this life, and don’t get let go.” —Lin-Manuel Miranda

Transformative Graduation Quotes for College Grads

• “Dreams are lovely. But they are just dreams. Fleeting, ephemeral, pretty. But dreams do not come true just because you dream them. It’s hard work that makes things happen. It’s hard work that creates change.” —Shonda Rhimes
• “There is nothing more beautiful than finding your course as you believe you bob aimlessly in the current. Wouldn’t you know that your path was there all along, waiting for you to knock, waiting for you to become. This path does not belong to your parents, your teachers, your leaders, or your lovers. Your path is your character defining itself more and more everyday like a photograph coming into focus.” —Jodie Foster
• “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” —Henry David Thoreau

Even More Fantastic Graduation Quotes for College Grads

• “Now the first suggestion is to aim high, but be aware that even before you have reached your ultimate professional destination, if you always strive for excellence, you can and should have a substantial impact on the world in which you live.” —Sandra Day O’Connor
• “There will be times when your best isn’t good enough. There can be many reasons for this, but as long as you give your best you’ll be OK.” —Robert De Niro
• “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” —John Dewey

Terrific Graduation Quotes for College Grads

• “When we show up, act boldly, and practice the best ways to be wrong, we fail forward. No matter where we end up, we’ve grown from where we began.” —Stacey Abrams
• “No job or task is too small or beneath you. If you want to get ahead, volunteer to do the things no one else wants to do, and do it better.” —Bobbi Brown
• “The meaning of life is to find your gift, the purpose of life is to give it away.” —Joy J. Golliver

Funny Graduation Quotes

• “Opportunity dances with those who are already on the dance floor.” —Jackson Browne
• “The road to success is always under construction.” —Lily Tomlin
• “You have to dance a little bit before you step out into the world each day, because it changes the way you walk.” —Sandra Bullock

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Humorous Graduation Quotes

• “You will stumble and fall, you will experience both disaster and triumph, sometimes in the same day. But it’s really important to remember that like a hangover, neither triumphs nor disasters last forever.” —Helen Mirren
• “If you aren’t going all the way, why go at all?” —Joe Namath
• “Get busy living or get busy dying.” —Stephen King

Lighthearted Graduation Quotes

• “We’re only here for so long. Be happy, man. You could get hit by a truck tomorrow.” —​Timothée Chalamet​
• “You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.” —Robin Williams
• “Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.” —Will Rogers

Spunky Graduation Quotes

• “Don’t allow people to dim your shine because they are blinded. Tell them to put on sunglasses.” —Lady Gaga
• “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” —Wayne Gretzky
• “You can’t climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets.” —Arnold Schwarzenegger

Inspiring Graduation Quotes for Life

• “There is no such thing as failure. Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction.” — Oprah Winfrey
• “When people tell you not to believe in your dreams, and they say ‘Why?’ say ‘Why not?'” —Billie Jean King
• “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

Proud Graduation Quotes for Life

• “You can never be the best. The only thing you can be the best at is developing yourself.” — Natalie Portman
• “When someone who loves you hugs you, hug them back with two arms—don’t do the one-arm hug, because when you hug someone with two arms, it allows you to lean on somebody, and we all need someone to lean on.” — Sandra Bullock
• “My favorite animal is the turtle. The reason is that in order for the turtle to move, it has to stick its neck out. There are going to be times in your life when you’re going to have to stick your neck out. There will be challenges, and instead of hiding in a shell, you have to go out and meet them.” —Ruth Westheimer

Elegant Graduation Quotes for Life

• “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” —Michael Jordan
• “It’s amazing what you can get if you quietly, clearly and authoritatively demand it.” —Meryl Streep
• “Understand that one day you will have the power to make a difference, so use it well.” —Mindy Kaling

Boosting Graduation Quotes for Life

• “No matter what happens in life, be good to people. Being good to people is a wonderful legacy to leave behind.” —Taylor Swift
• “We are all deserving and we don’t need permission or an invitation to exist and to step into our power.” —Ilhan Omar
• “I encourage you to live with life. Be courageous, adventurous. Give us a tomorrow, more than we deserve.” —Maya Angelou

Wonderful Graduation Quotes for Life

• “Real courage is holding on to a still voice in your head that says, ‘I must keep going.’ It’s that voice that says nothing is a failure if it is not final. That voice that says to you, ‘Get out of bed. Keep going. I will not quit.'” —Cory Booker
• “Frustration, although quite painful at times, is a very positive and essential part of success. —Bo Bennett
• “What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

Short Graduation Quotes

• “It is absolutely still possible to make a difference.” —Michelle Obama
• “If you can’t outplay them, outwork them.” —Ben Hogan
• “Being realistic is the most commonly traveled road to mediocrity.” —Will Smith

Brief Graduation Quotes

• “You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.” —Oprah Winfrey
• “It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” —Babe Ruth
• “Your imagination is your preview of life’s coming attractions.” —Albert Einstein

Best Graduation Quotes for Social Media

• “Be kind to yourself a little more every day.” —Dua Lipa
• “Nothing is impossible. The word itself says ‘I’m possible.'” —Audrey Hepburn
• “There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.” —C.S. Lewis

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Graduation Quotes for Social Media

• “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” —Eleanor Roosevelt
• “It is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate.” —George Burns
• “She turned her can’ts into cans and her dreams into plans.” —Kobi Yamada

Congratulations, once again, on your graduation! As you celebrate and reflect on your achievements, remember that this is just the beginning of an exciting new journey. Let these inspiring quotes be a source of guidance and inspiration as you navigate the ups and downs of life. Whether you read them daily, bookmark them for when you need a morale boost, or share them with others, let these wise words serve as a reminder that YOU have what it takes to make your dreams a reality. Best of luck on your next adventure!