The only impossible journey is the one you never begin. — Anthony Robbins
We are all here for a spell. Get all the good laughs you can. — Will Rogers
We need laughter in our lives. Laughter is carbonated holiness.— Anne Lamott
You’re general, but you’re also specific. A citizen and a person, and the person you are is like nobody else on the planet. — Toni Morrison
Sometimes when I am alone in my room in the dark, I practice smiling to myself. I do this to be kind to myself, to take good care of myself, to love myself. I know that if I cannot take care of myself, I cannot take care of anyone else. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Each of us has a spark of life inside us, and our highest endeavor ought to be to set off that spark in one another. — Kenny Ausubel
The beauty of the world has two edges; one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder. — Virginia Woolf
Commencement Address (excerpts) — Maya Angelou
And now the work begins
And now the joy begins
Now the years of preparation
Of tedious study and
Exciting learning are explained.
The jumble of words and
Tangle of great and small ideas
Begin to take order and
This morning you can see
A small portion of the large
Plan of your futures.
Your hours of application,
The hopes of your parents,
And the labor of your instructors
Have all brought this moment Into your hands.
Today, you are princesses and princes of the morning.
Ladies and Lords of the summer
You have shown the most remarkable of all virtues
… I see you filled with courage.
For although you might all be bright, intellectually astute,
You have had to use courage to arrive at this moment.
…You must be asking yourselves, what you will do with it.
… Are you prepared to work
To make this country, our country more than it is today?
For that is the job to be done.
That is the reason you have worked hard, your sacrifices
Of energy and time,
… So that you can transform your
Country and your world.
Look beyond your tasseled caps and you will see injustice.
At the end of your fingertips, you will find cruelties,
Irrational hate, bedrock sorrow and terrifying loneliness.
There is your work.
Make a difference
Use this degree which you have earned to increase
Virtue in your world.
Your people, all people,
Are hoping that you are
The ones to do so.
The order is large,
The need immense.
But you can take heart.
For you know that you have already shown courage.
And keep in mind
One person, with good purpose, can, constitute the majority.
Since life is our most precious gift
And since it is given to us to live but once,
Let us so live that we will not regret
… You are prepared
Go out and transform your world
Songs about laughter:
- Laughing at Life — Tony Bennett (blues ballad)
- Laughter Like a Medicine — Bebe Winans (soul)
- It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry — Bob Dylan (folk rock)
- Laughing on the Outside — Aretha Franklin (blues)
- Between a Laugh and a Tear — John Mellencamp (rock)
- If I Laugh — Cat Stevens (Ballad)
Songs about next steps:
- Time of Your Life — Green Day
- Today My Life Begins — Bruno Mars (ballad)
- Defying Gravity — Idina Menzel (musical)
- I Believe I Can Fly — R Kelly (Balla)
- Imagination — Pink (musical)
- The Climb — Miley Cyrus (rock)
ON LAUGHTER: A Holy Gift
A good laugh heals a lot of hurts. — Madeleine L’Engle
Laughter is the foundation of reconciliation. — St. Francis de Sales
The comic and the tragic lie inseparably close, like light and shadow. — Socrates
Around us, life bursts with miracles–a glass of water, a ray of sunshine, a leaf, a caterpillar, a flower, laughter, raindrops. If you live in awareness, it is easy to see miracles everywhere. Each human being is a multiplicity of miracles. Eyes that see thousands of colors, shapes, and forms; ears that hear a bee flying or a thunderclap; a brain that ponders a speck of dust as easily as the entire cosmos; a heart that beats in rhythm with the heartbeat of all beings. When we are tired and feel discouraged by life’s daily struggles, we may not notice these miracles, but they are always there. — Thich Nhat Hanh
A good laugh is a mighty good thing, a rather too scarce a good thing. — Herman Melville
I never would have made it if I could not have laughed. It lifted me momentarily out of this horrible situation, just enough to make it livable. — Viktor Frankl
On average, an infant laughs nearly two hundred times a day; an adult, only twelve. Maybe they are laughing so much because they are looking at us. To be able to preserve joyousness of heart and yet to be concerned in thought: in this way we can determine good fortune and misfortune on earth, and bring to perfection everything on earth. — I Ching
Humor is a prelude to faith and laughter is the beginning of prayer. — Reinhold Niebuhr
Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Continue to learn. Play with abandon. Choose with no regret. Laugh! Do what you love. Love as if this is all there is. — Mary Anne Radmacher-Hershey
Humor is laughing at what you haven’t got when you ought to have it. — Langston Hughes
If you would not be laughed at, be the first to laugh at yourself. — Benjamin Franklin
Let us not use bombs and guns to overcome the world. Let us use love and compassion. Peace begins with a smile—smile five times a day at someone you don’t really want to smile at all—do it for peace. So let us radiate peace…and extinguish in the world and in the hearts of all men all hatred and love for power. — Mother Teresa
The wit makes fun of other persons; the satirist makes fun of the world; the humorist makes fun of himself, but in so doing, he identifies himself with people – that is, people everywhere, not for the purpose of taking them apart, but simply revealing their true nature. The wellspring of laughter is not happiness, but pain, stress, and suffering. — James Thurber
To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain and play with it. — Charlie Chaplin
ON MILESTONES:
Commencement, Graduation & Next Steps
The fireworks begin today. Each diploma is a lighted match. Each one of you is a fuse. — Edward Koch
Every person you meet knows something you don’t; learn from them. — H Jackson Browne, Jr.
Live with life. Be courageous, adventurous. Give us a tomorrow, more than we deserve. — Maya Angelou
To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe. — Anatole France
Now go, and make interesting mistakes, make amazing mistakes, make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for you being here. Make good art. — Neil Gaiman
Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can. — Arthur Ash
Our greatness comes when we appreciate each other’s strengths, when we learn from each other, when we lean on each other. — Michelle Obama
The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you. — BB King
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
If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done. — Thomas Jefferson
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. — Henry David Thoreau
If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it. — William Arthur Ward