'GUIDE YOURSELF IN YOUR LIFE BY A STRONG SENSE OF MORAL PURPOSE OR DEEPER MEANING', NOVELIST TONI MORRISON ADVISES GRADUATING SENIORS AT COMMENCEMENT-EXERCISES FOR RUTGERS UNIVERSITY IN 2011

(The following, below, is a quoted and condensed version of a portion of the text of the 2011 commencement-exercises speech at Rutgers entitled "The Pursuit of Meaningfulness". The speech was written and publicly delivered by novelist, editor and professor Toni Morrison before graduating seniors and their families at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

The entire text of Toni Morrison's speech can be found on pages 53 through 59 of the copyright-2015 New Press book entitled "The World is Waiting for You: Graduation Speeches to Live by from Activists, Writers, and Visionaries". That book was edited by Tara Grove and Isabel Ostrer. The book's publisher, The New Press, is based in New York City, New York, and in London, England.

The entire text of Toni Morrison's 2011 commencement-exercises speech at Rutgers University was copyrighted in 2011 by Ms. Morrison, and was reprinted in the above-cited book with permission courtesy of ICM Partners.

The following quoted text from a portion of Ms. Morrison's graduation-day speech at Rutgers University can be found on page 55 of the book "The World Is Waiting for You". Please note that several clarifying parenthetical statements and ellipses have been added by me, John Kevin McMillan of Austin, Texas:)

"I have often wished that (Thomas) Jefferson had not used that phrase 'the pursuit of happiness' as the third (inalienable) right (for human beings that he cited in the Declaration of Independence from The United Kingdom that Jefferson helped write in 1776)....I would rather he had written (those three inalienable rights as ')life, liberty, and the pursuit of meaningfulness or integrity or truth(')."

"I know that happiness has been the real, if covert, goal of your labors here (at Rutgers). I know that it informs your choice of companions, the profession you will enter, but I urge you, please don't settle for happiness. It's not good enough. Of course, you deserve it. But if that is all you have in mind---happiness---I want to suggest to you that personal success devoid of meaningfulness (or)...a steady commitment to social justice, ....(is)...a trivial (life). It's looking good instead of doing good."