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Facebook的創始人兼首席执行官马克·扎克伯格被冠以“第二盖茨”的美誉，而且也可以说是哈佛最成功的肄业生之一。今年5月25日，扎克伯格在辍学13年后终于回到母校哈佛大学，并被授予荣誉法学博士学位。在随后的演讲中，他恳切地表达了对母校的感激之情，并说：如果没有当初的使命感，就不会有今天的一切……衡量一个社会的进步也不能只看GDP，而要看有多少人生活得有意义。
Mark Zuckerberg’s 2017 Harvard Commencement1 Speech
President Faust， Board of Overseers， faculty， alumni， friends， proud parents， members of the ad board and graduates of the greatest university in the world...2
I’m honored to be with you today， because let’s face it， you accomplished something I never could.3 If I get through this speech， it’ll be the first time I actually finish something at Harvard. Class of 2017， congratulations！
I’m an unlikely speaker， not just because I dropped out， but because we’re technically4 in the same generation. We walked this yard less than a decade apart， studied the same ideas and slept through the same Ec105 lectures. We may have taken different paths to get here， but today I want to share what I’ve learned about our generation and the world we’re building together.
But first， the last couple of days have brought back a lot of good memories.
What about your first lecture at Harvard？ Mine was Computer Science 121. I was late， so I threw on a T-shirt and didn’t realize until afterwards it was inside out6. I couldn’t figure out why no one would talk to me—except one guy， KX Jin， he just went with it. We ended up doing our problem sets together， and now he runs a big part of Facebook. And that， Class of 2017， is why you should be nice to people.
But my best memory from Harvard was meeting Priscilla7. I had just launched this prank website Facemash， and the ad board wanted to “see me.”8 Everyone thought I was going to get kicked out. My parents came to help me pack. My friends threw me a going away party. As luck would have it， Priscilla was at that party with her friend. We met in line for the bathroom in the Pfoho Belltower9， and in what must be one of the all time romantic lines， I said： “I’m going to get kicked out in three days， so we need to go on a date quickly.”
I didn’t end up getting kicked out—I did that to myself.10 Priscilla and I started dating. She’s the most important person in my life. That’s why I’m so grateful to this place. Thanks， Harvard.
Today I want to talk about purpose. We’re millennials11. We’ll try to do that instinctively. Instead， I’m here to tell you finding your purpose isn’t enough. The challenge for our generation is creating a world where everyone has a sense of purpose. One of my favorite stories is when John F. Kennedy visited the NASA space center， he saw a janitor carrying a broom and he walked over and asked what he was doing.12 The janitor responded： “Mr. President， I’m helping put a man on the moon.”
I remember the night I launched Facebook from my little dorm in Kirkland House. I went to Noch’s13 with my friend KX. I remember telling him I was excited to connect the Harvard community， but one day someone would connect the whole world.
A couple years in， some big companies wanted to buy us. I didn’t want to sell. Nearly everyone else wanted to sell. Without a sense of higher purpose， this was the startup dream come true.14 It tore our company apart. After one tense argument， an advisor told me if I didn’t agree to sell， I would regret the decision for the rest of my life. Relationships were so frayed15 that within a year or so， every single person on the management team was gone. That was my hardest time leading Facebook.
Today I want to talk about three ways to create a world where everyone has a sense of purpose： by taking on big meaningful projects together， by redefining equality so everyone has the freedom to pursue purpose and by building community across the world.
First， let’s take on big meaningful projects.
Every generation has its defining works. More than 300，000 people worked to put a man on the moon—including that janitor. Millions of volunteers immunized children around the world against polio.16
It’s good to be idealistic. But be prepared to be misunderstood. Anyone working on a big vision will get called crazy， even if you end up right. Anyone working on a complex problem will get blamed for not fully understanding the challenge.
The second is redefining equality to give everyone the freedom they need to pursue purpose.
