James Carville
Field: politics
James Carville delivers a candid commencement address warning graduates that life after college will be difficult and that failure is an inevitable part of success. He uses the example of Abraham Lincoln's many failures, quotes Thomas Edison and Winnie the Pooh on perseverance, and tells stories about the bond between his city of New Orleans and the Colleges. He closes by urging graduates to thank the mentors who helped them and to mentor others in turn.
Key moments
- 01 Opening jokes about the college name and his own academic record
- 02 Lincoln's repeated failures as proof that success follows failure
- 03 Winnie the Pooh's 'stronger, braver, smarter' encouragement for facing fear
- 04 Story of President Bush Sr. visiting Holland to thank an early ally, urging graduates to remember and thank their mentors
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James Carville at HWS, 2013
A Hobart and William Smith address about getting knocked down, treating failure as part of success, drawing courage from childhood language, and returning to thank mentors.
Speech arc
- 01Official HWS transcript
Opening move
- 02May 19, 2013
Speech beat
- 03New Orleans bond
Speech beat
- 04It is rough out there
Speech beat
- 05Lincoln failures
Speech beat
- 06Try one more time
Speech beat
- 07100 Acre Wood courage
Speech beat
- 08Remember your Holland
Final charge
Place: Carville turns banter into belonging
The opening jokes about Hobart, William Smith, New Orleans, and his daughter create a loose comic entry into a serious message about resilience and gratitude.
Correction
The running name joke lets the audience participate before the advice begins.
Bond
His fleur-de-lis cap honors HWS students who traveled to help rebuild New Orleans.
Focus
After institutional praise, he states the speech is not about the colleges or the president; it is about the graduates.
The opening jokes about Hobart, William Smith, New Orleans, and his daughter create a loose comic entry into a serious message about resilience and gratitude.
Reality: Success requires getting knocked down
Carville rejects airy commencement language and tells graduates directly that the world is rough, competitive, and full of failed attempts before any visible success.
Warning
The class is told they will not get everything they want the first time.
Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln becomes the central example of repeated political, personal, and military failure before endurance.
Edison
The practical rule is to try again after the twelfth interview, the failed experiment, or the stalled thesis.
Carville rejects airy commencement language and tells graduates directly that the world is rough, competitive, and full of failed attempts before any visible success.
Courage: Fear needs a portable sentence
When graduates face interviews, arguments, exams, and other frightening moments, Carville sends them back to childhood language as a simple ritual for courage.
Fear
The speech normalizes being scared rather than treating confidence as the absence of fear.
Phrase
The Winnie-the-Pooh memory offers a compact self-reminder: stronger, braver, smarter.
Action
The point of the sentence is motion; take a breath, say it, and go do the thing.
When graduates face interviews, arguments, exams, and other frightening moments, Carville sends them back to childhood language as a simple ritual for courage.
• Key takeaways •
Comedy opens the door to candor
Connects to failure.
Failure is part of the process
Connects to perseverance.
Courage can be rehearsed
Connects to gratitude.
Mentors deserve return visits
Connects to mentorship.
Resilience means rising once more
Connects to courage.
Closing charge
The closing story about President George H. W. Bush visiting Holland turns gratitude into a lifelong practice: return to the people who recognized, helped, and mentored you.
Remember the Holland in your life
Thanks
Graduates are asked to visit the people who had something to do with their ascent.
Mentor
After thanking mentors, they should become mentors for someone else beginning the same climb.
Champion
The final definition is resilience: the champion gets up one more time than they are knocked down.
The closing story about President George H.
W.
Visual speech maps
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Transcript
The full transcript is hosted by the original publisher. Commencement Archive links to the source rather than republishing copyrighted text.
Read the full transcript at source →Provenance
Imported from NPR commencement archive; cross-referenced with Open Commencement DB
NPR archive last updated in 2015; destination availability has not been exhaustively rechecked | Open Commencement DB transcript; not independently verified against the original recording
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