1.

Joe Biden
Inaugural Address

This is America's day. This is democracy's day. A day of history and hope, of renewal and
resolve. Through a crucible for the ages, America has been tested a new and America has
risen to the challenge. Today we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate but of a cause, a
cause of democracy. The people - the will of the people - has been heard, and the will of
the people has been heeded.

We've learned again that democracy is precious, democracy is fragile and, at this hour my
friends, democracy has prevailed…We'll press forward with speed and urgency for we
have much to do in this winter of peril and significant possibility. Much to do, much to
heal, much to restore, much to build and much to gain. Few people in our nation's history
have been more challenged or found a time more challenging or difficult than the time
we're in now. A once in a century virus that silently stalks the country has taken as many
lives in one year as in all of World War Two.

My whole soul is in it today, on this January day. My whole soul is in this. Bringing
America together, uniting our people, uniting our nation. And I ask every American to
join me in this cause. Uniting to fight the foes we face - anger, resentment and hatred.
Extremism, lawlessness, violence, disease, joblessness, and hopelessness…We can do this
if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts, if we show a little tolerance and
humility, and if we're willing to stand in the other person's shoes, as my mom would say.
Just for a moment, stand in their shoes.

And together we will write an American story of hope, not fear. Of unity not division, of
light not darkness. A story of decency and dignity, love and healing, greatness and
goodness. May this be the story that guides us. The story that inspires us. And the story
that tells ages yet to come that we answered the call of history, we met the moment.
Democracy and hope, truth and justice, did not die on our watch but thrive.

(361 words)
 2.
Speaker: Oprah Winfrey
Harvard Commencement Speech

I know you all understand better than most that real progress requires authentic — an
authentic way of being, honesty, and above all empathy. I have to say that the single most
important lesson I learned in 25 years talking every single day to people, was that there is
a common denominator in our human experience. Most of us, I tell you we don’t want to
be divided. What we want, the common denominator that I found in every single
interview, is we want to be validated. We want to be understood.

That you’ll have the courage to look them in the eye and hear their point of view and help
make sure that the speed and distance and anonymity of our world doesn’t cause us to
lose our ability to stand in somebody else’s shoes and recognize all that we share as a
people. This is imperative, for you as an individual, and for our success as a nation.

But no matter what challenges or setbacks or disappointments you may encounter along
the way, you will find true success and happiness if you have only one goal, there really is
only one, and that is this: to fulfill the highest most truthful expression of yourself as a
human being. You want to max out your humanity by using your energy to lift yourself
up, your family and the people around you. Theologian Howard Thurman said it best. He
said, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive
and then go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” 

From time to time you may stumble, fall, you will for sure, count on this, no doubt, you
will have questions and you will have doubts about your path. But I know this, if you’re
willing to listen to, be guided by, that still small voice that is the G.P.S. within yourself, to
find out what makes you come alive, you will be more than okay. You will be happy, you
will be successful, and you will make a difference in the world.

(352 words)
 3.
Speaker: J. K. Rowling
Harvard Commencement Speech

Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite
eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it. So I think it fair to say that by any
conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic
scale.

So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away
of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was,
and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I
really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in
the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been
realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old
typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt
my life.

You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible
to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not
have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.

The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are,
ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the
strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a
true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more than any qualification I
ever earned.

So given a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in
knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your
CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse
the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone’s total control, and the
humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.

(366 words)