作文素材 J.K.罗琳在哈佛大学2019年毕业典礼上的演讲-精品
Ｊ.Ｋ.罗琳在哈佛大学2019年毕业典礼上
的演讲
对于我这样一个已经42岁的人来说，回头看自己21岁大学毕业时的情景，并不
是一件舒服的事情。
那时，我一直在自己内心的追求与亲人对我的要求之间，进行抗争。
我曾确信自己唯一想做的事情是写小说，但我的父母都来自贫穷的家庭，他们希
望我去读一个能学到专业技能的学位，而我想去攻读英国文学。
最后，达成了一个双
方都不甚满意的妥协：我改学外语。
可是等父母一离开，我立刻报名学习古典文学。
我忘了自己是怎么把学古典文学的事情告诉父母的了，他们也可能是在我毕业那
天才第一次发现。
在这个星球上的所有科目中，他们很难再发现一门比希腊文学更没
用的课程了。
我想说明，我并没有因为父母的这些观点而抱怨他们。
他们希望我能摆脱贫穷，
因为贫穷会引起恐惧、压力，有时候甚至是沮丧。
这意味着心胸狭窄、卑微低下和很
多艰难困苦。
通过自己的努力摆脱贫穷，确实是件很值得自豪的事，只有傻瓜才对贫
穷本身夸夸其谈。
可以说，仅仅在我毕业７年后，我经历了一次巨大的失败。
我突然间结束了一段
短暂的婚姻，失去了工作。
作为单身妈妈，而且在这个现代化的英国，除了不是无家
可归，你可以说我要多穷就有多穷。
父母对我的担心以及我对自己的担心，都成了现实，从任何一个通常的标准来看，这都是我的最大失败。
我不是站在这里和你们说“失败”很好玩。
那么我为什么还要谈论失败的收益呢？那是因为失败后我找到了自我，我开始把所有的精力都放在我关心的工作上。
如果我
在其他方面成功过，我可能就不会下决心在自己喜欢的领域获得成功。
我变得从容，
因为我已经历过最大的恐惧。
而且我还活着，我有一个值得自豪的女儿，一个陈旧的
打字机和很不错的写作灵感。
我在失败堆积而成的硬石般的基础上，开始重筑我的人
生（此后，j.k.罗琳写就了风靡全球的《哈利波特》系列——编者注）。
失败给了我内心的安宁，这种安宁是不会从一帆风顺的经历中得到的。
失败让我
认识自己，这些无法从其他地方学到。
我发现自己有坚强的意志，而且，自我控制能
力比自己想象的还要强，我也发现自己拥有比红宝石更珍贵的朋友。
除非遭受磨难，你不会真正认识自己，也无法知道你和朋友之间的关系有多铁。
这些才是失败馈赠给你的真正的礼物。
（本文是《哈利波特》的作者罗琳在哈佛大学XX年毕业典礼上的演讲辞）
2019年04月05日。
JK罗琳在哈佛的演讲--失败的附加值和想象力的重要性
失败的附加值和想象力的重要性——JK罗琳在哈佛的演讲福斯特校长，校理事会和校务监督委员会的成员们，各位老师，各位骄傲的父母们，还有最重要的，毕业生们：首先我要说谢谢，不只是因为哈佛给了我莫大的荣誉，也是因为这几个礼拜一直思考怎么做这个毕业演讲带来的焦虑和担忧让我成功地减了肥。
真是喜上加喜！现在我只需要做几个深呼吸，偷偷看着那面红色的旗子，然后骗自己说我正在一个受过世界最优秀的教育的哈利波特们的大会上。
做一个毕业演讲的责任很大。
但是当我回忆了一下我毕业的时候听到的毕业演讲以后，我改变了我的想法。
那天来做演讲的人是英国著名的哲学家baroness mary warnock 。
回忆她的演讲真的对我写这个稿子帮助很大，因为我发现我连一个字都不记得了。
这个发现让我大大地松了一口气，我不再担心有的人会因为我演讲而放弃他们很有前途的经济、法律或者是政治方面的工作，而为了放纵的快乐成为一名同性恋巫师。
你们看，就算你们以后回忆起我的演讲时只能记得这个“同性恋巫师”的笑话，我仍然会觉得自己比baroness mary warnock成功。
取得个人成功的第一步——给自己一个可以达到的目标。
实际上，为了想出合适的话题，我把自己弄得心力交瘁。
我问过我自己：“我希望我毕业的时候知道什么？”在这毕业之后的二十一年里，我又学到了那些宝贵的知识呢？我有两个答案。
在这个美好的日子里，在我们欢聚在一起庆祝你们取得的学术上的成就的时候，我决定要告诉你们失败的好处。
同时，因为你们已经站在了“现实”的门槛上，我打算赞美一下想象力的至关重要性。
这两个选择看起来奇怪而又相互矛盾，但请耐心地听我说完。
回头看刚毕业的21岁的我，让今天已经42岁的我感到一些不舒服。
21岁，我的生命到现在为止的前一半的时候，我努力地试图在自己的野心和家人的期望之间取得一个平衡。
我一直坚定地相信，我唯一想做的事情，就是写作。
但是我的父母，出生于贫寒家庭，从未上过大学，他们把我过于活跃的想象力看作一种只属于个人的怪癖，既不能用来偿还抵押贷款，又不能用来领福利救济。
从罗琳哈佛大学毕业典礼演讲稿走向坚实的未来
从罗琳哈佛大学毕业典礼演讲稿走向坚实的未来尊敬的哈佛大学领导、教授、毕业生和各位来宾:感谢你们邀请我来到这里，分享我的经验和看法。
在这里，我想说些令人振奋的话，然后关注一下主题：“从罗琳哈佛大学毕业典礼演讲稿走向坚实的未来。
”我的话题很简单，因为它是适用于每个人的。
When I graduated from Harvard more than 30 years ago, I was not sure what I wanted to do with my life. I had always loved writing, storytelling, and creativity, but I thought I needed to have a more traditional career if I wanted to be successful. So I started working as a consultant, hoping to climb the corporate ladder and make a name for myself in the business world.But despite my best efforts, I wasn’t happy. Every day I felt like something was missing, like there was something more I was meant to be doing. And eventually, I realized what that something was: writing.So I quit my job and, with nothing but a few hundred dollars in my bank account, I started working on my first novel. It wasn’t easy, but I was passionate about it, andthat made all the difference. And eventually, that novel –the first Harry Potter book – found its way into the world, and everything changed.Now, I’m not saying everyone needs to go out and write a bestselling book – far from it. But what I am saying is this: if you have a dream, if you have something you’re passionate about, don’t give up on it. Pursue it, even if it meanstaking risks, even if it means going against the grain.Because when you’re doing something you love, something that makes you feel alive, that’s when you’re truly successful. And success, after all, is not about money or status or fame –it’s about fulfillment, a bout happiness, about making the most of the precious time we have on this earth.So to all the graduates here today, I say this: don’t be afraid to chase your dreams. Don’t be afraid to take risks. And don’t be afraid to fail, because sometimes it’s only through failure that we find the strength to succeed.And as you embark on this next chapter of your lives, remember that you have all the tools you need to succeed. You have the education, the intelligence, the talent, and most of all, the drive to make your mark on the world.So go out there and do it. Make a difference. Embrace your passions. And remember that no matter what happens, the future is yours –and it’s up to you to build it.谢谢您的听取。
