“ This is no time to be on the sidelines,” Biden said. “Because here’s the simple truth: You're graduating and entering the world at a momentous and consequential and defining time. The next 10 years of your life are going to determine what the next 50 years of this nation are going to look like. We're at one of those inflection points in history where things are changing so fundamentally that we have to act. ”

“ Your generation is the most generous, the most tolerant, the least prejudiced, the best educated generation this nation has ever known,” he said. “You can make the difference. You can lift the country up. You can meet the challenges of our time. I've always believed this nation can be defined by one word … possibilities. It’s still true today. And so to the University Class of 2022, there's no limit of what you can do. I promise you. ”

“ After you depart for your new destinations, I want to ask you to hack the world – until you make the world a little more like MIT: More daring and more passionate. More rigorous, inventive and ambitious. More humble, more respectful, more generous, more kind.And because the people of MIT also like to fix things that are broken, as you strive to hack the world, please try to heal the world, too. ”

“ Our society is like a big, complicated family, in the midst of a terrible argument. I believe that one way to make it better is to find ways to listen to each other with compassion, to focus on achieving our shared objectives and to try constantly to remind each other of our common humanity. I know you will find your own ways to help with this healing, too. ”

“ If I had to name one quality that mattered across the many dimensions of achievement and talent, it would be persistence:  the ability and drive to keep going when things get hard.  All of us go through difficult times.  To achieve our goals we have to find ways to continue even when — indeed, especially when — obstacles seem insurmountable or endless, and pressing onward feels exhausting, daunting, or just plain dull. ”

“ Persistence is, I admit, a rather unglamorous virtue by comparison to, say, genius, creativity, or courage.  An old adage, often but perhaps erroneously attributed to the nineteenth century humorist Josh Billings, praises persistence by comparing it to the postage stamp, which achieves success simply by ‘sticking to one thing until it gets there.’ Modest though it may be, however, persistence is at least as important to achievement, including academic achievement, as are any more celebrated characteristics. ”

( Please, please, as you leave here, engage and embrace the world personally with passion and enthusiasm…If you do, if you’re lucky, you too will someday be inspired by the unexpected. )

“ First…first, let me add my congratulations to all of you for this extraordinary accomplishment under challenging, unprecedented circumstances.  And secondly, let me ask you – really, beseech you – to take this extraordinary, world-class education and not only put it to work in the service of your own dreams, as important as those are, but also as a citizen – a citizen who believes that everyone is entitled to the same kind of education, that there is work to be done to ensure justice, equality, freedom, and, yes, to preserve and protect democracy. Congratulations! ”

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