Speeches that Changed the World

Speeches are on my mind these days, but thankfully not because I have to make one. In this endless political campaign season, speeches seem to be as plentiful as pigeons in the park and most of them are worthy of a yawn. Short of Senator Obama’s recent soul baring on race in America, can you remember or say that you were recently inspired by a speech? The great speeches are like fine antiques, much better than the stuff they are peddling today.

This week marks the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s death. He was a great orator and decades later, his speeches are studied in schools as well as being revisited by scholars and some of successful business owners I know. I like the idea of accessing valuable experiences without having to make all the mistakes myself to learn the lessons. To save some time, emotional bruising and get better results faster, I’ve become a believer in reading great speeches and extracting some truth and wisdom from them.

The wisdom and knowledge to operate a business or live a life successfully must come from many areas and sources. Mystics, industrialists, athletes, clergy, madmen and even children have meaningful things to say. I’m thrilled that so many speeches over the centuries were recorded, whether with a quill pen on papyrus or captured by a computer chip. So here my fellow entrepreneurs and seekers is a short hit parade of excerpts and ideas from speeches that changed the world, ranging from the inspiring to the ironic.

“We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline and effort.” Jesse Owens, 1936 Olympic Games

“And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” John F. Kennedy inaugural, January 20th-1961

“The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.”

William Shakespeare, writing as the character Mark Antony.

“In struggling for human dignity the oppressed people of the world must not allow themselves to become bitter or indulge in hate campaigns. To retaliate with hate and bitterness would do nothing but intensify the hate in the world.” Martin Luther King Jr.

“Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.”  William Jennings Bryan

“We cultivate refinement without extravagance and knowledge without effeminacy; wealth we employ more for use than for show, and place the real disgrace of poverty not in owning to the fact but in declining the struggle against it.”

Pericles eulogy to Athenians who died in war against the Spartans.

“Even presidents have private lives. It’s time to stop the pursuit of personal destruction and the prying into private lives and get on with our national life.” President William Jefferson Clinton

“This is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you.” The Bible (John 15:9-17)

“In this hour we all wish to form a common will and that will must be stronger than every hardship and every danger. And if this will is stronger than hardship and danger then one day it will break down hardship and danger.” Adolf Hitler—September 26, 1938

“It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of the basic power of the universe. The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war on the Far East.” President Harry Truman announcing the first use of a nuclear device in war.

“Circumstances—what are circumstances? I make circumstances.” Napoleon

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the very thing you think you cannot do.” Eleanor Roosevelt

Well, that is just a sampling of what is easily found on dusty shelves or clever web searches to help you grow in business as well as personally. That is a process without end. You may become a person who someday makes a speech that changes lives if not the world.