JK罗琳哈佛毕业典礼英语演讲稿：感染你的人生旅程
JK罗琳哈佛毕业典礼英语演讲稿：感染你的人生旅程Dear fellow graduates, distinguished guests, and faculty members,It is an absolute honor to stand before you today and address the graduating class of Harvard University. I am grateful for this opportunity to share with you a few thoughts about the journey that lies ahead of you and how it is we can find meaning and purpose during the twists and turns of life.When I was asked to speak at this graduation ceremony, I was reminded of my own journey as a writer and how I was shaped by the people and experiences I encountered along the way. It was a journey that began many years ago, long before I ever dreamed of writing about a boy wizard and a magical world.Growing up, I was not the happiest of children. My parents had a difficult marriage, and they fought constantly. My mother suffered from a debilitating illness, which left her bedridden for much of my childhood. And I struggledacademically, feeling like I could never live up to the expectations of my teachers and peers.Despite these challenges, there were people who inspired and encouraged me to follow my dreams. They were the teachers who saw something in me that I couldn't see myself. The friends who showed me kindness and compassion when I neededit most. And the authors and books that transported me to new worlds and helped me to see the beauty and wonder of life.It was these people who lit a spark within me and set me on a path to becoming a writer. As I wrote, I found that I could create new stories and worlds that allowed me to explore my own thoughts and feelings. It gave me a sense of purpose and meaning that I had never felt before.For me, writing was a way to make sense of the world and to connect with others. It was a journey that took me to places I never imagined and introduced me to people who would forever change my life. And it all started with that spark of inspiration that was ignited by the people I encountered along the way.As you embark on your own journey, I encourage you to seek out those people who will inspire and inspire you. They may be the teachers who push you to excel, the friends wholift you up when you fall, or the strangers who offer a helping hand when you need it most. They are the ones whowill help you to find your path and to stay true to your values and beliefs.But finding these people is just the first step. The true challenge is in recognizing them when they appear and being open to the lessons they have to teach you. It requires a willingness to let go of your preconceptions and to embrace the unknown. It requires a willingness to take risks and to learn from your mistakes. And it requires a willingness to be humble and to ask for help when you need it.As you navigate the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead, remember that your journey is not about reaching a destination. It is about the people you meet along the way and the impact they have on your life. It is about the lessons you learn and the changes you make. And it is about finding joy and fulfillment in the moments, both big and small, that make up your life.So, to the graduating class of Harvard University, I leave you with this: seek out the people who will inspire and challenge you, and be open to the journey that lies ahead. It won't always be easy, but if you stay true to yourself and keep your eyes open, you may just find that your greatest adventures are yet to come.Congratulations, and may the journey ahead be filled with joy, wonder, and discovery.Thank you.。
