Saturday, 06/07/2008 Print Version | Email / Share
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Brentwood High School Commencement Speech
DR. PRATT: It is my
great pleasure to introduce Katherine's dad, the Governor of the great state of
California, Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Applause)
GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER:
Thank you very much, Dr. Pratt, for the wonderful introduction. I think
that you should start writing suspense movies. (Laughter) Very talented. I love
that suspense. Man, I was schvitzing back here. (Laughter) But anyway, thank
you very much for this great introduction, very creative the way you built it
up. And I also want to say thank you very much for inviting me to speak here
today to the class of 2008.
Now, I obviously give a lot of speeches, but I have to say I
that I was a little bit stressed out about this speech here because it is the
first time that I've given a commencement speech where one of my own children
is actually graduating. And of course I know that Katherine -- I can see it in
her face -- that she is very nervous right now. (Laughter) Very nervous right
now.
And I noticed that, as soon as I committed myself to do this
commencement speech here today, she asked me every day, now for weeks,
"Can I read your speech? Can I see your speech? Have you done your speech?
Have you thought about your speech? What are you going to talk about, this
speech here? What is it going to be? When can I see the speech?" And this
went on. And finally this last week she has given up and she has said,
"Well, whatever you do, just don't embarrass me." (Laughter)
"Whatever you do, don't be boring. And whatever you do, don't talk about
the Republican Party." (Laughter)
Finally, I'd had it. I said, "Well, Katherine, if you're
so worried about what I'm going to say and that I'm going to embarrass you or anything
like this, why don't you just go ahead and tell me what I should say and what I
should talk about? Go ahead and give me some kind of talking points."
And of course at that time Katherine got very busy and she sent
out a mass email to all her friends to get some kind of information and ideas
of what I should talk about. And it was really interesting, because 50 of them
said that I should be really inspirational and 50 of them said that I should be
really wise. And one even said that he wanted to have his money back for one of
my movies, Last Action Hero. (Laughter)
But seriously, I did get great input from all of those kids. And
they said they wanted me to be really funny and they wanted me to tell
outrageous stories and they wanted me to talk a little bit about when I was
young. But most of all, they wanted to know how I became who I am today. They
basically want to know what's the formula of success. And of course there's a
long version and a short version. The short version is the secret to success is
come to America and marry a Kennedy. (Laughter) But I wanted to go with the
long version. This is just one that makes people laugh -- and so it worked, I'm
very happy about that.
So anyway, so I'm going to do exactly what the kids said. Today
I'm going to go and give a speech that will be incredibly inspirational, that
will be unbelievably wise. I'm going to be funnier than Jay Leno and yes, I'm
going to be outrageous. And of course I want to ask the parents to sometimes
plug your ears, because maybe there are some things I'm going to say that you
won't like to hear. But I just wanted to tell you that I, to talk about how I
became successful, I have to tell you also about my five rules.
But before I talk about my five rules I also want to tell you that
no matter what success I had it wouldn't have happened if it wouldn't have been
for America,
because I tell you, this truly is the land of opportunity. There is no other
place in the world like America. I have traveled all over the world and I have
seen it to be the land of opportunities. (Applause)
Now, first of all, you don't have to follow any of those rules,
may I remind you, because there is something very unique about me and that is
that I always was a very intense guy. I always wanted to be number one, I
always wanted to win, and I always had big visions and big dreams. So I just
want to say that early on.
But one of the first rules is trust yourself. Trust yourself
means that kids get too much advice sometimes from everyone else of what they
should do in life. But I think that what you ought to do is really look deep
inside of yourself and say, what is it that I want to be? Who do I want to be,
what do I want to do, and what will make me happy? You've got to find out what
that is, and for that it takes a little bit of time. And I'm talking about not
what your parents want you to be, or what your coach wants you to be, or the
school principal wants you to be, the teachers want you to be. What is it that
you want to be?
Now, I was very fortunate that I grew up in Austria,
because at that time there was no television, there were no computers, no iPods
or any of those kinds of things at all. So therefore I had plenty of time to
think. And of course I had a burning desire to get out of my village. I had
this fire burning in my belly, these ambitions to get out of Austria, because I
was sick and tired to have people always talk about going to work for the
government, to be comfortable and to wait for your pension. That was not the
life that I wanted. I wanted to come to America. I wanted to be successful.
And of course I was very lucky that at that very same time I
found a bodybuilding magazine on a newsstand that had Reg
Park -- now, you don't know who Reg Park
is, but he was three times Mr. Universe -- and the cover said, "Mr.
Universe is Starring in a Hercules Movie." So I bought this magazine and I
read it from the front to the back. And click! It happened it right then and
there, that I knew what I wanted to do in life.
Now, imagine, now you go to your parents (Laughter) that want
you to go to school, become a police officer like my father did, and then marry
a girl by the name of Heidi (Laughter) and then have a bunch of kids and be
happy ever after.
I went to my parents, and when they said to me, "What do
you want to do? You're now 15 years old."
I said, "Well, here's a magazine cover. Look at this. I
want to be a bodybuilding champion and I want to get into movies and I want to
go to America and I want to make millions and millions of dollars."
