Brilliant commencement speeches?

October 8, 2011 12:39 AM

What are some great commencement addresses?

I just re-watched Steve Jobs's brilliant Stanford commencement address and was reminded of David Foster Wallace's Kenyon College address. What are some other brilliant Commencement speeches?

posted by raf to Society & Culture (11 answers total)

I keep around Jonathan Franzen's 2011 commencement at Kenyon on technology and personal relationships, and Anna Quindlen's 1999 speech at Mount Holyoke on giving up perfectionism.
posted by Apropos of Something at 12:53 AM on October 8, 2011

JK Rowling's speech at Harvard is pretty terrific!
posted by EtTuHealy at 1:01 AM on October 8, 2011

I find The Inner Ring by CS Lewis to be among the more enduring pieces of wisdom I have read
posted by rollick at 1:03 AM on October 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

I enjoyed Stephen Colbert's address at Knox in 2006.

While googling for it I also came up with this "top 12" roundup, which has a couple of suggestions not already covered here.
posted by col_pogo at 1:31 AM on October 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

I rather liked Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's Harvard speech earlier this year. (text)
posted by infini at 2:59 AM on October 8, 2011

I always liked Bill Watterson's speech at Kenyon.
posted by veryape at 3:56 AM on October 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

Solitude and Leadership by William Deresiewicz, delivered to the plebe class at the United States Military Academy at West Point in October of last year. Not strictly a commencement address, but similar in character and length.
posted by caek at 5:04 AM on October 8, 2011

Margaret Atwood and Ursula Le Guin.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 5:49 AM on October 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

I think Conan O'Brien's 2011 Dartmouth College commencement address was pretty great.
posted by karizma at 1:40 PM on October 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

The best one I've seen was by David Foster Wallace. It really hits home what to expect from daily life and how to get through it all and not kill yourself. The ironic part was he killed himself shortly after.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122178211966454607.html
posted by penguinkeys at 5:30 PM on October 8, 2011

Response by poster: Wow, why does Kenyon get so many good ones?
posted by raf at 11:03 AM on October 9, 2011