《哈利波特》作者：罗琳在哈佛大学的演讲_演讲稿范文_
《哈利波特》作者：罗琳在哈佛大学的演讲立波特作家罗琳在哈佛大学的演讲：失败的额外收益与想象力的重要性浮士德主席，哈佛公司和监察委员会的各位成员，大学的员工，自豪的父母，以及所有的毕业生们：首先我想说的是“谢谢你们”。
这不仅因为哈佛给了我非比寻常的荣誉，而且为了这几个礼拜以来，由于想到这次毕业典礼演说而产生的恐惧与恶心让我减肥成功。
这真是一个双赢的局面！现在我需要做的就是一次深呼吸，眯着眼看着红色的横幅，然后欺骗自己，让自己相信正在参加世界上受到最好教育群体的哈立波特大会。
做毕业典礼演说是一个重大的责任，我的思绪回到了自己的那次毕业典礼。
那天的演讲者是一位英国的杰出哲学家Baroness Marry Warnock. 对她演讲的回忆对我写这篇帮助巨大，因为我发现她说的话我居然一个字都没有记住。
这个发现让我释然，使我得以继续写完演讲稿，我不用再担心，那种想成为"gay wizard"（harry porter中的魔法大师）的眩晕的愉悦，可能会误导你们放弃在商业、法律、政治领域的大好前途。
你们看，如果你们在若干年后能记住“gay wizard”这个笑话，我就比Barkoness Mary Warnock有进步了。
所以，设定一个可以实现的目标是个人进步的第一步。
实际上，我已经绞尽脑汁、费劲心思去想今天我应该讲什么好。
我问自己：我希望在自己毕业那天已经知道的是什么，而又有哪些重要的教训是我从那天开始到现在的21年间学会的。
我想到了两个答案。
在今天这个愉快的日子，我们聚在一起庆祝你们学习上的成功时，我决定和你们谈谈失败的收益。
另外，当你们如今处于“现实生活”的入口处时，我想向你们颂扬想象力的重要性。
我选择的这两个答案似乎如同堂吉诃德式幻想一样不切实际，或者显得荒谬，但是请容忍我讲下去。
对于我这样一个已经42岁的人来说，回头看自己21岁毕业时的情景，并不是一件舒服的事情。
我的前半生之前，我一直在自己内心的追求与最亲近的人对我的要求之间进行不自在的抗争。
罗琳的哈佛毕业典礼演讲稿
罗琳的哈佛毕业典礼演讲稿《哈利.波特》的作者罗琳于6月5日参加了哈佛大学2008年的毕业典礼，被授予荣誉学位，并作为特邀嘉宾做了标题为《The Fringe Benefits of Failure， and the Importance of Imagination》的演讲。
接下来由店铺为大家推荐罗琳的哈佛毕业典礼演讲稿，希望对你有所帮助!首先我想说的是谢谢你们，这不仅因为哈佛给了我非比寻常的荣誉，而且为了这几个礼拜以来，由于想到这次毕业典礼演说而产生的恐惧与恶心让我减肥成功，这真是一个双赢的局面现在我需要做的就是一次深呼吸，眯着眼看着红色的横幅，然后欺骗自己，让自己相信正在参加世界上受到最好教育群体的哈立波特大会，做毕业典礼演说是一个重大的责任，我的思绪回到了自己的那次毕业典礼，那天的演讲者是一位英国的杰出哲学家 Baroness Marry Warnock. 对她演讲的回忆对我写这篇演讲稿帮助巨大，因为我发现她说的话我居然一个字都没有记祝这个发现让我释然，使我得以继续写完演讲稿，我不用再担心，那种想成为gay wizard的眩晕的愉悦，可能会误导你们放弃在商业、法律、政治领域的大好前途，你们看如果你们在若干年后能记装gay wizard这个笑话，我就比Barkoness Mary Warnock有进步了，所以设定一个可以实现的目标是个人进步的第一步，实际上我已经绞尽脑汁、费劲心思去想今天我应该讲什么好，我问自己我希望在自己毕业那天已经知道的是什么，而又有哪些重要的教训是我从那天开始到现在的21年间学会的，我想到了两个答案，在今天这个愉快的日子，我们聚在一起庆祝你们学习上的成功时。
我决定和你们谈谈失败的收益，另外当你们如今处于现实生活的入口处时，我想向你们颂扬想象力的重要性，我选择的这两个答案似乎如同歌德式幻想一样不切实际，或者显得荒谬，但是请容忍我讲下去，对于我这样一个已经42岁的人来说，回头看自己21岁毕业时的情景，并不是一件舒服的事情，我的前半生之前，我一直在自己内心的追求与最亲近的人对我的要求之间进行不自在的抗争，我曾确信我自己唯一想做的事情是写小说。
罗琳哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲稿：燃烧激情,追逐梦想模式
罗琳哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲稿：燃烧激情，追逐梦想模式尊敬的哈佛大学校长、各位教授和高材生：我很荣幸能够在今天的毕业典礼上，与大家分享我的人生经历和心得，以及我对于未来的展望。
作为一名成功的小说家和企业家，我相信我的历和故事能够激发你们内心的热情，追逐自己的梦想，创造更美好的未来。
成为一名小说家是我童年时的梦想。
我喜欢阅读、写作和想象。
然而，在我年轻时并没有人认为写作是一个成功的职业，只有教授、医生或者律师才能够获得社会的认可和尊重。
此，我选择了一个比较传统的路子，成为一名语言学家和教师，这也成为我写作和创业的铺垫。
然而人生道路上的起起伏伏让我发现，只有追求自己的内心激情和热爱，才能够真正地实现自己的梦想和价值。
2007年，我曾经在哈佛大学就我的人生经历和梦想发表了一次演讲，那时候我还不知道，我的一部小说《哈利波特》将彻底改变我的人生和世界。
《哈利波特》这部小说不仅成功地打破了英国和全球出版的记录，也掀起了一股全球性的魔法热潮。
我相信这部小说的成功离不开我内心的激情和对于幻想和魔法的热爱，以及我对于写作和语言的敏锐和执着。
同时，这部小说也彰显了我对于真理和正义的渴望，以及对于人性的理解和呼唤。
成功背后，也有其它的困难和挑战。
例如，我的小说曾经被一些教育家和宗教人士批评为鼓吹魔法与邪恶，挑战了传统的道德和价值观。
我深信，艺术和文化是超越国界、文化和宗教的共同语言，具有解锁人类本质和生命意义的力量。
因此，我继续坚持我的内心激情和使命，写下了我对于魔法和魔法世界的更加深入和丰富的理解和探索。
同时，我的激情和热爱也驱使我进入了商业领域。
创办和经营曾经的网站Pottermore和出版公司Wizarding World，让我实现了我的另一个梦想和愿景——将更多的人带入到我的魔法世界中来，探索、游戏和学习。
同时，这个商业模式也让我成为一个兼具文化和商业价值的企业家，探索了艺术与商业、创意与实益的融合和平衡。
我的成功并不是单方面的，其中，包括了我的团队和合作伙伴们的努力和贡献。
JK罗琳哈佛演讲
President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, proud parents, and, above all, graduates, 福斯特主席，哈佛公司和监察委员会的各位成员，各位老师、家长、全体毕业生们：The first thing I would like to say is "thank you." Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I’ve endured at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight. A win-win situation! Now all I have to do is take deep breaths, squint at the red banners and convince myself that I am at the world’s largest Gryffindors' reunion. 首先请允许我说一声谢谢。
哈佛不仅给了我无上的荣誉，连日来为这个演讲经受的恐惧和紧张，更令我减肥成功。
这真是一个双赢的局面。
现在我要做的就是深呼吸几下，眯着眼睛看看前面的大红横幅，安慰自己正在世界上最大的格兰芬多。
