The exact words
Where the line really comes from
In the spring of 1997, Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich was thinking about graduation season and wondered what she would say if she were asked to give a commencement speech. Her column of June 1 answered the question. It began “Ladies and gentlemen of the class of ’97: Wear sunscreen,” and continued with a stream of wry, warm advice: don’t worry about the future, sing, floss, be kind to your knees. Halfway through came “Do one thing every day that scares you.”
Within weeks the column had escaped into email inboxes around the world, but with a new author. It was labeled as the commencement speech Kurt Vonnegut had supposedly given at MIT. Vonnegut had never given it, and Schmich spent some time patiently explaining that the words were hers. In 1999 the Australian director Baz Luhrmann set the column to music as “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen),” which reached number one in Britain.
How Eleanor Roosevelt got the credit
Once the “scares you” line started circulating on its own, it needed a famous name, and Eleanor Roosevelt was an obvious choice. She had written about fear in her 1960 book You Learn by Living, urging readers to “look fear in the face” and to “do the thing you think you cannot do.” Those are genuine Roosevelt words with a similar message, which made the swap feel natural. But the specific sentence belongs to Schmich.
How to use it
The line works beautifully in graduation speeches, which is fitting since it was written as one. Crediting it to Mary Schmich is accurate and gives you a better story, the newspaper column that became a hit song. If you want Roosevelt, use her real line from You Learn by Living.
What people get wrong
Eleanor Roosevelt's advice.
A line by the journalist Mary Schmich in her 1997 “Wear Sunscreen” column. Roosevelt did write about facing fear, but not in these words.
Timeline
- June 1, 1997Mary Schmich publishes a column in the Chicago Tribune imagining the commencement speech she would give. It opens with “Wear sunscreen” and includes “Do one thing every day that scares you.”
- Summer 1997The column circulates by email falsely labeled as a commencement speech by Kurt Vonnegut at MIT.
- 1999Baz Luhrmann releases “Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen),” a spoken-word recording of the column, which becomes an international hit.
- 2000sThe “scares you” line circulates on its own and becomes attached to Eleanor Roosevelt.
Use it in a speech
Questions people ask
Did Eleanor Roosevelt say “do one thing every day that scares you”?
No. The line was written by Mary Schmich in her Chicago Tribune column of June 1, 1997, the column later known as “Wear Sunscreen.”
Is “Wear Sunscreen” a Kurt Vonnegut speech?
No. In 1997 the column was emailed around the world falsely labeled as Vonnegut's commencement speech at MIT. Vonnegut never gave that speech; Schmich wrote it.
What did Eleanor Roosevelt say about fear?
In You Learn by Living (1960) she wrote: “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face... You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” That is the closest verified line.
Cite this quote
Don't cite this line as Eleanor Roosevelt's words. There is no reliable source showing they said it. The real source is Mary Schmich, column in the Chicago Tribune, so cite that instead. If you need to mention it, say it is “often attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt” and, if you want a reference, cite this page:
Sources
- Mary Schmich, “Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young,” Chicago Tribune, June 1, 1997.
- Eleanor Roosevelt, You Learn by Living (1960).
- Quote Investigator, “Do One Thing Every Day That Scares You,” 2014.