>> Some people call you all nerds and we hear that you claim that label with pride.

[NOISE].

>> Well so do we.

[LAUGH]

[NOISE] My

normal glasses really aren't that different.

[LAUGH]

The modern world is a incredible source of innovation.

And Stanford stands at the center of that.

Creating new companies and schools of thought.

Prize winning professors, inspired art and literature.

Miracle drugs and amazing graduates.

Whether you're a scientist with a new discovery

or working in the trenches to understand the needs

of the most marginalized you're advancing amazing breakthroughs

in what human beings can do for each other.

Like to talk to you today about how your

optimism and ours can do more for more people.

Optimism is often dismissed as false hope but there is also false hopelessness.

That's the attitude that says we can't defeat poverty and disease.

We absolutely can, even in dire situations, optimism

fuels innovation and leads to new approaches that eliminate suffering.

>> As you leave Stanford, take all

your genius and your optimism, and your empathy.

And go change the world in ways that will make millions of people optimistic.

In the course of your lives perhaps without any plan

on your part, you'll see suffering that's going to break your heart.

And when it happens, don't turn away from it.

That's the moment that change is born.

Congratulations and good luck to the class of 2014.

[NOISE] For

more, please

visit us at

Stanford.edu.