Text of the 2014 Commencement address by Bill and Melinda Gates

"But there is another essential ingredient of success, and that ingredient is luck – absolute and total luck. When were you born? Who were your parents? Where did you grow up? None of us earned these things. They were given to us. When we strip away our luck and privilege and consider where we'd be…

— Melinda Gates, news.stanford.edu

essential ingredient Success Luck Birth

"You don't have to rush. You have careers to launch, debts to pay, spouses to meet and marry. That's enough for now. But in the course of your lives, without any plan on your part, you'll come to see suffering that will break your heart. When it happens, and it will, don't turn away from it; turn to…

— Melinda Gates, news.stanford.edu

Rush Career Launch Debt Pay

Some people call you nerds – and you claim the label with pride.

— Melinda Gates, news.stanford.edu

People Society Judgement Names Nerds

Let your heart break. It will change what you do with your optimism.

— Melinda Gates, news.stanford.edu

heart Break Love Ache Loss

Optimism for me isn't a passive expectation that things will get better; it's a conviction that we can make things better – that whatever suffering we see, no matter how bad it is, we can help people if we don't lose hope and we don't look away.

— Melinda Gates, news.stanford.edu

Optimism passive Expectation get better Conviction

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