President Charles M. Vest's Charge to the Graduates presented at the 132nd Commencement Ceremonies of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Friday, June 5, 1998.
Once again we are gathered in Killian Court to celebrate accomplishment, heritage, and passage. We are surrounded by parents, family, friends, spouses, and children who have supported and sustained you through the years. You will recognize them today by their smiles, brought about by their great pride in your accomplishments... and, no doubt, by a sense of great relief to their bank accounts.
Let us, then, express our deep appreciation to all who have come to Cambridge today to join in your Commencement ceremony. Will you, the graduates, please rise, turn to your families, and give them the applause they so richly deserve.
ìBrevity is the sister of talent,î said Chekov. So, it is good for me to be brief.
ìCharge his mind with meaning that he never had,î said the poet William Cowper. A tall order, but here is my charge to you.
Men and women of MIT:
Keep alive the joy, excitement, beauty, rationality, and creativity of science and technology, deeply understood.
Yet strive to understand their power and potential to provide the means for great good, but also to do evil.
Never cease to consider the context in which its powers are applied and its ability to shape the world for better or worse.
Strive to integrate the understandings of the humanist and artist with those of the scientist, engineer, manager, architect, planner, and social scientist.
Ponder the unthinkable.
Question the status quo.
Live in the world as well as in your own nation.
Dream of a better future, but contribute to the present.
Share your talents.
Commune with all people.
Be steady friends and bold companions.
Be honest in all that you do.
Take your education, your talent, and your energy, and build us a nation and a world community that consider knowledge a gift to be shared...a healthy planet a place to be cherished...and human dignity and opportunity fundamental conditions to be enjoyed by all people.
Now that you are duly charged, let me tell you a story about MIT's former president, Jerry Wiesner. It is a true story.
Some years ago, an MIT alumnus came up to our former president Jerry Wiesner. He said "Dr. Wiesner, do you remember me? You shook my hand as I came through the line at my graduation twenty years ago...and you told me something that changed my entire life. It was the secret of my successful career." Jerry reluctantly admitted that he couldn't remember the moment, and asked what he had said.
The answer? "President Wiesner, you said: 'Keep on moving...keep on moving.'"
Men and women of MIT, I say to you now: keep on moving.
And live your lives well.
I wish you godspeed and the very best of good fortune.
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