Quote by Oprah Winfrey: “The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.”

Building the life you actually want is not a passive fantasy — it's an active, risky, uncertain journey that takes more courage than any physical adventure. The unknown territory of becoming who you want to be is the greatest exploration a person can undertake.

Winfrey delivered this message in a 2013 commencement speech at Harvard University. The United States was several years into recovery from the 2008 financial crisis, and a generation of young graduates faced an uncertain job market that made the traditional life script feel broken, making her call to pursue purpose especially resonant.

American media executive, talk show host, actress, and philanthropist who built one of the most successful media empires in history from a background of poverty and abuse. Her long-running talk show and OWN Network made her a defining cultural figure of late twentieth and early twenty-first century America.