Valedictory to 1963

GENTLEMEN OF THE GRADUATING CLASS:

We approach the moment of your going forth from Dartmouth. Going forth in one form or another is one of the experiences of life that each man must meet on his own terms right up to the last great going forth from life itself. All going forth is from the known to the unknown and no man goes forth for another. For each of us the known and the unknown are profoundly personal. This truth holds for each of us life's individuality and its adventure.

Such a moment ought not to be made less meaningful by too many last-minute words about you and Dartmouth and what's ahead. The risk of saying something silly and the certainty of saying much that is futile is too great for either generalized counsel or exhortation.

And yet it would be inappropriate not to say at this point that it is by your going forth that the College lives. As an institution made up of those who serve and support it, the College during these past four years has literally lived its life for you. The years ahead will etch the meaning of this on your understanding as men of Dartmouth.

If we may ask of you one thing in return, it is that in your ongoing awareness of the power and choice which Dartmouth prepared you for you will never hesitate twice to take the way most worthy of Dartmouth. Doing this, you will serve humankind as well as the man you are, and your College will proudly be, as be it must, what you are.

And now, men of Dartmouth, the word is "so long" for in the Dartmouth fellowship there is no parting.