Quotes and speeches of the month

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 …

H-D Genscher, to 4500 East-Germans who had sought refuge in the German Embassy in Prague, 30 September 1989

To refresh our memory on this speech: The Guardian

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.

French President François Hollande, Hommage national aux victimes des attentats du 13 novembre, 27 November 2015