Quotes and speeches of the month

Dear speech-fans and -friends,

The best speeches delivered this last month illustrate the power of contrast and antithesis. ‘Antithesis is one of the most popular means of being quotable. It succeeds because such contrast allows you, among other things, to urge one course of action and reject another(…). It makes what (the speaker) accepts and rejects clear and easy to remember’, writes Robert Lehrman in The Political Speechwriter's Companion

Use it, but wisely, as one of the European leaders addressing the Members of the European Parliament reminds us.

For those of us who understand French, voici le lien vers une émission de radio consacrée à la rhétorique politique des présidents, de la troisième république à Barack Obama.

Find out our monthly selection on www.logospathosethos.eu

Isabelle

L’Europe n'est pas une évidence. L'Europe fut et l'Europe restera un choix.

Europe is not self-evident. Europe has always been and will always be a choice.

Read the full speech here: Jean-Claude Juncker, L'Europe aujourd'hui et demain, 23 February 2017

Dear speech-fans and -friends,

Among all the speeches we come across, why do we sometimes decide to forward one to our friends?

What does it take for a speech to go go viral?

What does it take for a speech to have us, speech-fans and –friends, send it to our loved ones because we think it will lift their spirits?

January 2017 offered a few such examples :

First came Mery Streep 2017 Golden Globes speech that many of you forwarded.

Then another speech got attention for "words which were surprising, honest, bold and deep. (The speaker) used language which won over many sceptics. Newspapers were now printing statements by (sceptics) expressing respect for the (speaker) and taking back their earlier objections. We know that this doesn't often happen. This is one of the reasons why we consider (this) speech extraordinary and historic".

Last but not least, a third speech inspired many of you in Europe, who shared it with their colleagues and friends and drew my attention to it.

Find out which speeches they are and some other good quotes in our monthly selection on www.logospathosethos.eu

And keep forwarding your favourite speeches.

Isabelle

Overcoming fear

(English below)

Als ich als 11-Jähriger im Hallenbad das erste Mal auf dem Dreimeterbrett stand, hat mir das keine Freude bereitet. Doch ein Kind, das das erste Mal da steht, weiß, wenn es sich weiterentwickeln möchte, muss es springen. Es weiß, es muss springen. Aber es weiß nicht, wie sich der Sprung anfühlt und wie es genau nach dem Sprung weitergehen wird. Und doch, in den meisten Fällen, wagt es den Schritt nach vorne. Ich habe es damals auch gewagt. Und auch den Sprung vom Fünfmeterbrett.

Warum?

Weil die Zuversicht stärker ist als der Zweifel… Ich appelliere heute an Ihre Zuversicht!

As an 11year-old boy at the indoor swimming pool, standing on the three-metre diving board for the first time did not make me happy. But children standing there for the first time know they have to jump if they want to make progress. They know they have to jump. But they don’t know what this jump will feel like and what exactly will happen after the jump. And yet, in most cases, they dare to take this step forward. I also did it back then. And I also jumped off the five-metre diving board  

Why?

Because confidence is stronger than doubt… Today I call upon your confidence!

Read the full speech here (English is below the German text): President Alexander Van der Bellen, Inauguration speech, 26 January 2017

Dear speech-fans and -friends,

Peace.

Peace is the recurring theme in this month’s selection of quotes and speeches.

Peace for places as diverse as Aleppo, Columbia, Germany, Pearl Harbor.

Peace as the most precious lesson past and current leaders urge us to embrace.

And peace as my best wish to you, readers of this newsletter, as we start a new year. To you, from Australia to Arizona, who read these lines : peace.

I also recommend two webpages:

- The outgoing White House administration reminds us that ‘behind (President Obama’s) words is a group of speechwriters who have worked closely with the President to craft important messages to the American people. It’s meant countless drafts and rewrites, late nights, and last-minute edits from the motorcade. As his time in office comes to a close, the President’s speechwriters — past and present — took a look back at eight years of remarks to share some of the words, speeches, and memories that stand out to them.

Take a look at a few of the President’s top speeches as chosen by his speechwriters’.

- Nancy Duarte, whose books we strongly recommend in our Bibliography, has designed, together with Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, an insightful test to help speakers with fear of public speaking, available on the Harvard Business Review website. Answering some 24 questions provides guidance on one’s strengths and where to focus to improve and ultimately feel … at peace when taking the floor.

You’ll find the full latest selection of quotes and speeches on http://www.logospathosethos.eu

Isabelle

Allow me to tell you, from my own experience, that it is much harder to make peace than to wage war.

Read the full speech here: Nobel Lecture by Juan Manuel Santos, Peace in Columbia: from the impossible to the possible, 10 December 2016.

Peace is more precious than diamonds or silver or gold.

Read the full speech here: Martin Luther King's Acceptance Speech, on the occasion of the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, 10 December 1964

I hope that together, we send a message to the world that there is more to be won in peace than in war; that reconciliation carries more rewards than retribution.

Read the full speech here: Barack Obama, Remarks at Pearl Harbor, 28 December 2016

Dear speech-fans and -friends,

End of September, I was invited to speak at the Professional Speechwriters Association World Conference on ‘Speeches and Speechwriting in Europe in 2016’. To prepare this talk, I looked for trends that would both refer to Europe and be relevant for an international audience. I soon identified one leading trend, only emerging yet obvious, and already the strongest. I spoke about this new word capturing this new phenomenon : the ‘post-truth’ - or ‘post-fact’ - era of speeches and democracy.

From hardly used before, it is suddenly everywhere now, from titles to articles to conferences.

Little did I know then that the Oxford Dictionary would select it as the 2016 International Word of the Year.

It’s a real concern for our democracies, and an additional challenge for speakers and speechwriters. All the more reason to have a look at the speeches that matter on the European stage today.

You’ll find the latest selection of quotes and speeches on http://www.logospathosethos.eu

Isabelle

Commemorating : the great potential of epideictic speeches

We all know that we are living in a historic time, and that our actions will have effects for generations to come. But we can't know exactly what effect we will have. All we can do is to trust in our values, and have the courage to act on them.

Read the full speech here: Margrethe Vestager, Luther and the modern world, 14 November 2016

Dear speech-fans and friends,

On the eve of the presidential election in the United States, our attention might be taken away from Europe. Little surprise that First Lady Michelle Obama’s speech that made it to the frontpages worldwide and was already suggested as speech of the year by Vital speeches appears in this selection.

But our focus remains to shine a spotlight on the speeches that matter to Europe : this month, the best lines are to be found in some of our leaders’ confessions.

They give us food for thought and share valuable lessons for these difficult times:

‘It is an iron law that those who will be caught up in the great movements determining the course of their times always fail to recognise them in their early stages’, wrote Stefan Zweig in The world of yesterday : memoirs of a European, quoted by President of the European Council Donald Tusk, 20th anniversary of the European Policy Centre, 13 October 2016.

Isabelle

Confessions of a leader

When I gave my first policy statement ten years ago, as Prime Minister of Poland, I spoke for nearly three hours. One of the commentators correctly observed that had my speech been as wise as it was long, it would have been one of the best in Polish history.

Read the full speech here: Donald Tusk, 20th anniversary of the European Policy Centre, 13 October 2016

Je laisse maintenant mon discours, que des mains inspirées ont rédigé, mais en regardant la salle, je crois que je vais vous parler d'une autre façon.

Read the full speech here: Jean-Claude Juncker, Remise du prix de l'engagement européen, 6 octobre 2016