Delivering a commencement address is a great responsibility; or so I thought until I cast my mind back to my own graduation. The commencement speaker that day was the distinguished British philosopher Baroness Mary Warnock. Reflecting on her speech has helped me enormously in writing this one, because it turns out that I can't remember a single word she said. This liberating discovery enables me to proceed without any fear that I might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising careers in business, law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard. 发表毕业演说是一个巨大的责任，至少在我回忆自己当年的毕业典礼前是这么认为的。
罗琳哈佛毕业典礼演讲
罗琳哈佛毕业典礼演讲尊敬的校长、教授和各位同学们：大家好！首先非常感谢哈佛大学给予我这次难得的演讲机会。
站在这里，我感到十分荣幸，也深感责任重大。
今天，我想与大家分享一些我在经历中获得的人生智慧和价值观。
让我先向大家问一个问题：你们对成功的定义是什么？是金钱？是地位？还是名望？这些确实是我们生活中不可忽视的方面，但我想告诉大家，成功并不仅仅局限于这些表面的成就。
我相信，成功的定义需要是一个多维度的观念。
首先，成功必须是有意义的。
不能仅仅为了金钱而努力，而是要追求那些让自己和他人都受益的事物。
比如，通过创新和创造来改变社会，通过服务和奉献来帮助他人。
只有这样，我们才能真正达到内心的满足和成就感。
其次，成功需要是全面的。
我们不能只关注某个方面的成功，而忽略其他方面的发展。
例如，光有财富而没有健康，又有何意义呢？或许在追逐成功的过程中，我们会忽略一些重要的东西，比如家庭、友情、健康等等。
我们必须找到一个平衡，做到全面发展，才能真正的成功。
最后，成功需要是可持续的。
成功不是一蹴而就的，也不是短期的获得。
成功是一个漫长的过程，需要我们持之以恒地努力和坚持。
成功不仅是达到目标，还需要保持和发展。
只有持之以恒，才能使我们的努力和付出变得有意义和有价值。
那么，如何追求成功呢？首先，我们要有一个明确的目标。
目标是成功的起点，是我们努力的方向。
我们必须清晰地知道自己要追求什么，然后制定相应的计划和策略来实现目标。
其次，我们要不断地学习和成长。
成功是基于我们的能力和知识的。
我们要时刻保持好奇心，勇于尝试新的事物，不断学习和掌握新的知识和技能。
只有这样，我们才能适应和应对不断变化的环境和挑战。
最后，我们要有坚强的意志力和毅力。
成功是一个充满困难和挑战的过程。
我们需要克服困难、抵御诱惑，坚持不懈地向目标努力。
不要害怕失败，因为失败是成功的前奏，是我们积累经验和成长的机会。
只要我们坚持下去，相信自己，成功就在不远处。
在结束我演讲之前，我想给大家分享一句话：成功是一种心态，不是目标。
JK罗琳哈佛毕业典礼英语演讲稿：激励人心
JK罗琳哈佛毕业典礼英语演讲稿：激励人心Ladies and gentlemen,It is an absolute honor for me to be standing before you today, on the esteemed grounds of Harvard University - a world-renowned institution that has produced some of the greatest minds in history. As a writer, I must say that I never imagined I would be delivering a speech on this platform, which is why I am very grateful to have this opportunity to talk to you all today.My journey to this moment has been a long one, but it has been filled with valuable lessons that have shaped me into the person I am today. As some of you may know, I came from humble beginnings, and it is safe to say that success was not handed to me on a silver platter. I had to work hard, persevere, and believe in myself even when others did not. And let me tell you, that mindset has carried me far - much farther than I ever imagined possible.But enough about me - I am here today to talk to you about something much bigger than myself. I want to talk about you. I want to talk about the bright minds that are sittingbefore me - the people who will go on to change the world in unimaginable ways. Because, let's face it, that's what Harvard is all about, right? It's about providing a space for some of the greatest thinkers in the world to come together and use their talents for the greater good.But here's the thing - the road to success is never easy. And I know some of you may feel a sense of pressure or uncertainty about what the future holds. Believe me, I understand that feeling all too well. But the truth is, every single person who has ever achieved anything great has had to face obstacles and overcome them to get where they are today. And that's where I want to offer some words of encouragement.First and foremost, never underestimate the power of hard work. Yes, I know it sounds clich茅, but hear me out. Success is not about luck or chances - it's about putting in theeffort and the time to make things happen. And when I say effort, I am not just referring to putting in long hours or sacrificing sleep. I am talking about being consistent, being disciplined, and being willing to learn from your mistakes. Because trust me, you will make mistakes - but it's how you bounce back from them that matters most.Secondly, always stay true