She Set the Gold Standard
Filed under: Inspiration > Harry Potter
On Thursday, Harry Potter mastermind J.K. Rowling delivered a hard-to-top commencement address titled The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination at a graduation event at Harvard.
You can read the entire address here.
Her words took our breath away.
“We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better,“ Rowling told the newly minted Harvard alums.
Moving. Inspirational. So heartfelt.
Now if only she'd stop suing everyone!
[Image via WENN.]
Posted: June 6, 2008 at 12:15 pm
first
Show them how it's done JK!
First?
blah blah blah….
Watch the video, it's better.
I love her, she can sue me anytime. She does have the right to defend her hard work and copyrighted material.
she's protecting her intellectual property rights and copyrights. if people try to rip her off she has all the right in the world to sue to protect her property. more power to her.
Re: cat –
Why? Just, why?
ass
awesome! Congrats JK!
4th!
great words, and if they REALLY moved you, why don't you take them to heart and try to do some good, rather than contributing to the negativity in this society, and bullying of people, and making people feel bad because they don't live up to ridiculous "standards" that don't even make sense. You're a hypocrite. I would have more respect for you — even with your negativity — if you had a consistent position on things.
Seventh!
Re: sara – Well Perez makes a living off taking content from others so of course he would be against her suing to protect her own.
J.K.R is (my) God.
haha. "now only if she'd stop suing everyone!" hysterical.
Congratulations on being "first". Huge achievement right there…
My friend graduated at that ceremony!
Look who is talking about suing everyone, you fat piece of turd. You are suing a few folks too.. for um, LAME reasons. (publicity??) She is protecting her intellectual property rights.. soory for using such long words, you fat, oily-faced loser.
What a beautiful speech, thank you for posting this.
SHE DIDN'T SUE warner brothers did.
DUH, PEREZ, DUH.
aww i love her.
i've been reading harry potter 1-7 again this week.
actually the best books ever written. x
I was there - it was incredible - watch the video - her delivery was amaaaazing!
It was such an amazing and moving speech, she made me cry…Her word were so touching…I arrived late at my work just to watch her speech on the internet!
She is such a genius, I admire her so much! GO JO!
you are MOVED by her words, PEREZ?
What do you contribute to the world besides calling people whores and home-wreckers and drawing dicks on people?
What a beautiful speech….
Thanks for posting it!
Cheers!
Re: eric –
She's my hero.
Absolutely brilliant, more power to her. If she has to file lawsuits in order to protect what's rightfully hers, so be it. These scumbags shouldn't get away with it just because she's been criticized for suing in the past. She's written one of the most powerful and influential series in history, of course everyone wants a piece of it. People should expect her to have to sue a lot because so many try to take advantage of her creativity. I'll support her no matter what.
I saw the entire speech. She was incredible!! It was very inspiring.
She talks about Amnesty and torture - then makes the statement, "We can imagine better." (a better world?) Sounds like sticking your head in the sand to me, Not inspirational at all. Merely escapism. You can sit all day in your room and imagine bad things don't happen. It's the people out there, doing something, that keep the world real and precious. Don't IMAGINE - DO!
Amazing truely beautiful~
Thank you for sharing that…it was truly wonderful!
wonderful speech! i was there and it moved me and my friends to tears.
THAT WAS AMAZING.
oh shut up Perez! She's a great woman
J.K. Rowling has done it again.
When I was 13 she opened my eyes to an amazing world where anything was possible and made me desperate in anticipation for more.
When I was 22, two weeks removed from my college gradution and scared about my future, she brought tears to my eyes and reminded me that it is okay to be afraid of failure…and at the same time how important it can be.
Thank you for everything you have done Ms. Rowling.
We have the power to sue everyone! Thanks J.K.
She is an inspiration to us all.
shes an example to be followed, I admire her so much
LISTEN TO THE SPEECH ***** IT'S MUCH FUNNIER IF YOU HEAR HER DELIVERY*****IT'S AT HARVARD.ORG ****EXCELLENT- I AGREE WITH GOLD STANDARD THOUGHT
Re: sara –
I agree with Sara!!
