During the ceremony Kung declared, in his self-effacing manner, that his contributions during his 50 years of teaching at NTU were few and that he felt great shame, but that he was heartened and encouraged by NTU's motto: "Cultivate virtue, advance intellect; love one's country, love one's people."
孔老先生在典禮上也只是謙虛的說，自己在台大教書 50 年，貢獻甚少，覺得十分慚愧，僅以台大校訓「敦品勵學，愛國愛人」自勵和共勉。