Nubs of knowledge for Class of 2010

"I didn't go to college at all. Any college. And I'm not saying you wasted your time or money, but look at me, I'm a huge celebrity.

"Follow your passion. Stay true to yourself. Never follow someone else's path -- unless you're in the woods and you're lost and you see a path then, by all means, you should follow that.

"Life is like a one big Mardi Gras, but instead of showing your boobs show people your brain, and if they like what they see you'll have more beads than you'll know what do with."

-- From actress, comedian and daytime talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres' commencement address at Tulane University in 2009

"It's easy to make a buck. It's a lot tougher to make a difference."

-- Attributed to American television journalist and author Tom Brokaw

"Graduation day is tough for adults. They go to the ceremony as parents. They come home as contemporaries. After 22 years of child-raising, they are

unemployed."

-- Attributed to humorist and newspaper columnist Erma Bombeck

"Do your work. When faced with the terror of an opening night on Broadway, you can either dissolve in a puddle of fear or you can get yourself ready. Drown out your inevitable self-doubt with the work that needs to be done.

"Find joy in the process of preparation. (And) once you're prepared, throw your preparation in the trash. The most interesting acting -- and the most interesting living in this world -- has the element of surprise and of genuine, honest discovery. Be open to that."

-- From actor Bradley Whitford's commencement address at the University of Wisconsin in 2006

"College is something you complete. Life is something you experience. So don't worry about your grade or the results or success. Success is defined in myriad ways, and you will find it, and people will no longer be grading you, but it will come from your own internal sense of decency, which I imagine, after going through the program here, is quite strong. Although, I'm sure downloading illegal files -- but, nah, that's a different story."

"Love what you do. Get good at it. Competence is a rare commodity in this day and age."

-- From comedian Jon Stewart's commencement address at the College of William & Mary, 2004

"If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door."

-- Attributed to comedian and actor Milton Berle

"Sooner or later we all discover that the important moments in life are not the advertised ones. (They're) not the birthdays, the graduations, the weddings (and) not the great goals achieved. The real milestones are less prepossessing. They come to the door of memory unannounced, stray dogs that amble in, sniff around a bit and simply never leave. Our lives are measured by these."

-- Attributed to 19th-century women's rights activist Susan B. Anthony

"Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

-- From Apple Computers CEO Steve Jobs' commencement address at Stanford University in 2005

"One day when I was a kid, our house caught on fire in Milwaukee. A large section of the wood shingle roof was burning as the fire trucks pulled up. The firemen ran into the back yard with a large hose and began assembling their metal ladders and positioning them against the house.

"Mrs. Zubatsky was our next door neighbor and, at the time, she was standing on her upstairs porch taking in the laundry. She watched anxiously as the firemen struggled with their ladders. Suddenly she leaned over the balcony and shouted down to the professional firefighters, 'Forget the ladders! Just point the hose at the fire!' The firemen, to their credit, responded immediately. They dropped their ladders, pointed the hose at the fire and extinguished the blaze in about 40 seconds.

"There are two morals to this story. One, never assume that just because it's someone's job, they know how to do it. And two, don't let yourself be intimidated by professionals or their uniforms."

-- From director and movie producer Jerry Zucker's commencement address at the University of Wisconsin in 2003

"If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm."

-- Attributed to Green Bay Packers football coach Vince Lombardi

"Always be a first-rate version of yourself instead of a second-rate

version of somebody else."

-- Attributed to actress and Grand Rapids native Judy Garland

"I found them all the way through college and in football, (those who) were smarter (than me). But you know what they couldn't do? They couldn't outwork me.

"I ran into opposing coaches who had much better backgrounds than I did and knew a lot more about football than I did. But they couldn't work as long as I did. They couldn't stick in there as long as I could. You can outwork anybody."

-- Ohio State University football coach Woody Hayes' commencement address in 1986

"Your families are extremely proud of you. You can't imagine the sense of relief they are experiencing. This would be a most opportune time to ask for money."

-- Attributed to artist Gary Bolding

"Commencement speeches were invented largely in the belief that

outgoing college students should never be released into the world until they have been properly sedated."

-- Attributed to Doonesbury artist Garry Trudeau

Sources:graduationwisdom.com, quotegarden.com,allgreatquotes.com and associatedcontent.com.