The only thing that's capital-T True is that you get to decide how you're gonna try to see it. This, I submit, is the freedom of a real education, of learning how to be well-adjusted. You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn't. You get to decide what to worship.

Conan O'Brien, Dartmouth College, 2011

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELC_e2QBQMk

Transcript: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~commence/news/speeches/2011/obrien-speech.html

It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique. It's not easy, but if you accept your misfortune and handle it right, your perceived failure can become a catalyst for profound re-invention.

or, "Nietzsche famously said "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger." But what he failed to stress is that it almost kills you."

Jeff Bezos, Princeton 2010

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBmavNoChZc

Transcript: http://www.businessinsider.com/we-are-what-we-choose-2010-6

"Cleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice. Gifts are easy -- they're given, after all. Choices can be hard. You can seduce yourself with your gifts if you're not careful, and if you do, it'll probably be to the detriment of your choices."

Dick Costolo, Michigan, 2013

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqRPesTumlA

You can’t plan a script. BE in THIS moment.

or, "You need to make more courageous choices. Take courageous risks."

David McCullough, Wellesley High School 2012

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lfxYhtf8o4

Transcript: http://www.myfoxboston.com/story/18720284/2012/06/06/full-transcript-youre-not-special-speech

And read… read all the time… read as a matter of principle, as a matter of self-respect. Read as a nourishing staple of life.

You're not special. Because everyone is.

Ellen DeGeneres, Tulane 2009

Video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JccudODwwY

Transcript: http://gradspeeches.com/2009/2009/ellen-degeneres

"If you don’t remember a thing I said today, remember this, you’re going to be ok, dum de dumdumdum, just dance.

or, "the most important thing in your life is to live your life with integrityand not to give into peer pressure to try to be something that you’re not, to live your life as an honest and compassion ate person, to contribute in some way. So to conclude my conclusion, follow your passion, stay true to yourself. "

Steve Jobs, Stanford, 2005

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc

Transcript: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to Heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

おまけ Elon Musk, TED

Chris Anderson: Elon, how have you done this? These projects are so -- Paypal, SolarCity, Tesla, SpaceX, they're so spectacularly different, they're such ambitious projects at scale. How on Earth has one person been able to innovate in this way? What is it about you?
18:33
Elon Musk: I don't know, actually. I don't have a good answer for you. I work a lot. I mean, a lot.