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J.K. Rowling Harvard Commencement Speech Video

by Hannah
(Oxford, UK)

This J.K. Rowling Harvard Commencement Speech is focused on the following speech topics:

  • Failure and struggle;

  • And on the power of imagination.



  • I think this is an absolute must in the Famous Speech by Woman series.

    J.K. Rowling knows what it is to be a single mother with no future and how to get out of that situation. Before she achieved lots of success with the Harry Potter book and movie series, the author learned that failure taught things about herself that she could have learned no other way.

    To put it short, in her memorable Harvard Commencement Speech Rowling emphasizes how important imagination is in overcoming failures.

    She urges us to use our status and influence to raise the voice of those who have no voice. She calls us to imagine ourselves into the lives of those who do not have privileges.

    In her words: We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.

    Another citation tha illustrates the core of her speech topics:

    Some failure in life is inevitable. Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected;
    I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above rubies. The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive.


    Now watch and hear the memorable J.K. Rowling Harvard Commencement Speech video in three parts:

    Part 1:


    Part 2:


    Part 3:



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    Comments for
    J.K. Rowling Harvard Commencement Speech Video

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    Sep 10, 2008
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    J.K. Rowling Harvard Commencement Speech Quotations
    by: Oliver

    Hi, Some interesting quotations of the J.K. Rowling Harvard Commencement Speech - based one of her main speech topics:

    ... 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.

    And another one to think about before going to sleep:

    Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations (...) I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above rubies.

    And read her closing statement:

    I can wish you nothing better than similar friendships. And tomorrow, I hope that even if you remember not a single word of mine, you remember those of Seneca, another of those old Romans I met when I fled down the Classics corridor, in retreat from career ladders, in search of ancient wisdom:
    As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.


    You see, these J.K. Rowling Harvard Commencement Speech Quotations are jewels, so if yo haven't seen the whole speech, just do it now!

    Nov 14, 2008
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    Moving and Inspiring
    by: Janice

    This is one of the most moving and most inspirational speeches I have ever heard. It brought a few tears to my eyes as I listened to it. Ms. Rowling stated some profound truths, and I thank her for that.

    Janice

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