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“I wondered if I was just wrong, an impostor, a 22 year-old kid who had no idea how the world worked,” Zuckerberg said. “Now, years later, I understand that is how things work with no sense of higher purpose. It’s up to us to create it so we can all keep moving forward together.”

Later in the speech, Zuckerberg’s voice cracked with emotion as he talked about a high school student he mentors who is living in the U.S. illegally. When Zuckerberg asked him what he wants for his birthday, the student started talking about others he wanted to help, and asked for a book on social justice.

“Here is a young guy who has every reason to be cynical,” Zuckerberg said, his eyes welling with tears. “He wasn’t sure if the country he calls home — the only one he’s known — was going to deny him his dream of going to college. But he wasn’t feeling sorry for himself. He wasn’t even thinking of himself.”

If he can do this, Zuckerberg said, “then we owe it to the world to do our part too.”

Zuckerberg isn’t all talk on this front. He signed the “Giving Pledge” commitment to donate the majority of his money in 2010; five years later, he upped that to 99 percent. Together with his wife, pediatrician Priscilla Chan, he formed the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a philanthropic organization focused on advancing science and education.

HONORARY DEGREE

Zuckerberg follows another famous Harvard dropout, Bill Gates, who spoke before its graduates a decade ago. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who dropped out of Reed College in Oregon, gave Stanford’s commencement speech in 2005, reminding students to “stay hungry, stay foolish.”

In addition to delivering the speech, Zuckerberg received an honorary degree, 12 years after dropping out of Harvard, and was subsequently introduced to graduates as “Dr. Mark Zuckerberg.” Others receiving honorary degrees included the actress Judi Dench, the composer John Williams (known for “Star Wars,” ″Harry Potter” and many other scores) and Somali human rights activist and physician Hawa Abdi Dhiblawe.

“If I get through this speech today it’ll be the first time I actually finish something here at Harvard,” Zuckerberg said. He did.