Prof McIlvanney, a professor of Scottish studies in the Otago English department, had earlier extolled the value of education in an address to about 300 arts, music and theology graduates at the university's latest December graduation ceremony in Dunedin yesterday afternoon.
Education was "not the same thing as intelligence", he said in his Regent Theatre talk.
Some tertiary graduates were "so complacently satisfied with their university degree" and rested so comfortably on their academic laurels, that they "neglect to exercise their intelligence".
Among the many memorable quotations attributed to him was: "Football's not a matter of life and death. It's much more important than that."
Shankly had also said: "Me having no education, I always had to use my brains."
Prof McIlvanney congratulated Otago graduates on their success, urged them to "deploy your magnificent Otago education" but also warned: "Don't forget to use your brains".
Scotland-born, Prof McIlvanney highlighted two Scottish national heroes: 16th century religious revolutionary John Knox and Scottish national poet Robert Burns.
The Rev Thomas Burns, the poet's nephew, had been co-founder of the settlement of Otago and foundation chancellor of Otago University.
Born in poverty, Robert Burns had failed as a farmer and, aged 37, had also died poor.
But despite his lack of material success, Burns had been doing what he loved through his writing.
The statue of Burns in Dunedin's Octagon was one of 160 monuments to him across the globe, and his poems had been translated into 47 different languages.
His poem Auld Lang Syne was the world's song of parting, and Burns-related tourism was worth 160 million ($NZ327 million) to the Scottish economy each year.
"That's not a bad record for a ploughboy from Ayrshire, the ploughboy of the Western world," he said.
"That's the kind of impact you can only achieve if you do what you love and do it with everything you've got," he said.
Prof McIlvanney recalled being offered a job at Otago University and having the chance to start a new life with his family, 12,000 miles from home.
He had also recalled lines from Burns' poem A Red, Red Rose: "And I will come again, my love,/ Tho' it were ten thousand miles".
Prof McIlvanney had thought that if he was coming from New Zealand, he would still be two thousand miles short.
He urged graduates to "take risks" and be "open to new experiences".