Now， an entrepreneurial culture thrives when it’s easy to try lots of new ideas. Facebook wasn’t the first thing I built. I also built games， chat systems， study tools and music players. I’m not alone. J. K. Rowling17 got rejected 12 times before publishing Harry Potter. Even Beyoncé had to make hundreds of songs to get “Halo.”18 The greatest successes come from having the freedom to fail.19
But today， we have a level of wealth inequality that hurts everyone. Right now our society is way over-indexed on rewarding success and we don’t do nearly enough to make it easy for everyone to take lots of shots.20
Every generation expands its definition of equality. Previous generations fought for the vote and civil rights. Now it’s our time to define a new social contract for our generation. We should have a society that measures progress not just by economic metrics21 like GDP， but by how many of us have a role we find meaningful.
And yes， giving everyone the freedom to pursue purpose isn’t free. People like me should pay for it. That’s why Priscilla and I started the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative22 and committed our wealth to promoting equal opportunity. These are the values of our generation. It was never a question of if we were going to do this. The only question was when.
Purpose doesn’t only come from work. The third way we can create a sense of purpose for everyone is by building community. In a survey asking millennials what defines our identity， the most popular answer wasn’t nationality， religion or ethnicity， it was“citizen of the world.”
We get that our greatest opportunities are now global—we can be the generation that ends poverty， that ends disease. But we live in an unstable time. There are people left behind by globalization across the world. This is the struggle of our time. The forces of freedom， openness and global community against the forces of authoritarianism， isolationism and nationalism.23 This is not a battle of nations， it’s a battle of ideas.
Change starts local. Even global changes start small—with people like us. Before you walk out those gates one last time， as we sit in front of Memorial Church， I am reminded of a prayer， Mi Shebeirach， that I say whenever I face a challenge， that I sing to my daughter thinking about her future when I tuck her into bed.24 It goes： “May the source of strength， who blessed the ones before us， help us find the courage to make our lives a blessing.”
I hope you find the courage to make your life a blessing.
Congratulations， Class of 2017！ Good luck out there.
1. commencement： 畢业典礼。
2. overseer：（某体系的）监督者，监督机构；faculty： 全体教员；alumni：//校友，毕业生；ad board： administrative board，管理委员会。
3. 此处扎克伯格暗指自己从哈佛辍学了。
4. technically： 根据确切意义地，严格按照事实地。
5. Ec10： 哈佛大学提供的一门经济学课程。
6. inside out： 里面翻到外面，指衣服穿反了。
7. Priscilla： 普莉希拉·陈（Priscilla Chan），扎克伯格的妻子，慈善家及儿科医生。
8. 我刚刚建立了一个恶作剧网站Facemash，学校管理委员会的人要审查我。prank：恶作剧。
9. Pfoho Belltower： 是哈佛大学学生宿舍楼Pforzheimer House里的一个大套房，包括公共休息室、卧室、联谊室、酒吧等等。下文中的Kirkland House也是哈佛大学学生宿舍楼。
10. 我没有被开除，而是自己选择了退学。
11. millennials： // 千禧一代，指出生于1980到2000年的一代年轻人。
12. John F. Kennedy： 约翰·肯尼迪（1917—1963），美国第35任总统；NASA： 美国国家航空航天局（National Aeronautics and Space Administration）；janitor：大楼管理员，看门人；broom： 扫帚。
13. Noch’s： 匹诺曹比萨店（Pinocchio’s Pizzeria ）的缩写。
14. 若没有更高的目标，这对创业公司来说就是梦想成真了（指很多创业者都想通过出售公司挣快钱）。
15. fray： 磨损。
16. immunize： 给……接种疫苗；polio： // 脊髓灰质炎，小儿麻痹症。
17. J.K. Rowling： J. K. 罗琳，英国作家，代表作为《哈利·波特》系列作品。
18. Beyoncé： 碧昂丝，美国著名女歌手；“Halo”： 碧昂丝最有名的个人单曲之一。
19. 最伟大的成功都要经过无数的失败。
20. 如今我们的社会过于注重奖励成功，缺乏足够的条件让每个人都能不断去尝试（指经历多次失败）。way： adv. 非常；over-indexed： 指数过高的；take a shot： 尝试。
21. metric： 度量标准。
22. Chan Zuckerberg Initiative： 扎克伯格-陈计划，由扎克伯格和妻子在女儿出生之际创立的以慈善为目的的有限责任公司，资产价值约450亿美元（99
Mark Zuckerberg’s 2017 Harvard Commencement1 Speech
President Faust， Board of Overseers， faculty， alumni， friends， proud parents， members of the ad board and graduates of the greatest university in the world...2
I’m honored to be with you today， because let’s face it， you accomplished something I never could.3 If I get through this speech， it’ll be the first time I actually finish something at Harvard. Class of 2017， congratulations！
I’m an unlikely speaker， not just because I dropped out， but because we’re technically4 in the same generation. We walked this yard less than a decade apart， studied the same ideas and slept through the same Ec105 lectures. We may have taken different paths to get here， but today I want to share what I’ve learned about our generation and the world we’re building together.
