The Best Inspiring Commencement Speech Quotes of 2020

Some of the happiest moments of spring each year are at graduation ceremonies. We really love hearing the moving speeches that come along with them. While this year was a bit different because of COVID-19, the celebrity graduation speeches of 2020 still held inspiring messages and wonderful quotes.  Our correspondent Julie Chang Murphy has compiled a list of inspiring quotes from the best commencement speeches of 2020.These are the words we’re taking to heart.

the best quotes from the commencement speeches of 2020

Every year, around this time, we love to hear what advice the luminaries of our great nation have to offer to the next generation. Traditionally, they are full of encouragement about how anything is possible if you work hard enough. The speakers work to convince the graduates that they are now prepared to enter “the real world.” And they emphasize being hopeful and optimistic about the future.

These are messages we all need to hear now and again. But this year, the class of 2020 was dealt a major twist. Commencement ceremonies were postponed or canceled altogether across the country, much to the disappointment of students and their families.

Political and entertainment super stars came together to deliver virtual speeches to fill the void while another upheaval was in progress in the form of protests following the back-to-back murders of Ahmuad Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor. Many speakers, like Meghan Markle, changed their speeches altogether to address the moment.

As we listened closely for inspiring quotes in this year’s graduation speeches, the words resonated more poignantly than usual. They weren’t just for the 18 or 22-year-olds about to be thrown into a new world with new challenges. They were for all of us struggling to make sense of this unprecedented time.

As Oprah Winfrey said in her speech, “Everyone of us is being called to graduate.” Here are the 10 most inspiring, comforting and affirming quotes from 2020’s commencement speeches.

The inspiring quotes from the celebrity graduation Speeches of 2020

1. Former Poet Laureate Tracy K Smith on Brian Lehrer’s On Air Commencement Ceremony   

“Now is the time to develop a practice of turning down the volume on the many external voices seeking to persuade you of their opinions, their products, their trends and beliefs, and instead to ask yourself what is urgent and meaningful? What feeds you and affords you a feeling of peace and possibility? What are the values you’d want to claim and attest to? …Get to know what your own voice sounds and feels like at that level of private reflection.

I feel like that’s so important because so much of what we often think education is about is claiming authority, proving your excellence, and you’ve spent time doing exactly those things, but your vulnerability is also a tool and something that can be as meaningful to you as what you know. I just want to affirm that is something you can lean on in a time like this.” Listen to her full address here.

2. Soccer Player Abby Wambach on iHeart Radio’s “Commencement: Speeches for the Class of 2020”

“Collective success is determined by individual accountability. The greatest teams are made up of individual players who each relentlessly believe in their own greatness…There is a part out there that only you can play.

When the ball comes to you, and it will, you will have to decide that you’re good enough. No one else can decide that for you. Be bold. Be audacious. Believe in yourself, especially when no one else does. And when the ball does come to you, when it’s your turn to make a difference, show up like our collective future depends on you, because it does.” Listen to her full address here.

3. President Barack Obama on “Show Me Your Walk H.B.C.U. Edition” 

“…you’re all role models now — whether you like it or not. Your participation in this democracy, your courage to stand up for what’s right, your willingness to forge coalitions — these actions will speak volumes.

And if you are inactive, that will also speak volumes. Not just to the young folks coming up behind you — but to your parents, your peers, and the rest of the country. They need to see your leadership — you’re the folks we’ve been waiting for to come along.” Listen to his full address here.

4. President Barack Obama on “Graduate Together: America Honors the High School Class of 2020”

“All of those adults who you used to think were in charge and knew what they were doing? Turns out, they don’t have all the answers. A lot of them aren’t even asking the right questions.

So, if the world is going to get better, it’s going to be up to you. That realization may be kind of intimidating, but I hope it’s also inspiring.” Listen to his full address here.

5. First Lady Michelle Obama on Youtube’s “Dear Class of 2020”

“Sometimes it’s easier to stand with strangers at a protest than it is to challenge someone in your own backyard. So if you hear people express bigoted views or talking down to ‘those people,’ it is up to you to call them out. Because we won’t solve anything if we’re only willing to do what’s easiest.

You’ve got to make hard choices and sacrifice. If you’re spending a lot of time just hash tagging and posting, that’s useful, especially during a pandemic, but it’s only a beginning. Go further.” Listen to her full address here.

6. Microsoft Co-founder Bill Gates on iHeart Radio’s “Commencement: Speeches for the Class of 2020”

“You inherit a world that has already proven that progress is possible— a world that has rebuilt after war, vanquished smallpox, fed a growing population, and enabled more than a billion people to climb out of extreme poverty.

That progress didn’t happen by accident or fate. It was the result of people just like you who made a commitment that whatever else they did with their lives and careers, they would contribute to this shared mission of propelling us all forward.” Listen to his full address here.

7. Media Mogul Oprah Winfrey on Facebook’s #Graduation2020

“It’s really OK to not have all the answers…The answers will come for sure if you can accept not knowing long enough to get still and stay still long enough for new thoughts to take root in your more quiet, deeper, truer self.

 

The noise of the world drowns out the sound of you. You need to get still to listen.” Listen to her full address here. 

8. Entrepreneur and 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang on Brian Lehrer’s On Air Commencement Ceremony

“You can’t control everything about your environment, but you can however control your willingness to learn, and adapt, and grow.

And as long as you do that you will find yourself making progress in ways that you would not have been able to imagine even a number of months before.”  Listen to his full address here. 

9. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on iHeart Radio’s “Commencement: Speeches for the Class of 2020”

“Is there something you’re doing just because it brings you joy? Are you painting or making sourdough starter or gardening or playing the piano? Well, keep doing it. Have you been talking to your grandparents once a week on Facetime? Well, keep that weekly date.

When you go to the grocery store, do you find yourself treating your neighbors, those who are working there on the front lines, with a little extra kindness? Keep reaching for that sense of compassion. We’re going to need your empathy, your energy and your activism more than ever in the days and months and years ahead.” Listen to her full address here.

10. Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle at Los Angeles’ Immaculate Heart High School.

“I know that this is not the graduation that you envisioned. And this is not the celebration that you imagined. But I also know that there’s a way to reframe this for you and not see this as the end of something but instead to see this as the beginning of you harnessing all of the work, all of the values, all of the skills you have embodied over the last four years and now you channel that.

Now all of that work gets activated. Now you get to be part of rebuilding. And I know sometimes people say how many times do we need to rebuild? Well, you know, we are going to rebuild and rebuild and rebuild until it is rebuilt. Because when the foundation is broken, so are we.” Listen to her full address here.

The Best Quotes from the Commencement Speeches of 2020

Congratulations to all the high school and college graduates this year! We need your energy and contributions now more than ever.

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Crediting her training as a cultural anthropologist at Wellesley College, Julie has immersed herself in various industries in the last 15 years including fashion design, event planning, and fitness. Julie lives in New York where she loves trying every ramen and dumpling restaurant with her husband and three children. She finds joy in bold prints, biographies of fierce women, kickboxing. And spending way too long finding the perfect polish color to express her mood.

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