6 ms·

JK Rowling's Commencement speech at Harvard

70 points by ashwinl 18y ago

raju 18y ago
A great message. Most of us invariably get caught in the rat race, every action merely one to make out CV's better, and the number on the monthly check higher. Though what makes us humans, and good people is not the ability to buy a bigger house, or have our names in the headlines of the week, but the capacity to reach out - reach out to those who need us, and to make the world a better place for all of us. Thank you, JK Rowling. And thank you, ashwinl.
ashwinl 18y ago
"Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life. You might never fail on the same 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 have not lived at all. In which case, you failed by default."
- culley 18y ago
  wow. I wrote that same passage down, and this one: "There is an expiration date for blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction."
  - boredguy8 18y ago
    The best aphorism was cleverly hidden amidst a joke: "Achievable goals: the first step towards personal improvement." Remember her point: the 'crucial importance of imagination' is not quixotic. Too many people I know like to 'dream the impossible dream', and that's just how far they get. Another I liked: "Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two." A very well done speech, and a quite decent speaker.
    - ig1 18y ago
      It reminded me very much of the line from fight club: "You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world. "
nsrivast 18y ago
Proud that two articles on the front page are about Harvard's commencement, I might suggest president Drew Faust's address: http://www.president.harvard.edu/speeches/faust/080605_commspeech.html http://www.president.harvard.edu/speeches/faust/080605_comms... It's long, but argues a controversial point well.
mrblowhart 18y ago
Harvard is neck and neck with columbia as the worst University in America. I mean, these places are more correctly classified as "re-education camps" than universities. With that in mind, why in the world would anyone be interested in anything that happened at any of their commencements.
- astine 18y ago
  This is a very good speech. Whether or not it happened at a 're-education camp' irrelevant to its merit.
- sailfishhero 18y ago
  You hit that one out of the ballpark mrblowhart. I've talked several high school grads with scholarship offers out of attending this pathetic excuse for an institution of higher learning.
- malcontent 18y ago
  sour grapes much?
astine 18y ago
Well said. I'm impressed.
thinkcomp 18y ago
As a recent Harvard graduate who was disappointed in his University President (Larry Summers) and his commencement speaker (Tim Russert), I can say I was really thrilled to hear both Faust's and Rowling's speech. Both were truly excellent, but Rowling's was particularly relevant to her audience given the tendencies of Harvard seniors to view life as a race to the top of Goldman Sachs. Harry Potter aside, Rowling continues to impress me as an amazing person and a model for entrepreneurs. For example, want to know who gets good contract terms? Look at J.K. Rowling. Want to see someone who knows how to control the media? J.K. Rowling once more. She's very understated, hasn't destroyed anyone's livelihood, and yet she's immensely successful (and still down-to-earth). I hope to be like her one day.
- huhtenberg 18y ago
  If only she would've not turned poor Albus gay .. (edit) What I mean is that she should've not gone into elaborating on this subject at all. It would've been equally damaging if she would've called him a "ladies man" or a "sex bomb". It's a type of a character detail that I think is better not to be discussed explicitly. Not for this particular character. I don't know about other people, but this comment of hers did spoil the reading of the last book for me.
  - ken 18y ago
    "It's like her stupid, self-serving claim that Dumbledore was gay. She wants credit for being very up-to-date and politically correct - but she didn't have the guts to put that supposed "fact" into the actual novels, knowing that it might hurt sales. What a pretentious, puffed-up coward. When I have a gay character in my fiction, I say so right in the book. I don't wait until after it has had all its initial sales to mention it." -- Orson Scott Card, <http://www.linearpublishing.com/RhinoStory.html&#62 http://www.linearpublishing.com/RhinoStory.html>
    - radu_floricica 18y ago
      Well... if you know a bit more about Card outside of Ender novels, you tend to take what he says as wrong by default. He's so opposite to what you'd expect him to be I often fantasize he's trolling.
mamama 18y ago
Not as good as "Larry Ellison's speech" at Yale: http://www.snopes.com/quotes/ellison.asp http://www.snopes.com/quotes/ellison.asp
seiji 18y ago
NPR story about some students not being pleased with the choice of speaker: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91232541&ft=1&f=1001 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9123254...
- deleted 18y ago
  [deleted]
- dill_day 18y ago
  "They'll grow up," says 1983 graduate David Epstein. "They'll have a broader worldview and they'll understand that there are many, many ways to contribute. You know what they say — the freshman bring so much, and the seniors take away so little."
mhartl 18y ago
Your conception of failure might not be too far removed from the average person's idea of success. She hit that nail on the head. And it goes not just for the Harvard graduates in the audience; a lot of people at Hacker News could 'settle' for a life most people would envy. It's nice to be reminded of that from time to time.
ericb 18y ago
Has anyone else noticed with each passing year JK Rowling looks younger? It's amazing what a billion dollars buys!
babul 18y ago
I like the message, similar to the pg essay regarding education, that your education and CV is not everything. In a culture geared towards materialism and success defined by job status and the like, I often feel this is lost.

