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Graduation season is in full swing. The famous and generous are giving graduates words of wisdom about what they now face in the “real world.” The best provide real insight, but many fail to go beyond platitudes. And having attended many graduations, I have a guess as to why. It is very difficult to impart universal insights from humanity’s accumulated wisdom in a graduation speech because every proverb, aphorism or saying is contradicted by a different one, as if every proverb has an equal and opposite proverb. So what can be expressed by simple rules will often be wrong and therefore must be qualified in many ways to be useful. To illustrate, consider the following “proverbial” advice as a guide to life after graduation:

• All things come to him who waits and look before you leap; but he who hesitates is lost.
• Haste makes waste and fools rush in where angels fear to tread; but time waits for no man, seize the day, and strike while the iron is hot.
• Nothing ventured, nothing gained; but its better to be safe than sorry and a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
• If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again, when the going gets tough, the tough get going, and where there’s a will, there’s a way; but don’t keep beating your head against a wall and where there’s a will there’s a won’t.
• Beware of Greeks bearing gifts; but don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
• Two heads are better than one and many hands make light work; but too many cooks spoil the broth.
• Absence makes the heart grow fonder; but familiarity breeds contempt and out of sight, out of mind.
• Never judge a book by its cover; but the clothes make the man.
• Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know; but variety is the spice of life.
• The pen is mightier than the sword; but actions speak louder than words.
• When in Rome, do as the Romans and if you can’t beat them, join them; but to thine own self be true.
• Better late than never; but don’t shut the barn door after the horse is gone.
• Opportunity knocks but once; but when one door shuts, another opens.
• Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and there’s no time like the present; but don’t cross the bridge until you come to it.
• A word to the wise is sufficient; but talk is cheap.
• A man’s reach should exceed his grasp; but don’t bite off more than you can chew.
• You are never too old to learn; but a little knowledge is a dangerous thing and you can’t teach old dogs new tricks.
• Silence is golden; but the squeaking wheel gets the grease.
• Birds of a feather flock together; but opposites attract.
• Two’s company, three’s a crowd; but the more, the merrier.
• The bigger the better; but the best things come in small packages.
• One man’s meat is another man’s poison; but what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
• The best things in life are free; but no pain, no gain, and count the cost.
• A jack of all trades is a master of none; but if you want a thing done well, do it yourself.
• What goes around comes around and one good turn deserves another; but no good deed ever goes unpunished.
• If something is worth doing, it is worth doing well; but half a loaf is better than none.
• A penny saved is a penny earned; but penny wise, pound foolish and if you buy cheaply, you pay dearly.
• Honesty is the best policy; but rules are made to be broken.
• Do as you would be done by; but every rule has its exception.

The world graduates are entering is one of clarity and confusion, certainty and contradictions, cooperation and competition, etc. But what each does have is the ability to choose. So the best advice may be to follow that famous instruction to Indiana Jones: “Choose wisely.” After all, despite the fact that whatever will be will be, life is what we make it.

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