But first， the last couple of days have brought back a lot of good memories.
What about your first lecture at Harvard？ Mine was Computer Science 121. I was late， so I threw on a T-shirt and didn’t realize until afterwards it was inside out6. I couldn’t figure out why no one would talk to me—except one guy， KX Jin， he just went with it. We ended up doing our problem sets together， and now he runs a big part of Facebook. And that， Class of 2017， is why you should be nice to people.
But my best memory from Harvard was meeting Priscilla7. I had just launched this prank website Facemash， and the ad board wanted to “see me.”8 Everyone thought I was going to get kicked out. My parents came to help me pack. My friends threw me a going away party. As luck would have it， Priscilla was at that party with her friend. We met in line for the bathroom in the Pfoho Belltower9， and in what must be one of the all time romantic lines， I said： “I’m going to get kicked out in three days， so we need to go on a date quickly.”
I didn’t end up getting kicked out—I did that to myself.10 Priscilla and I started dating. She’s the most important person in my life. That’s why I’m so grateful to this place. Thanks， Harvard.
Today I want to talk about purpose. We’re millennials11. We’ll try to do that instinctively. Instead， I’m here to tell you finding your purpose isn’t enough. The challenge for our generation is creating a world where everyone has a sense of purpose. One of my favorite stories is when John F. Kennedy visited the NASA space center， he saw a janitor carrying a broom and he walked over and asked what he was doing.12 The janitor responded： “Mr. President， I’m helping put a man on the moon.”
I remember the night I launched Facebook from my little dorm in Kirkland House. I went to Noch’s13 with my friend KX. I remember telling him I was excited to connect the Harvard community， but one day someone would connect the whole world.
A couple years in， some big companies wanted to buy us. I didn’t want to sell. Nearly everyone else wanted to sell. Without a sense of higher purpose， this was the startup dream come true.14 It tore our company apart. After one tense argument， an advisor told me if I didn’t agree to sell， I would regret the decision for the rest of my life. Relationships were so frayed15 that within a year or so， every single person on the management team was gone. That was my hardest time leading Facebook.
Today I want to talk about three ways to create a world where everyone has a sense of purpose： by taking on big meaningful projects together， by redefining equality so everyone has the freedom to pursue purpose and by building community across the world.
First， let’s take on big meaningful projects.
Every generation has its defining works. More than 300，000 people worked to put a man on the moon—including that janitor. Millions of volunteers immunized children around the world against polio.16
It’s good to be idealistic. But be prepared to be misunderstood. Anyone working on a big vision will get called crazy， even if you end up right. Anyone working on a complex problem will get blamed for not fully understanding the challenge.
The second is redefining equality to give everyone the freedom they need to pursue purpose.
Now， an entrepreneurial culture thrives when it’s easy to try lots of new ideas. Facebook wasn’t the first thing I built. I also built games， chat systems， study tools and music players. I’m not alone. J. K. Rowling17 got rejected 12 times before publishing Harry Potter. Even Beyoncé had to make hundreds of songs to get “Halo.”18 The greatest successes come from having the freedom to fail.19
But today， we have a level of wealth inequality that hurts everyone. Right now our society is way over-indexed on rewarding success and we don’t do nearly enough to make it easy for everyone to take lots of shots.20
Every generation expands its definition of equality. Previous generations fought for the vote and civil rights. Now it’s our time to define a new social contract for our generation. We should have a society that measures progress not just by economic metrics21 like GDP， but by how many of us have a role we find meaningful.