"Yeah, we understand this is your dream. But you have to
settle in with reality. What is it really that you want to do?"
I said, "No, that's what I want to do."
So, of course, my parents thought I was sick in the head. And
not only that. To then follow that, I went home and for inspiration -- because
I believed in really visualizing and seeing, believing and achieving -- so I
took pictures from the bodybuilding magazine and I started putting them on the
wall next to my bed so when I'd wake up in the morning I'd see this inspiration
always in front of me.
So now you can imagine my mother walking into the bedroom and
looking at that wall, and she started having tears coming down her eyes.
I said, "What's the matter?"
She said, "Oh, my God, I don't know where I went wrong
with you. Where did I go wrong?"
I said, "What?"
She said, "Look at you. All your friends have pictures of
girls and you have pictures of naked men up there on the wall, oiled up with
those little briefs, with those little posing trunks. Where did we go
wrong?"
So she thought -- you know what she thought. But anyway, we
don't have to get into that. But I never wanted to make my mother feel bad, but
the fact of the matter is this is what I needed in order to move forward. Because,
like I said, I was very ambitious and I always wanted to have a visual thing in
front of me to get inspired by, so this was one of the most important things
for me. And therefore I moved on and my mother, of course, later on realized
that everything was okay.
Now, Rule Number Two was break the rules. My wife every so
often wears a t-shirt that says on it on the front, "Well-behaved women
rarely make history." Well, that is also the case with men, may I remind
you. I think that living within the rules is boring. I think living within the
rules doesn't really make you successful. As a matter of fact, every single
time that I moved forward in my career it was because I broke the rules.
And I'll give you an example. When I won the Mr. Universe
contest five times over and Mr. Olympia and all of those things, of course my
goal was now to get into the movies, just like this guy Reg Park. And I went to
see agent after agent after agent and they all said the same thing. "It
will never happen." They said, "You don't understand the rules in
Hollywood. First of all, look at your body. Look at this overdeveloped physique
that you have with all those things popping out left and right from the shirt.
It's not going to happen. You don't understand that Hercules movies were done
10, 15 years ago, but not now. Now the new guys that are coming up that are
really hot -- Woody Allen, Dustin Hoffman -- the little guys, those are the hot
guys. Jack Nicholson." (Laughter) This was, of course, before he gained a
few pounds, that is. (Laughter)
They said, "These are the guys that are really hot. And
then look at your accent. When I listen to this I barely can understand you.
I'm telling you, you will never make it, never make it. You've got to get rid
of this accent. And then the name -- oh, my God, I can see you on the poster
already. Yeah, starring Arnold Schwarzenschnitzel, or whatever your name is. It
will never happen."
And you know something? I didn't listen to those rules. I broke
those rules. I said to myself, what made me successful in bodybuilding, it was
five hours of work a day. And then I went and I took acting lessons, speech
lessons, accent removal lessons. And I still wake up in the middle of the night
with those lines -- there's a fine wine grows on a vine. (Laughter) And the
sink is made out of zinc, with a vibrating Z, which we don't have in the German
language. So all of those things, over and over again. And these are the kinds
of things that I did.
And the rest is history. We did Pumping Iron, the documentary,
Stay Hungry, and all of a sudden I landed the big starring role in Conan The
Barbarian. You remember that movie? "Crush your enemies, see them driven
before you and hear the lamentation of their women." (Laughter) Those were
the kind of lines. Oh, I was in heaven -- now I have arrived, I have arrived.
And then I went on I went on from there and did the action
movies. And of course I broke all the rules again, because you're not supposed
to go from action movies to comedies. I went to comedies and all of those kinds
of things. And since then, of course, between Jack Nicholson and myself, we
have won three Oscars. (Laughter) They're all his, but who wants to go into
details right now? It doesn't really matter.
But anyway, Rule Number Three is don't be afraid to fail.
That's another one of the rules. People are so afraid of failing; that's why
they can't move forward. They are always held back. But you know something? I
have never been afraid to fail and this is why I moved through all of those
things and this is why I did all of the things that I did. Because I have met
so many people in my life, the top of the top in the religious leaders,
political leaders, business leaders, all of this -- and every one has failed in
their life in one place or the other, at one time or the other. Failure is
normal. Even the greatest boxer, Mohammed Ali, greatest boxer of all time, he
failed. He got wiped out, he got knocked down. He has lost fights.
There is nothing wrong with that. You've got to be in touch and
friends with failure as much as with success. Because what failure is good for
is the fear of failure makes you get inspired to work harder. It makes you
perform much better. There is nothing wrong with failure.
And I tell you something, that I have failed many times. I
remember in politics I was successful, I won, I went to Washington and we won
21 initiatives, all those of those things, in Sacramento we won 21 initiatives.
And then the next year, 2005, I called for a special election, because I said, "We
are going to go and pass these initiatives." All four initiatives that we
had on that ballot all wiped out. All went in the toilet. So this is what
happens. But you've got to go, now I know this didn't work. And the next year I
was more inclusive, I brought people in. And I won again the election and we also
won all of the initiatives to start rebuilding California. So don't be afraid of failure,
this is the most important thing.
