It's May and that means not only Mother's Day but a ton of graduations on the horizon. This can be a tough and exciting for young millennials, with many looking ahead to finally taking a step into the real world, while dreading the difficulties that entails.

But it is crucial to remember that they are not the only ones and that numerous success stories have started in the very seats they will occupy on graduation day. Here are some of the most riveting graduation speeches by some of the greatest success stories of all time.

Stephen Colbert at Wake Forest University, 2015

Colbert has spoken at numerous commencement ceremonies, all filled with moments of wit and breathtaking insight. Colbert's biggest moment during his recent speech at Wake Forest University in 2015 came when he urged students to set their own standards and develop goals for themselves. This is crucial as people tend to struggle to transition from having standards set by others.

"And if there's one thing you need even more, it's your own set of standards. It may seem counterintuitive now, but once you leave here, you may miss being graded on all your work. Because when you're out of school, there are no objective criteria for achievement anymore," said Colbert. "Try to make the world good according to your standards. It won't be easy. Get ready for my generation to tell you everything that can't be done -- like ending racial tension, or getting money out of politics, or lowering the world's carbon emissions. And we should know they can't be done. After all, we're the ones who didn't do them."

Steve Jobs at Stanford University, 2005

One of the most famous commencement speeches of all time, Steven Jobs inspired with his analysis of how his time in college inspired the creation of the Mac. He also talked about how he turned the failure of being fired from Apple into tremendous success.

And most crucially, he related his discover of having cancer and living life like it was the last day. His key quote? "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary," he stated.

President Barack Obama at University of Michigan, 2010

In a speech filled with political discourse, Obama essentially gave young students a call to action. A call asking them to give to their country and be a part of the democracy so that they can have an impact and shape the discourse away from the hateful banter that dominated and continues to dominate the media landscape.

"What is certain -- what has always been certain -- is our ability to shape that destiny. That is what makes us different. That is what makes us American -- our ability at the end of the day to look past all of our differences and all of our disagreements and still forge a common future," said the President. "That task is now in your hands, as is the answer to the question posed at this university half a century ago about whether a free society can still compete."

JK Rowling at Harvard University, 2008

The Harry Potter author spoke to Harvard on pushing students to take the risks. She contested that a life without risks is not a life worth living.

"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," she said.

Ellen DeGeneres in Tulane University, 2009

The famous TV personality's speech resonates today because she reminded people of the most essential life lesson of all: live with integrity doing what you love.

"Success is to live your life with integrity and to not give in to peer pressure to try to be something that you're not," she remarked during the speech. "Success is to be honest and to contribute in some way... Follow your passion, stay true to yourself, never follow someone else's path unless you're in the woods and you're lost and you see a path then by all means you should follow that."

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