Top 25 Georgetown University Commencement Speeches
Top 25 Georgetown University commencement speeches as compiled by Library Archives
Bob Hope, 1962
Albert Gore, 1971
Hubert H. Humphrey, 1973
Pearl Bailey, 1977
George Will, 1978
Art Buchwald, 1979
Bill Clinton, 1980
Jeanne Kirkpatrick, 1981
Mother Teresa, 1982
Elizabeth Dole, 1983
Ted Koppel, 1985
Sandra Day O’Connor, 1986
Nancy Reagan, 1987
Peter Ustinov,1988
Oliver Sacks, 1990
Bill Bradley, 1991
Mona Van Duyn, 1993
Madeleine Albright, 1999
General Colin Powell, 2000
Tim Russert, 2001
Nancy Pelosi, 2002
Rudolph Giuliani, 2002
Laura Bush, 2003
Anthony Fauci, 2004
Ken Burns, 2006
John Roberts, 2006
Paul Volcker, 2007
Selected Quotes from Commencement Speeches
For the last twenty years, I’ve been running around this earth entertaining fellows your age in jungles, stuck away on sand bars and in the oceans, cooped up in nature’s ice boxes, and I’ve learned that if you give a little of yourself to others that it will come back in carloads. Today is one of those come-back days. This is one of the greatest memories of my life.
Bob Hope, 1962
There’s a dangerous side to these honorary doctorates. The last time I was sick, I took two aspirins and called myself in the morning.
Bob Hope, 1962
The public, particularly the young, the idealistic, and the concerned, cannot for long be deceived. They dislike nothing so much as phoniness. They want rational solutions, but solutions that are humanly rational––not the kind of mechanical rationalism which views the unemployed as only a percentage point on a graph, not the chilly rationalism that computes the casualties of war in terms of ‘body count’, that calculates the worth of peace or war in terms of its effects on the next election.
Al Gore, 1971
Brevity is not only the soul of wit, it is plain politeness from a commencement speaker who is all that stands between a fresh crop of graduates and a world that is, they may believe, their oyster.
George Will, 1978
Georgetown is in the deepest sense an international university. We must be willing to recognize that our role in the world has changed. After all of our faults and failures, after all the criticisms to which we have been subject, after all our broken dreams and frustrated schemes, there are still tens of thousands of people who believe we are a beacon of freedom and hope.
Bill Clinton, 1980
God has us in His hand. He loves us tenderly. And on a day like this––filled with your gift that you have received from this university––you are being sent to proclaim the good news. What you have received is not for you only. For the less you have, the more you can give, and the more you have, the less you can give.
Mother Teresa, 1982
The individual can make things happen. It is the individual who can bring a tear to my eye and cause me to take a pen in my hand. It is the individual who has acted, who will not only force a decision but have a hand in shaping it.
Sandra Day O’Connor, 1986
Perhaps you may have occasionally thought – I’m sure your parents have––that the study of language is something impractical and arcane. But I would absolutely disagree. It is the most practical, least arcane thing you can do, for it has introduced to you to the instrument and essence of human thought and culture, and you will go out into the world with a knowledge few students have.
Oliver Sacks, 1990
Make sure you find ways to serve, not for money, not for position, not for accolades, but for the sheer joy you will receive in return. And as a way to pay your obligation to the society which has done so much for you. Service to community has been a part of your curriculum here at Georgetown. Please make it a part of the curriculum for the rest of your lives.
Colin Powell, 2000
There is a strength that emerges from a people living in freedom that is unlike any other strength that people have when their freedoms are being attacked. I saw it initially in my firefighters and police officers. I saw it in that wonderful photograph that still inspires me, of the firefighters who raised a flag at Ground Zero, standing on 2500 degree Fahrenheit flames. And I saw it in all of the rescue workers, all the people who came to help us. I’m a very parochial New Yorker. But I don’t think for one second that the reason we were resilient comes from being a New Yorker. It comes from being an American.
Rudolph Giuliani, 2002
That is one reason why I am so honored to be here on the campus of America's oldest and most distinguished Catholic university, and why I typically feel so much at home when I lecture in Catholic universities: because there is a shared understanding that the soul comes first, and that possessions are tools. That understanding is a non-negotiable basis for compassionate citizenship in today's world.
Martha Nussbaum, 2003
Order a full-fat latte. Say 'So what' when something discouraging happens to you. Jump into the ocean with all your clothes on. Read a book from cover to cover in one afternoon. Appreciate the little things in life and - above all - the people in your life. Say 'I love you' to someone every day – especially to yourself.
Laura Bush, 2003
Twenty-five years from now, when you’re nominated for some high position, these are the people who the press is going to track down to find out something embarrassing about you. So my advice is this: Today is a good day for all of you to agree among yourselves that what happened at Georgetown stays at Georgetown.
John Roberts, 2006
Insist on heroes. And be one.
Ken Burns, 2006