And yes， giving everyone the freedom to pursue purpose isn’t free. People like me should pay for it. That’s why Priscilla and I started the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative22 and committed our wealth to promoting equal opportunity. These are the values of our generation. It was never a question of if we were going to do this. The only question was when.
Purpose doesn’t only come from work. The third way we can create a sense of purpose for everyone is by building community. In a survey asking millennials what defines our identity， the most popular answer wasn’t nationality， religion or ethnicity， it was“citizen of the world.”
We get that our greatest opportunities are now global—we can be the generation that ends poverty， that ends disease. But we live in an unstable time. There are people left behind by globalization across the world. This is the struggle of our time. The forces of freedom， openness and global community against the forces of authoritarianism， isolationism and nationalism.23 This is not a battle of nations， it’s a battle of ideas.
Change starts local. Even global changes start small—with people like us. Before you walk out those gates one last time， as we sit in front of Memorial Church， I am reminded of a prayer， Mi Shebeirach， that I say whenever I face a challenge， that I sing to my daughter thinking about her future when I tuck her into bed.24 It goes： “May the source of strength， who blessed the ones before us， help us find the courage to make our lives a blessing.”
I hope you find the courage to make your life a blessing.
Congratulations， Class of 2017！ Good luck out there.
1. commencement： 畢业典礼。
2. overseer：（某体系的）监督者，监督机构；faculty： 全体教员；alumni：//校友，毕业生；ad board： administrative board，管理委员会。
3. 此处扎克伯格暗指自己从哈佛辍学了。
4. technically： 根据确切意义地，严格按照事实地。
5. Ec10： 哈佛大学提供的一门经济学课程。
6. inside out： 里面翻到外面，指衣服穿反了。
7. Priscilla： 普莉希拉·陈（Priscilla Chan），扎克伯格的妻子，慈善家及儿科医生。
8. 我刚刚建立了一个恶作剧网站Facemash，学校管理委员会的人要审查我。prank：恶作剧。
9. Pfoho Belltower： 是哈佛大学学生宿舍楼Pforzheimer House里的一个大套房，包括公共休息室、卧室、联谊室、酒吧等等。下文中的Kirkland House也是哈佛大学学生宿舍楼。
10. 我没有被开除，而是自己选择了退学。
11. millennials： // 千禧一代，指出生于1980到2000年的一代年轻人。
12. John F. Kennedy： 约翰·肯尼迪（1917—1963），美国第35任总统；NASA： 美国国家航空航天局（National Aeronautics and Space Administration）；janitor：大楼管理员，看门人；broom： 扫帚。
13. Noch’s： 匹诺曹比萨店（Pinocchio’s Pizzeria ）的缩写。
14. 若没有更高的目标，这对创业公司来说就是梦想成真了（指很多创业者都想通过出售公司挣快钱）。
15. fray： 磨损。
16. immunize： 给……接种疫苗；polio： // 脊髓灰质炎，小儿麻痹症。
17. J.K. Rowling： J. K. 罗琳，英国作家，代表作为《哈利·波特》系列作品。
18. Beyoncé： 碧昂丝，美国著名女歌手；“Halo”： 碧昂丝最有名的个人单曲之一。
19. 最伟大的成功都要经过无数的失败。
20. 如今我们的社会过于注重奖励成功，缺乏足够的条件让每个人都能不断去尝试（指经历多次失败）。way： adv. 非常；over-indexed： 指数过高的；take a shot： 尝试。
21. metric： 度量标准。
22. Chan Zuckerberg Initiative： 扎克伯格-陈计划，由扎克伯格和妻子在女儿出生之际创立的以慈善为目的的有限责任公司，资产价值约450亿美元（99