Fuck harry potter!
Thank you for this Perez, this is the best link you have ever posted!
That speech was very well done. She didn't talk about herself too much, which some college graduate speakers *cough mine* do. I like how she talked about friendship and failures - two things you wouldn't expect to hear at a Harvard speech. (I would've been tempted to say, "Congratulations; you're very wealthy.") And you got to respect anyone who opens with a gay wizard joke!
Pedestal rises beyond the top!
God bless you JK!
Your speech will go down in history too! THank you!
Re: Novel1 – u need a therapist, cause you are crazy!
J.K. Rowling has every right to sue over people infringing on her copyright. And she's obliged to. If she stops suing infringer's then that leaves the door open for countless others to rip her off, potentially letting her work become public domain. You have to protect your work as hard as you can to let people know hat you are serious and will fight them. Why is her right a problem to you Perez?
she can sue me anytime. she's brilliant and truly someone to look up to. Her speech was beautiful and inspiring to non-graduates as well.
That speech segment is just a rip-off of one of Neil Gaiman's Sandman stories.
A CAT SAYS ALMOST THE EXACT SAME WORDS.
Gawd.
Now THAT was one brilliant speech.
Excellent message, got me all misty at the end.
I like her.
Thank you for this story…I wish something this meaningful was said at MY graduation.
i loved what she said. she brought the whole piece together well. loved the part obout failing and failing by default. everyone needs to read this speech.
yea I WAS THERE it was INCREDIBLE!!! i will soon put up the conclusion on youtube
i was there and it was such a great speech
she was open, honest, and funny, saying that she thanked harvard for inviting her because she lost weight due to nerves
Thanks so much, Perez, for sharing this. I really appreciate it.
nice post perez
that was an amazing speech, i was there for the winthrop commencement ceremony at harvard, so i was able to hear it.
I WAS THERE! It was the best speech of all of the Class Day and Commencement speeches by far, it was truly incredible. Especially because she followed a speech by Harvard president Drew Faust that was truly awful. But everything about JK's speech was incredible- her modesty, beautiful delivery, humor, and inspirational words.
She's so full of fucking bullshit! That bitch is FAKE FAKE FAKE! Her books suck. Complete trash. People are retarded for reading that crap.
Re: Gia –
Your opinion is rude and entirely unnecessary. JK is absolutely amazing and has inspired millions to aspire to be great and do what they believe is right for them. Can you say the same about yourself?
Gia : Why don't you come back when you have done half as good as JK Rowling had?
oprah is speaking at stanford's graduation next sunday. i'm pretty sure she can top jk rowling.
thanks for that, P. I wish you a very well life.
And, when did YOU graduate from Harvard, Mario???
Here's an address that tops her's: web.mit.edu. There are a number of links to graduation-related stuff, including MIT commencement speaker Muhammad Yunus' speech. As much as I love the Harry Potter books and as much good as they have done, Rowling doesn't compare to Yunus.
Aww! That's a sweet thing to say at graduation! COME TO MY GRADUATION, JK!
Re: austin – AMEN
yeah, well if people would just stop trying to rip her off and invade her privacy
she wouldn't HAVE to sue!
That was great - watch the video.
Amazing. Absolutely amazing.
You must like it or you wouldn't be here. If you have a problem with what Perez does, then close your browser and stop reading.
I was there for my sister's graduation… it was so inspirational and by far the best speech of the day! What another fabulous way to make me love her!
That is the best speech ever. JK for president. The woman is a genius. A real role model for women everywhere. And god knows there ain't many of those around…
thank u for sharing this perez…
WONDERFUL! More Comencement addresses Mr.P. I'm a teacherand the youngin's need all the inspiration their dopey little souls can stand.
Thank You Perez for posting these wise words!
I had the pleasure of being there, and I spent half of the ceremony in tears. It was truly one of the most inspirational speeches I've ever had the privilege of hearing, and it was amazing. I'm so very impressed by her.
Re: Alice – hahahahahahahahahahahahaha….i love u alice….."congratulations on being first… great achievement"……hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
I was there, and it was incredible. I got goosebumps.