i actually graduated valedictorian from my HS, and i absolutely HATED writing and giving my speech. i didn't want to get up there and bore people with 10 minutes of intellectual and inspirational bullshit, so i actually wrote my original speech about the ONLY thing that i was an expert on...myself.
but this original speech ended up getting censored and shot down by the principal because i mentioned how i exceeded the lethal dosage of a certain drug when i was 16 and somehow survived the suicide attempt but was glad i did because it gave me a different perspective on life. i wanted to talk about something different in my valed speech, and that sure woulda shocked the crowd all right.

but like i said, the principal made me rewrite a new speech, he made me write a more "conventonal" speech with all the bullshit you mentioned, and i was PISSED. so i was actually sitting in my chair at the graduation ceremony scribbling shit on a piece of notebook paper, writing my speech right there.

for my "famous quotes" i used incubus and the beatles. i based my speech around the incubus lyric "the ride's over, did you enjoy yourself?" and the beatles lyric "and in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make" and as i look back on it now, it wasn't that bad, my speech was about living your life the way you fuckin' want to, not lettin' anybody tell you how to live it because my parents always tried to crimp me and i always held that against 'em, about being active not passive in life, about trying everything once before passing judgment instead of letting other people live your life.

but as i look back on it, seriously wtf did i know at that stage in life? nothing. what right did i have to get up there on that stage and bullshit for 5-10 minutes about what i thought was important? they should change it so that freshmen and sophomores in college come back to deliver speeches at high school graduations, people who have actually lived and experienced and can give real advice.