Oprah addresses Stanford grads -- but no car giveaway

PALO ALTO, Calif.-- Oprah Winfrey was greeted by cheers and high-fives as she prepared to address Stanford University's Commencement on Sunday.

"I really wanted to give you cars," Winfrey, the media mogul who has five times been ranked by Forbes as the world's most powerful celebrity, told the whooping crowd.

But the 4,666 graduating seniors received instead two books, Daniel Pink's "A Whole New Mind" and Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth," as Winfrey used her speech to talk about finding happiness and dealing with failure.

The Chicagoan told the graduates it is important to persevere through bad situations and learn from them.

As an example Winfrey told the story of her Leadership Academy for Girls, a $40 million school she had built in South Africa. The school was rocked by controversy shortly after opening when one of its employees was charged with sexually abusing students.

Winfrey said she was devastated, but that investigating the incident and providing counseling to the students helped her learn from the situation.

She said she learned that she had spent too much time concerned with the construction of the school rather than selecting the people working there. "I had been paying attention to all of the wrong things," she said.

Winfrey also instructed graduates that while making money is nice, using it to help others is what makes it worthwhile.

"I like money," said Winfrey. "It's good for buying things. What you want is money with meaning. Meaning is what brings real richness to your life."