to your principles. In thisday and age, it's all too easy to be swayed by the opinionsof others or to succumb to societal pressures. But let metell you, that is not a path to success. Success comes from being authentic, from listening to your heart, and fromstaying true to the values that define who you are. And Iknow that sounds simplistic, but in a world where everythingis changing at lightning speed, it is those principles thatwill anchor you and keep you grounded.Finally, never stop dreaming. Never give up on the things that you are passionate about, no matter how far-fetched they might seem at the time. Because the truth is, sometimes the most brilliant ideas come from the most unlikely places.Think about it - if I had told you twenty years ago that a story about a boy wizard would become a global phenomenon,you might have thought I was crazy. But by daring to dream, I was able to bring my vision to life - and who knows, youmight just be the next person to do the same.In conclusion, I want to leave you with one final thought. Right now, the world may seem like a daunting and uncertain place. But I truly believe that the people sitting before me are the ones who will change that. You are the future leaders,the innovators, and the thinkers who will shape the world for generations to come. And I have every faith that you willrise to that challenge, that you will work hard, stay true to your principles, and most importantly - never stop dreaming.Thank you, Harvard, for inviting me to speak today, and good luck to all of you on your journeys ahead.。
罗琳哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲稿
罗琳哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲稿下面小编就和大家分享罗琳哈佛大学毕业典礼上的，欢迎有在学英语或者热爱英文演讲稿的你们一起来阅读，品读。
2019年6月5日是哈佛大学的毕业典礼，请来的演讲嘉宾是《哈利波特》的作者J.K.罗琳女士。
她的演讲题目是《失败的好处和想象的重要性》(The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination)。
她几乎没有谈到哈里波特，而是谈及年轻时一段非常艰辛的日子和对人生的思考。
”以下是英文文稿和中文翻译：The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of ImaginationHarvard University Commencement AddressJ.K. RowlingCopyright June 2019As prepared for deliveryPresident Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, proud parents, and, above all, graduates.The first thing I would like to say is ‘thank you.’ Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I have endured at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight. A win-win situation! Now all I have to do is take deep breaths, squint at the red banners and convince myself that I am at the world’s largest Gryffindor reunion.Delivering a commencement address is a great responsibility; or so I thought until I cast my mind back to my own graduation. The commencement speaker that day was the distinguished British philosopher Baroness Mary Warnock. Reflecting on herspeech has helped me enormously in writing this one, because it turns out that I can’t remember a single word she said. This liberating discovery enables me to proceed without any fear that I might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising careers in business, the law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard.You see? If all you remember in years to come is the ‘gay wizard’ joke, I’ve come out ahead of Baroness Mary Warnock. Achievable goals: the first step to self improvement.Actually, I have wracked my mind and heart for what I ought to say to you today. I have asked myself what I wish I had known at my own graduation, and what important lessons I have learned in the 21 years that have expired between that day and this.I have come up with two answers. On this wonderful day when we are gathered together to celebrate your academic success, I have decided to talk to you about the benefits of failure. And