Rule Number Four is don't listen to the naysayers. How many
times do you hear people saying it can't be done? I have heard this my whole
life, it can't be done. It can't be done that I come to America, it
can't be done to be a bodybuilding champion, it can't be done to go into
movies, it can't be done to run for governor. Especially, I remember when I ran
for governor, "It can't be done," they said. "You know, you are
an actor. What do want to do, two months before the election you're going to
decide that you're going to run for governor? Are you out of your mind? It
can't be done. First you have to run for mayor, then maybe for city council, or
maybe for Assembly or for Senate, then for Lieutenant Governor. You have to
work your way up the political ladder. That's the way it works in politics."
I said, "I'm not going after a political career. All I
want to do is be governor. (Laughter) And fix the problems of California, turn the economy around, protect
the environment, reform education, reform our health care system. That's what I
want to do." And I went out and I talked to the people directly and had
one town hall meeting after the other, did one interview after the other. And
the rest is history. The people sent me to Sacramento. So don't listen to those
kind of things, "It can't."
And of course my mother-in-law, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, is a
perfect example of that. In 1968 when she wanted to start Special Olympics and
she wanted to bring the people out, retarded people from the institutions -- in
those days they called them retarded people, now they call it intellectually
challenged. That's the politically correct way to say it. But she said, "I
want to bring them out of their institutions and I want them to have sports
programs, have sports and have fitness, have them get jobs, dental care, health
care and all of those kinds of things, and be able to live anywhere they want."
The experts in that subject, the professors, the people that
studied it, said "It can't be done. You're making a big mistake. They will
be hurting each other, they will hurt themselves. If we put them in the pool
they will drown," and all of those kind of horror stories they were
telling her. Well, she didn't listen to the naysayers. She moved forward. And look
at this now, 40 years later Special Olympics is now in 164 countries all over
the world because she didn't listen to those that said, "You can't."
(Applause)
And now they get dental care and now they get health care and
they're doing sports. I was over in China in Shanghai and there was the opening
ceremony of the last year's Special Olympic Games. Let me tell you something,
87,000 people were there at the opening ceremony and the event was watched by a
billion people. This is what she has created because she did not listen to the
naysayers. So it's a very important rule: Don't listen to them.
And the fifth one is, the last rule, is work your butt off.
Never be afraid of working. Let me tell you something, that yes, I know you
like to party. I know you like to hang out and all of those things. But just
remember one thing. While you do that there's someone else out there that is
studying, that is reading, that is working hard and is improving. And that
person will be ahead of you. So just think about that when you think about
partying is the most important thing.
Now, of course, I don't have to tell you that, because you already
have worked very hard and that's why you're here today. And I want to
congratulate all of you for the great work that you have done. I am very proud
of you and I want to just tell you that I believe very strongly of what Dr. Pratt
said, that you are the best class ever -- the best class ever. Let's give this
class here a big hand for being the best class ever. (Applause)
Of course every school principal is going to say that to you,
right? I mean, can you imagine a school principal coming out there and saying,
"Oh, we are so lucky. I thought you knuckleheads were never going to make
it." Do you think anyone is going to say that? No, I don't think so.
But you know, he's absolutely right, because from all I have
seen you are an extraordinary class. And you know what I like about you?
Because you believe in service. And this is the last thing that I want to tell
you. Continue the service that you started here in this school, because
Brentwood School takes service very seriously. And you have done such
extraordinary work with Habitat for Humanity, with Special Olympics, with Best
Buddies and with reaching out to the veterans and all of those things. It is
extremely important that you continue, because we always have to give back to our
community. Service is extremely important because we have to help the weak, and
the rich people have to help the poor people. That is important.
And of course there is no one that really knows better than my
in-laws about service and I can tell you that they have inspired me to get
involved in service. This is why I've been involved now for 30 years with
Special Olympics as a trainer, as the coach of Special Olympics, and the torch
bearer for Special Olympics. That's why I promoted health and fitness around
the country when I was the chairman of the President's Council on Fitness.
That's why I started After School Programs, all of those things.
And now, as governor, it gives me the greatest pleasure, more
so than making the millions and millions of dollars and doing all the movies
and all the other things. And today, if I have a choice which way I want to go
-- do I want to go and help people or go and walk down another red carpet of a
premier? I tell you, I choose going to an after school program and playing
chess with an eight-year-old girl or going to help a Special Olympian across
that finish line and putting the medal on around their neck. That I would
prefer rather than going down another red carpet of a move premiere. (Applause)
And I tell you, my father-in-law -- my father-in-law put it
best. He started the Peace Corps, Head Start, Vista
and Legal Aid to the Poor and all those kind of programs. But he did a
commencement speech at Yale
University and he said in
the end, he said, "Serve, serve, serve, for it is the servant that will
save us all."
Thank you very much. You all have a good time, enjoy
yourselves. Good luck. (Applause)
ANNOUNCER: Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger presents the diploma to his daughter, Katherine Eunice
Shriver Schwarzenegger.
