Dear speech-fans and -friends,
Most
of the speeches this month have a common theme:
From
H-D Gensher’s most famous quotation that we recall as he just passed away,
to
European current affairs,
to
forward-looking speeches delivered in places of former divisions, in Cyprus and
between the United States and Cuba,
to
George Clooney’s reminder of how to deal with giant numbers.
This common theme is refugees.
This
selection is completed by Al Gore’s Case
for optimism and shines a spotligh on some of the best rhetorical devices,
and a few lines from Imre Kertész’s Nobel Lecture Eureka - on the occasion of his passing away on 31 March 2016 - as an invitation to explore Nobel Lectures.
Looking forward to your comments and reactions,
Isabelle
Numbers numb.
It’s
too much to talk about giant numbers.
It’s
actually easy to dismiss giant numbers.
But
it’s very hard to dismiss a young child sitting on the ground crying when her
mother’s telling the story about how she left.
G. Clooney - of refugee descent (sic) - meeting Syrian refugees, 15 March
2016
Former German Foreign affairs
Minister H-D Gensher’s most famous quotation
(English below)
Wir
sind heute zu Ihnen gekommen, um Ihnen mitzuteilen, dass heute Ihre Ausreise…
We
have come to you today, to announce, that today, your leaving the country …
To
refresh our memory on this speech: The Guardian
This is THE book to start with as a new political speechwriter but also to go back to as an experienced speechwriter.
For this second edition, Robert Lehrman and Eric Schnure have built on their experience as chief speechwriter and speechwriter to former Vice-President Gore and as teachers mainly in the United States but also in Europe, Asia, and [...]
Read more
« No meeting is more ingrained in my memory than that of 13 November 2015: The day was actually intended to pay tribute to the many Frenchmen and women who had shown untiring commitment during the response efforts in the aftermath of the Germanwings plane crash in the Alps. We were sitting next to each other in the Stade de France with those voluntee... »Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Dear speech-fans and friends,
The art of speeches is an old enough discipline to
keep us from believing the challenges we face are totally new to mankind.
Looking back to history, we can find in leaders
confronted to dangers and difficulties some wisdom, vision, and inspiration.
And good stories. And good quotes.
This month’s harvest provides a few examples.
Isabelle
If you
read only one speech this month, read this one
by Umberto
Eco,
delivered
in 2012 when he received the Treaties of Nijmegen Medal.
To
decide and recognize what, in a tolerant vision, would remain intolerable for
us, is the kind or borderline that Europeans are called to trace every day,
with a sense of equity and with the constant exercise of that virtue that,
since Aristotle, philosopher called Prudence.
In
this philosophical sense, prudence does not mean reluctance to take risks, and
does not coincide with cowardice. In the classical sense of phronesis, prudence
is the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason.
Umberto Eco, receiving the Treaties of Nijmegen Medal,
7 May 2012
Dear speech-fans and friends,
From Holocaust Remembrance Day to the World Economic
Forum to the State of the Union in Washington, January calls for great
speeches.
Here is your monthly selection of powerful lines and rhetorical tools.
Whether you craft or collect quotations, you may be
interested to read more on the power of virtuous quotes in this piece of research
published in the January-February 2016 issue of the Harvard Business Review.
What will you do on March 15th, for World Speech Day ?
Let’s collect our ideas for the next issue.
Isabelle
Build the
speaker’s ethos:
Remembrance
1945
As
a German born in 1955, I did not live through the darkest times in the history
of my country. But the mass murder committed by the Nazis in the name of my
nation was the reason I became involved in politics, as I vowed: Never again. …
I
say this as a German, as a politician and as a father:
We
must keep the memory alive.
We
must tell our children about the crimes committed in Theresienstadt, in
Auschwitz, Birkenau and elsewhere. We must do so for the sake of our children,
we must tell them so that their children will tell the next generation.
Remembering
hurts, but we must teach our children how this unique crime in human history,
these barbaric acts of evil could happen in one of the most modernized
societies of that time.
European Parliament President Martin Schulz, Holocaust
Remembrance Day, 27 January 2016
Dear speech-fans and friends,
The last weeks of 2015 focused on the Conference of
Parties (COP 21) in Paris and offered what we like:
logos, pathos, and ethos in many speeches, from
President of Kiribati to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon …
and a selection of compelling and memorable stories,
including the Conference itself.
May this reading inspire us as we start 2016: Happy New Year!
Isabelle
Mr
President, as Chair of this forum, I commend your leadership and your
initiative.
H.E. Mr. Anote Tong,
President of Kiribati, COP 21 Opening speech, 30 November 2015
Dear speech-fans and friends,
We have never heard so much French spoken by so many
in the speeches delivered this last month.
For the worst reason and for the best reason:
The worst reason: because of the horrible events
in Paris, of course.
The best reason: because we all know that
speaking the audience’s language go straight to their hearts.
Many thanks to all of you, in Europe and beyond, who shared a quote, helped with a translation, or expressed their friendship in French.
Isabelle
Que veulent
les terroristes ?
Nous diviser, nous opposer, nous jeter les uns contre les autres.
Je vous l’assure, ils échoueront.
Ils ont le culte de la mort, mais nous, nous, nous avons l’amour, l’amour
de la vie.
In three words: Brilliant - Eye-opener - a Must. In much more than three words: After reading this book I ca[...]
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