Google’s Eric Schmidt Delivers 2012 Commencement Address at Berkeley

When you leave here, don’t leave them behind. Stay close and stay strong. Take them with you, and go and change the world, together.

I ask each of you … Find a way to say “Yes” to things.

Say yes to invitations to a new country, say yes to meet new friends, say yes to learning a new language, picking up a new sport. Yes is how you get your first job, and your next job. Yes is how you find your spouse, and even your kids.

Even if is a bit edgy, a bit out of your comfort zone, saying yes means that you will do something new, meet someone new, and make a difference in your life, and likely in others’ lives as well. Yes lets you stand out in a crowd, to be the optimist, to stay positive, to be the one everyone comes to for help, for advice, or just for fun. Yes is what keeps us all young. Yes is a tiny word that can do big things. Say it often.

Do not be afraid to fail. And DO NOT be afraid to succeed.

For those who say you’re thinking too big … be smart enough not to listen.

For those who say the odds are too small … be dumb enough to give it a shot.

And for those who ask, how can you do that?… look them in the eyes and say, I’ll figure it out.

I for one am happy to have you join us as adults, and the quicker we can have you lead, the better. Time to throw out all us aging baby boomers and replace us with those best-equipped to lead us into a new age, march us all to a better day.

That Time article about the computer in 1982 was called “A New Day Dawns.” That day has long since faded into dusk. We need a new day to dawn, now, today.

The power and possibility — the intellectual energy and human electricity — seated in this stadium, and in stadiums and auditoriums like this around the country–your generation will break a new day.

Your vast knowledge will seed a new era. Your bold ideas will shape a new reality. Your agile minds will inspire a new dawn.

You’ve got this thing in your pocket with all this power. Exponentially more so than in 1982, YOU have got time for dreams. So … I ask you, class of ‘12, what will you dream?

Thank you, and congratulations.