as you stand on the threshold of what is sometimes called ‘real life’, I want to extol the crucial importance of imagination.These may seem quixotic or paradoxical choices, but please bear with me.Looking back at the 21-year-old that I was at graduation, is a slightly uncomfortable experience for the 42-year-old that she has become. Half my lifetime ago, I was striking an uneasy balance between the ambition I had for myself, and what those closest to me expected of me.I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do, ever, was to write novels. However, my parents, both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that would never pay a mortgage, orsecure a pension. I know that the irony strikes with the force of a cartoon anvil, now.So they hoped that I would take a vocational degree; I wanted to study English Literature. A compromise was reached that in retrospect satisfied nobody, and I went up to study Modern Languages. Hardly had my parents’ car rounded the corner at the end of the road than I ditched German and scuttled off down the Classics corridor.I cannot remember telling my parents that I was studying Classics; they might well have found out for the first time on graduation day. Of all the subjects on this planet, I think they would have been hard put to name one less useful than Greek mythology when it came to securing the keys to an executive bathroom.I would like to make it clear, in parenthesis, that I do not blame my parents for their point of view. There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you. What is more, I cannot criticise my parents for hoping that I would never experience poverty. They had been poor themselves, and I have since been poor, and I quite agree with them that it is not an ennobling experience. Poverty entails fear, and stress, and sometimes depression; it means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships. Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts, that is indeed something on which to pride yourself, but poverty itself is romanticised only by fools.What I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but failure.At your age, in spite of a distinct lack of motivation at university, where I had spent far too long in the coffee bar writingstories, and far too little time at lectures, I had a knack for passing examinations, and that, for years, had been the measure of success in my life and that of my peers.I am not dull enough to suppose that because you are young, gifted and well-educated, you have never known hardship or heartbreak. Talent and intelligence never yet inoculated anyone against the caprice of the Fates, and I do not for a moment suppose that everyone here has enjoyed an existence of unruffled privilege and contentment.However, the fact that you are graduating from Harvard suggests that you are not very well-acquainted with failure. You might be driven by a fear of failure quite as much as a desire for success. Indeed, your conception of failure might not be too far from the average person’s idea of success, so high have you already flown.Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it. So I think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless. The fears that my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.Now, I am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. That period of my life was a dark one, and I had no idea that there was going to be what the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale resolution. I had no idea then how far the tunnel extended, and for a long time, any light at the end of it was ahope rather than a reality.So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. 