Former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were asked Thursday to give a piece of advice to the inaugural graduating class of the Presidential Leadership Scholars program — and their answers shared a common theme: never give up.
Bush went first, delivering his advice in two parts.
“Don’t watch a lot of TV,” Bush said, adding that the scholars should instead spend time reading.
The 43rd president then offered his second piece of advice to graduates of the program.
“Actually act,” Bush said. “Do things. And don’t be afraid of failure.”
“Never think that what I’m doing is too little to make a difference. That’s not true.”
Clinton said he agreed with Bush.
“The other thing I’d say is if whatever it is doesn’t work out, get up,” he said.
“I think you got to realize there is no personal ambition you have which can be extinguished by anybody else. Only you, by giving up your dreams, can extinguish them. And if it doesn’t work out exactly like you intended, it will still take you some place interesting and you will make a difference,” Clinton added.
He concluded, “So my advice is, what George said. Don’t be afraid to fail. But, you probably will whether you are afraid to or not. And it’s scary. You just got to get up. The world belongs to tomorrow, not yesterday. Don’t give anyone else permission to take your life away. Just keep living.”
“And keep giving. and never make the perfect the enemy of the good. Never think that what I’m doing is too little to make a difference. That’s not true. That’s not true. Do something every day. Some day, for all of us, it will be our last day. And what will matter will be all the steps we took and what it amounted it. Not the home run we hit on day X.”
The Presidential Leadership Scholars program is a praetorship between the George W. Bush, William J. Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Lyndon B. Johnson presidential centers. The inaugural class contained 60 scholars.
