J.K. Rowling Commencement Address Questions and Quotes

5 Questions/Topics

1. How does failure relate to the overall meaning of Looking for Alaska?
2. What has been your biggest personal failure?
3. How does one find the courage to deviate from their parents' wishes?
4. Why is imagination important in life?
5. How much courage does it take to deliver a speech such as this one?

Quotes

"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default."

 I absolutely adore this quote and everything it entails. I believe it's saying that in life, you are going to fail at something. Everyone is going to fail at something. And if you somehow manage to safeguard yourself and everything you do, then you automatically fail. Failure is necessary. Failure is important; you learn things from it that you would never learn any other way.

"The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive." 

I really like this quote as well. I think it's saying that setbacks are going to happen. It's another thing that is simply inevitable. But once you make it out of these setbacks and hardships, you are wiser and stronger than you ever were before. It is these victories and triumphs of such setbacks that helps people grow. It helps them learn and really value their own strength and their own wisdom and knowledge. It is this ability to triumph that shows that you are alright. You have survived, and you are able to survive, time after time.

"We touch other people's lives simply by existing."

Though it has taken me an extremely long time to realize that this is true, I've grown to agree with this quote wholeheartedly. Everything you do, and every part of you, touches other people in some way. Your education and what you do with it. Your actions and hard work. You, in general, influence other people in some way. You have an impact beyond simply existing. By just doing that, you are influencing others. You are touching their lives and showing them things that they could not witness if you were not around.