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.Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above the price of rubies.The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more than any qualification I ever earned.So given a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list ofacquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone’s total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.Now you might think that I chose my second theme, the importance of imagination, because of the part it played in rebuilding my life, but that is not wholly so. Though I personally will defend the value of bedtime stories to my last gasp, I have learned to value imagination in a much broader sense. Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared.One of the greatest formative experiences of my life preceded Harry Potter, though it informed much of what I subsequently wrote in those books. This revelation came in the form of one of my earliest day jobs. Though I was sloping off to write stories during my lunch hours, I paid the rent in my early 20s by working at the African research department at Amnesty International’s headquarters in London.There in my little office I read hastily scribbled letters smuggled out of totalitarian regimes by men and women who were risking imprisonment to inform the outside world of what was happening to them. I saw photographs of those who had disappeared without trace, sent to Amnesty by their desperate families and friends. I read the testimony of torture victims and saw pictures of their injuries. I opened handwritten, eye-witness accounts of summary trials and executions, of kidnappings andrapes.Many of my co-workers were ex-political prisoners, people who had been displaced from their homes, or fled into exile, because they had the temerity to speak against their governments. Visitors to our offices included those who had come to give information, or to try and find out what had happened to those they had left behind.I shall never forget the African torture victim, a young man no older than I was at the time, who had become mentally ill after all he had endured in his homeland. He trembled uncontrollably as he spoke into a video camera about the brutality inflicted upon him. He was a foot taller than I was, and seemed as fragile as a child. I was given the job of escorting him back to the Underground Station afterwards, and this man whose life had been shattered by cruelty took my hand with exquisite courtesy, and wished me future happiness.And as long as I live I shall remember walking along an empty corridor and suddenly hearing, from behind a closed door, a scream of pain and horror such as I have never heard since. The door opened, and the researcher poked out her head and told me to run and make a hot drink for the young man sitting with her. She had just had to give him the news that in retaliation for his own outspokenness against his country’s regime, his mother had been seized and executed.Every day of my working week in my early 20s I was reminded how incredibly fortunate I was, to live in a country with a democratically elected government, where legal representation and a public trial were the rights of everyone.Every day, I saw more evidence about the evils humankind will inflict on their fellow humans, to gain or maintain power. Ibegan to have nightmares, literal nightmares, about some of the things I saw, heard, and read.And yet I also learned more about human goodness at Amnesty International than I had ever known before.Amnesty mobilises thousands of people who have never been tortured or imprisoned for their beliefs to act on behalf of those who have. The power of human empathy, leading to collective action, saves lives, and frees prisoners. Ordinary people, whose personal well-being and security are assured, join together in huge numbers to save people they do not know, and will never meet. My small participation in that process was one of the most humbling and inspiring experiences of my life.Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people’s places.Of course, this is a power, like my brand of fictional magic, that is morally neutral. One might use such an ability to manipulate, or control, just as much as to understand or sympathise.And many prefer not to exercise their imaginations at all. They choose to remain comfortably within the bounds of their own experience, never troubling to wonder how it would feel to have been born other than they are. They can refuse to hear screams or to peer inside cages; they can close their minds and hearts to any suffering that does not touch them personally; they can refuse to know.I might be tempted to envy people who can live that way, except that I do not think they have any fewer nightmares than I do. Choosing to live in narrow spaces leads to a form of mental agoraphobia, and that brings its own terrors. I think the wilfullyunimaginative see more monsters. They are often more afraid.What is more, those who choose not to empathise enable real monsters. For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it, through our own apathy.One of the many things I learned at the end of that Classics corridor down which I ventured at the age of 18, in search of something I could not then define, was this, written by the Greek author Plutarch: What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.That is an astonishing statement and yet proven a thousand times every day of our lives. It expresses, in part, our inescapable connection with the outside world, the fact that we touch other people’s lives simply by existing.But how much more are you, Harvard graduates of 2019, likely to touch other people’s lives? Your intelli gence, your capacity for hard work, the education you have earned and received, give you unique status, and unique responsibilities. Even your nationality sets you apart. The great majority of you belong to the world’s only remaining superpower. The way yo u vote, the way you live, the way you protest, the pressure you bring to bear on your government, has an impact way beyond your borders. That is your privilege, and your burden.If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped change. We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power weneed inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.I am nearly finished. I have one last hope for you, which is something that I already had at 21. The friends with whom I sat on graduation day have been my friends for life. They are my children’s godparents, the people to whom I’ve been able to turn in times of trouble, people who have been kind enough not to sue me when I took their names for Death Eaters. At our graduation we were bound by enormous affection, by our shared experience of a time that could never come again, and, of course, by the knowledge that we held certain photographic evidence that would be exceptionally valuable if any of us ran for Prime Minister.So today, I wish you nothing better than similar friendships. And tomorrow, I hope that even if you remember not a single word of mine, you remember those of Seneca, another of those old Romans I met when I fled down the Classics corridor, in retreat from career ladders, in search of ancient wisdom: As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.I wish you all very good lives.Thank you very much.福斯特主席、哈佛同仁和监察委员会的各位员工，各位老师，家长、同学们:首先请允许我说一声谢谢。