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Larry Page delivered the University of Michigan Class of 2009 commencement address on May 2, 2009. Google’s official transcript is the source to use for the speech’s wording; Google also posted a video of the address.
Read Larry Page’s full 2009 commencement speech
Google published the transcript on May 2, 2009, the day Page spoke at Michigan. It is the primary source for quotations and the full text: Larry Page at the University of Michigan. The Google-uploaded video provides the delivery and event context. NPR’s commencement archive also indexes Page’s speech at Michigan on May 2, 2009.
The transcript is the reliable text source cited here. The available source record does not establish a separate word-for-word audit against the video, so consult the recording if a disputed phrase depends on exactly what was audible.
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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteWhat Page says about Michigan and family
Page begins by asking graduates to celebrate the families and friends who supported them. He also explains why the university is personal to him: his parents met at a student cooperative at Michigan, several generations of his family studied there, and his father’s academic life shaped his childhood. The address is therefore both commencement advice and a homecoming.
#1 Best Overall
His family recollections include specific details, such as his father’s high school graduating class of about 90 students and his father earning a doctorate 44 years before the speech. These are Page’s accounts in the 2009 address, not independently verified statistics.
The web idea that preceded Google
Page recounts a vivid late-night idea he had at age 23: he imagined downloading the web and examining its links. He does not describe that first idea as a ready-made plan to build a search engine. Rather, he says that he and Sergey Brin later found a better way to rank web pages, and Google followed. The distinction matters: his example is about taking an intriguing idea seriously and finding a workable route toward it, not about having the finished company concept from the outset.
Ambitious goals, collaborators, and leverage
Page connects his time at Michigan’s LeaderShape program to an ambitious proposal: a personal rapid transit system that could replace campus buses. He uses that experience to introduce what he calls a “healthy disregard for the impossible.” The University of Michigan’s engineering profile also records his LeaderShape participation and his role as commencement speaker.
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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteHis advice is that unusually ambitious problems can draw capable collaborators while facing less competition, because relatively few people attempt them. He also points to software as a way for a small team to create something that millions can use. These are Page’s arguments and examples, not a measured guarantee that ambitious projects succeed.
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- “When a really great dream shows up, grab it!”
- “I think it is often easier to make progress on mega-ambitious dreams.”
- “Always work hard on something uncomfortably exciting!”
- “Find the leverage in the world, so you can be more lazy!”
Each quotation above appears in Google’s posted transcript. Page’s address closes its advice by returning to the people who supported the graduates: “Please keep them close and remember: they are what really matters in life.”
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the speech leaves graduates with
The address moves from Page’s Michigan and family history to a story about an early web idea, then to advice about pursuing ambitious work and finding leverage. Its closing emphasis is personal rather than technical: keep family and friends close, and value the people who helped you along the way.
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![Class-Day Speeches and Commencement Orations 1889 [Leather Bound]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/31Tw+EwmIlL._SL160_.jpg)
- Original Leather Binding on Spine and Corners of the book
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