If you’re about to graduate, then you might be feeling like you have accomplished a major milestone in your life. Whether you breezed through your University, High School, or Elementary education or had to hustle your way through, Congratulations!

Sitting through those long lectures, crunching your schedule to meet your deadlines, and dreaming big for the future required courage and discipline! Education and learning is a great investment in your future.

To celebrate this major accomplishment, here’s a list of the best graduation quotes. I hope you celebrate with friends and family and think about what’s next on your bucket list.

233 Inspiring Graduation Quotes

Short Graduation Quotes

“Do what you have to do resolutely, with all your heart.” – Buddha

Don’t underestimate the power of your dreams. – Corinna Kong

Education, is the ability to meet life’s situations.” – Dr. John G. Hibben

“Effort and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.” – John F. Kennedy

“The important thing is not to stop questioning.” – Albert Einstein

Inspirational Graduation Quotes

“There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.” – C.S. Lewis

“All our dreams can come true… if we have the courage to pursue them.” – Walt Disney

 “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”–Albert Schweitzer

So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable. – Christopher Reeve

“As you start your journey, the first thing you should do is throw away that store-bought map and begin to draw your own.”— Michael Dell

“Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know it when you find it.” — Steve Jobs

You get in life what you have the courage to ask for. — Oprah Winfrey

The best way to predict your future is to create it. – Abraham Lincoln

Great things are done by a series of small things brought together. — Vincent Van Gogh

Surround yourself with doers. Be around people who demonstrate their boldness. — Wayne W. Dyer

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. — Henry David Thoreau


Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else. – Les Brown

There may be days when you’ll say to yourself, ‘I can’t. I literally can’t even.’ But you can! You can even! — Katie Couric

Effort and courage are not enough without purpose and direction. — John F. Kennedy

Optimistic Graduation Quotes

In response to those who say to stop dreaming and face reality, I say keep dreaming and make reality. — Kristian Kan

No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world. — Robin Williams

No matter where you’re from, your dreams are valid. —Lupita Nyong’o

Don’t wait. The time will never be just right. — Napoleon Hill

What we learn with pleasure we never forget. — Alfred Mercier