70 points by ashwinl 18y ago

raju 18y ago

A great message. Most of us invariably get caught in the rat race, every action merely one to make out CV's better, and the number on the monthly check higher. Though what makes us humans, and good people is not the ability to buy a bigger house, or have our names in the headlines of the week, but the capacity to reach out - reach out to those who need us, and to make the world a better place for all of us. Thank you, JK Rowling. And thank you, ashwinl.

ashwinl 18y ago

"Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life. You might never fail on the same 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 have not lived at all. In which case, you failed by default."

culley 18y ago
wow. I wrote that same passage down, and this one: "There is an expiration date for blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction."
- boredguy8 18y ago
  The best aphorism was cleverly hidden amidst a joke: "Achievable goals: the first step towards personal improvement." Remember her point: the 'crucial importance of imagination' is not quixotic. Too many people I know like to 'dream the impossible dream', and that's just how far they get. Another I liked: "Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two." A very well done speech, and a quite decent speaker.
  - ig1 18y ago
    It reminded me very much of the line from fight club: "You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world. "

nsrivast 18y ago

Proud that two articles on the front page are about Harvard's commencement, I might suggest president Drew Faust's address: http://www.president.harvard.edu/speeches/faust/080605_commspeech.html http://www.president.harvard.edu/speeches/faust/080605_comms... It's long, but argues a controversial point well.

mrblowhart 18y ago

Harvard is neck and neck with columbia as the worst University in America. I mean, these places are more correctly classified as "re-education camps" than universities. With that in mind, why in the world would anyone be interested in anything that happened at any of their commencements.

astine 18y ago
This is a very good speech. Whether or not it happened at a 're-education camp' irrelevant to its merit.
sailfishhero 18y ago
You hit that one out of the ballpark mrblowhart. I've talked several high school grads with scholarship offers out of attending this pathetic excuse for an institution of higher learning.
malcontent 18y ago
sour grapes much?

astine 18y ago

Well said. I'm impressed.

thinkcomp 18y ago

As a recent Harvard graduate who was disappointed in his University President (Larry Summers) and his commencement speaker (Tim Russert), I can say I was really thrilled to hear both Faust's and Rowling's speech. Both were truly excellent, but Rowling's was particularly relevant to her audience given the tendencies of Harvard seniors to view life as a race to the top of Goldman Sachs. Harry Potter aside, Rowling continues to impress me as an amazing person and a model for entrepreneurs. For example, want to know who gets good contract terms? Look at J.K. Rowling. Want to see someone who knows how to control the media? J.K. Rowling once more. She's very understated, hasn't destroyed anyone's livelihood, and yet she's immensely successful (and still down-to-earth). I hope to be like her one day.

huhtenberg 18y ago
If only she would've not turned poor Albus gay .. (edit) What I mean is that she should've not gone into elaborating on this subject at all. It would've been equally damaging if she would've called him a "ladies man" or a "sex bomb". It's a type of a character detail that I think is better not to be discussed explicitly. Not for this particular character. I don't know about other people, but this comment of hers did spoil the reading of the last book for me.
- ken 18y ago
  "It's like her stupid, self-serving claim that Dumbledore was gay. She wants credit for being very up-to-date and politically correct - but she didn't have the guts to put that supposed "fact" into the actual novels, knowing that it might hurt sales. What a pretentious, puffed-up coward. When I have a gay character in my fiction, I say so right in the book. I don't wait until after it has had all its initial sales to mention it." -- Orson Scott Card, <http://www.linearpublishing.com/RhinoStory.html&#62 http://www.linearpublishing.com/RhinoStory.html>
  - radu_floricica 18y ago
    Well... if you know a bit more about Card outside of Ender novels, you tend to take what he says as wrong by default. He's so opposite to what you'd expect him to be I often fantasize he's trolling.

mamama 18y ago

Not as good as "Larry Ellison's speech" at Yale: http://www.snopes.com/quotes/ellison.asp http://www.snopes.com/quotes/ellison.asp

seiji 18y ago

NPR story about some students not being pleased with the choice of speaker: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91232541&ft=1&f=1001 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9123254...

deleted 18y ago
[deleted]
dill_day 18y ago
"They'll grow up," says 1983 graduate David Epstein. "They'll have a broader worldview and they'll understand that there are many, many ways to contribute. You know what they say — the freshman bring so much, and the seniors take away so little."

mhartl 18y ago

Your conception of failure might not be too far removed from the average person's idea of success. She hit that nail on the head. And it goes not just for the Harvard graduates in the audience; a lot of people at Hacker News could 'settle' for a life most people would envy. It's nice to be reminded of that from time to time.

ericb 18y ago

Has anyone else noticed with each passing year JK Rowling looks younger? It's amazing what a billion dollars buys!

babul 18y ago

I like the message, similar to the pg essay regarding education, that your education and CV is not everything. In a culture geared towards materialism and success defined by job status and the like, I often feel this is lost.