Theme
Commencement Speeches About Kindness & Empathy
A recurring, quietly radical commencement message: be kind. These speeches argue that empathy and everyday decency are not soft skills but the measure of a life — and often the hardest, most deliberate thing a smart, ambitious person can practice.
30 speeches / 6 core matches
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A recurring, quietly radical commencement message: be kind. These speeches argue that empathy and everyday decency are not soft skills but the measure of a life — and often the hardest, most deliberate thing a smart, ambitious person can practice.
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Begin with these speeches if you want the clearest path into kindness & empathy.
Megan Smith Massachusetts Institute of Technology / 2015 Why it belongs here Smith argued that kindness is as important as knowledge and urged graduates to listen openly to ideas with an open mind. This theme is central to the speech. 02 
Cory Booker Yale University / 2013 Why it belongs here Booker urges graduates that the biggest thing they can do any day is a small act of kindness and to embody love, kindness, and justice. This theme is central to the speech. 03 George Saunders Syracuse University / 2013 Why it belongs here The speaker frames his deepest regret as failures of kindness, using the story of a teased classmate to argue that trying to be kinder is the best goal in life. This theme is central to the speech. Featured speeches
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Why it belongs here He calls for basic civility in public debate, urging people to treat opponents with courtesy and respect rather than demonizing them.
Why it belongs here He encourages finding someone to be successful for—being a mentor to a troubled child or a lifeline to a homebound senior.
Why it belongs here Smith argued that kindness is as important as knowledge and urged graduates to listen openly to ideas with an open mind.
Why it belongs here Booker urges graduates that the biggest thing they can do any day is a small act of kindness and to embody love, kindness, and justice.
Why it belongs here She invokes the 'sorority of compassion and fraternity of service,' saying helping others eases your own pain and requires a heart full of grace.
Why it belongs here He insists people have more caring than they know what to do with and that the barrier to change is complexity, not indifference.
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Labels describe how directly each speech matches this theme.
Core matches 6
Massachusetts Institute of Technology / 2015 / U.S. Chief Technology Officer
Yale University / 2013 / Mayor of Newark, New Jersey
Syracuse University / 2013 / Field: letters
Middlebury College / 2013 / Field: letters
Barnard College / 2010 / Field: arts
Princeton University / 2010 / Field: business
Related mentions 24
Stanford University / 2023 / Tennis champion
Stanford University / 2017 / California Supreme Court justice
Stanford University / 2016 / Documentary filmmaker
University of Michigan / 2010 / Field: politics
Arizona State University / 2009 / Field: politics
Ball State University / 2008 / Field: business
Harvard University / 2007 / Field: business
Yale University / 2018 / Former secretary of state, senator, and first lady
Massachusetts Institute of Technology / 2012 / Founder and Executive Director, Khan Academy
Stanford University / 2008 / Media executive and philanthropist
University of California, Berkeley / 2003 / Field: letters
Villanova University / 2000 / Field: letters
Yale University / 2026 / Novelist and essayist
Yale University / 2025 / Former prime minister of New Zealand
Massachusetts Institute of Technology / 2020 / Retired U.S. Navy admiral
Massachusetts Institute of Technology / 2018 / COO, Facebook
Massachusetts Institute of Technology / 2017 / CEO, Apple
Massachusetts Institute of Technology / 2016 / Actor, filmmaker, and co-founder of Water.org
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Yale University / 2012 / Television journalist
Massachusetts Institute of Technology / 2006 / Chairman, Federal Reserve
Yale University / 2003 / Foreign-affairs columnist, The New York Times; three-time Pulitzer Prize winner
Yale University / 2001 / U.S. Senator from New York; Yale Law School Class of 1973
Calvin College / 2005 / Field: politics
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