quotations

Commencement II: O’Brien

May 17, 2010

I’m planning on posting a commencement speech every Monday through mid-June. Feel free to nominate your favorites for future inclusion. Commencement II: Class Day with Conan O’Brien I remember well the great uncertainty of this day. Many of you are justifiably nervous about leaving the safe, comfortable world of Harvard Yard and hurling yourself headlong [...]

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Commencement of commencement

May 10, 2010

It’s graduation season! I graduated from college 6 years ago, but graduation speeches still move me. For the next few weeks, I’m planning on posting a commencement speech every Monday. Feel free to nominate your favorites for future inclusion. Let’s start with my homegirl, H-dawg. One of the most tragic things that happened yesterday, a [...]

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Lucky girl

March 29, 2010

“Personally, I think if a woman hasn’t met the right man by the time she’s 24, she may be lucky.” -Deborah Kerr {image CC BY-NC-SA 2.0}

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Act without reference to others

March 15, 2010

I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness, without reference to you, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me. -Elizabeth Bennet

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Don’t be cynical

January 31, 2010

All I ask is one thing, and I’m asking this particularly of young people: please don’t be cynical. I hate cynicism, for the record, it’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re [...]

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Hope and determination

January 22, 2010

Never grow a wishbone, daughter, where your backbone ought to be. — Clementine Paddleford

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Day off

November 26, 2009

Don’t underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering. -Winnie the Pooh

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Good advice from unexpected places

November 11, 2009

Apparently, they expect you to work in grad school. Not cool. I sort of thought I could roll into work around noon, putter around for a few hours, head home and they’d just hand me a degree eventually. Alas, my committee insists on meeting and I am now in a rush to cram 4 months [...]

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Motivation

October 28, 2009

I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all to matter, to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you have lived at all. –Leo Rosten

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Friends of the Road

October 2, 2009

I read this piece a few years ago and wanted to share it with you. It makes me feel better about the friendships I thought were lost, and even more grateful for the ones still going strong. -a Why do friendships come and go? How does a once-bosom pal wind up erased from your address [...]

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