It’s a great honor for me to be the third member of my family to receive an  honorary doctorate from this great university. It’s an honor to follow my  great-Uncle Jim, who was a gifted physician, and my Uncle Jack, who is a remarkable businessman. Both of them could have told you something important about their professions, about medicine or commerce. I have no specialized field of interest or expertise, which puts me at a disadvantage, talking to you today. I’m a novelist. My work is human nature, real life is all I know.

Don’t ever confuse the two, your life and your work. The second is only part of the first.

You walk out of here this afternoon with only one thing that no one else has. There will be hundreds of people out there with your same degree; there will  be thousands of people doing what you…