I have pretty much made up my mind to do this.

No one on his deathbed ever said, I wish I had spent more time on my business.

You are Americans. You love this country. Together we are entrusted with the principles that represent mankind’s greatest political and social achievement.

No one is immune from the larger events of his or her time – the Depression, World War II, civil rights, Vietnam, the spring of 1989 in China. These events intrude upon our lives and radically affect our directions.

It was a myth that’s often perpetuated at commencement that holds that only hope and promise lie beyond the halls of academe. Don’t worry, be happy. Everything is fine.

Let’s try winning and see what it feels like. If we don’t like it, we can go back to our traditions.

That’s a good question. Let me try to evade you.

My father’s generation gave to my generation a land of wealth and purpose and world economic dominance.

Lowell is my home. It is where I drew my first breath. It is where I will always derive a sense of place and a sense of belonging.

Don’t fear your mortality, because it is this very mortality that gives meaning and depth and poignancy to all the days that will be granted to you.