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title: Joe Biden Delivers Yale Commencent Address: Graduation Speech Video
description: Oh, and he also offered plenty of humor and wisdom
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og:title: Joe Biden Obviously Wore Aviators During His Entire Yale Graduation Speech
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# Joe Biden Obviously Wore Aviator Sunglasses During His Entire Yale Graduation Speech

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<!-- video src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ANHI2RmH.m3u8" -->
## Video: The Best Celeb Graduation Speeches

[Watch (HLS stream): The Best Celeb Graduation Speeches](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ANHI2RmH.m3u8) (3:23)

![The Best Celeb Graduation Speeches](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ANHI2RmH/poster.jpg?width=720)

_Published 2013-05-16. The best moments of celebrity commencement speeches from the past decade including Stephen Colbert and Steve Jobs_


by 

[Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/)


## Samantha Grossman


May 18, 2015 4:58 PM UTC

by 

[Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/)


## Samantha Grossman


May 18, 2015 4:58 PM UTC

Joe Biden delivered a very Joe Biden commencement address at Yale University’s “Class Day” ceremony Sunday. He began by acknowledging that he’s known for speaking his mind: “I realize no one ever doubts I mean what I say. The problem occasionally is I say all that I mean. I have a bad reputation for being straight, sometimes at inappropriate times.”

He maintained his signature straightforwardness throughout the speech — and also wore his signature aviator sunglasses the whole time. He managed to poke fun at both Yale’s athletic shortcomings and his own political shortcomings, with jokes like, “One touchdown away from beating Harvard this year for the first time since 2006,” he said. “So close to something you wanted for eight years. I can only imagine how you feel. I can only imagine. So close. So close.”

But the VP also offered some valuable advice to the graduates.

“Intellectual horsepower and tolerance alone does not make a generation great unless you can break out of the bubble of your own making, technologically, geographically, racially, socially,” Biden said. “To truly connect with the world around you because it matters. No matter your material success, it matters.”

To watch Biden’s full speech, skip ahead one hour and 10 minutes in the video above.


## Transcript

[00:00] [ MUSIC ]
[00:06] I have to say that song never grows old for me.
[00:09] [ LAUGH ]
[00:11] Whenever I hear, that song. [ LAUGH ]
[00:18] it reminds me of nothing.
[00:22] [ LAUGH ] Not only has Harvard given me an
[00:26] extraordinary honor, but the weeks of fear and nausea
[00:30] I have endured [ LAUGH ] At the
[00:35] thought of giving this commencement address, have
[00:37] made me lose weight. [ LAUGH ]
[00:43] If you are willing, as past generations were willing, to
[00:47] contribute part of your life to the life of this country,
[00:51] then I, like President Kennedy, believe we
[00:56] can. Because I believe in you. Your work is gonna fill a
[01:00] large part of your life, and the only way to be truly
[01:02] satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And
[01:06] the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If
[01:10] you haven't found it yet, keep looking and don't settle.
[01:14] And like any great relationship, it just gets better and
[01:17] better as the years roll on. So keep looking. Don't
[01:21] settle. Everyone knows, I didn't go to college at all, any
[01:24] college. And I'm not saying you wasted your time or
[01:27] money, but look at me, I'm a huge celebrity. [ LAUGH ]
[01:33] As most of you are probably aware, I, I didn't graduate
[01:37] from Harvard. [ LAUGH ]
[01:39] In fact, I never even got a call back from admissions.
[01:42] [ LAUGH ] Damn you
[01:47] Harvard. Damn you.
[01:52] But the class of 2011 did not invite me here to tell
[01:55] jokes. They invited me here to talk
[01:59] about the recent tensions between oil traders and
[02:02] regulators of the commodity futures trading
[02:04] commission. [ LAUGH ] I'm sure we all read the New
[02:07] York Times this morning, which posited that there may
[02:10] be a complex scheme that relied on the close
[02:13] relationships between physical oil prices and the prices
[02:16] of financial futures, which, of course, as we all know,
[02:20] moves in parallel. [ LAUGH ] I am all, also a little
[02:24] bit surprised to be your graduation speaker,
[02:27] considering that 25 years ago, today, I did not actually
[02:30] graduate. But when I went up to get my diploma, and
[02:34] the Dean, Kathy Martin, handed me the folder, she
[02:38] leaned in and said, I'm sorry. [ LAUGH ]
[02:44] You know later on today, you can compare your tweets
[02:46] and your Facebook comments, with those of
[02:50] others to figure out if anything memorable went down.
[02:53] [ LAUGH ] Hey, you know what? Tweet that last
[02:55] sentence I just said. [ LAUGH ]
[02:59] [ LAUGH ]
[03:02] At the end of my final program with NBC, just before
[03:06] signing off, I said, work hard, be kind, and
[03:10] amazing things will happen. Today, receiving this
[03:14] honor and speaking to the Dartmouth class of 2011
[03:17] from behind a tree trunk. I have never believed that
[03:20] more. Thank you very much and congratulations.
[03:22] [ SOUND ]

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