Dear speech-fans and -friends,
Different speakers, different audiences,
different events, yet the same quote :
“A politician is
a man who thinks of the next election,
while a statesman thinks of the next generation”.
Together with its relevance for us today, this
makes it our quote of the month.
If you want to find out who used it, read this month selection of quotes.
European speeches in June have dealt with – obvioulsy - the referendum in United Kingdom, but also history, Asterix and football.
You might also want to meet and learn from Sarah Hurwitz, Michelle Obama’s speechwriter – special
thanks to Vital
speeches for spotting this Washington Post article.
Logos, pathos, ethos will be back after the
summer.
Have a fruitful break.
Isabelle
The quote of the month
In my political life, I have often recalled the words of that great
advocate of human rights, James Freeman Clarke, who said: "A politician
thinks of the next election. A statesman, of the next generation."
Jean-Claude Juncker, Annual General Meeting
of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises, 21 June 2016
James Freeman
Clarke, a 19th century theologian, once observed that “a politician is a man
who thinks of the next election,
while a statesman thinks of the next generation”.
This captures well why we are here to honour Theo Waigel today.
Theo Waigel’s
political career cannot just be defined by the elections he won, however many
there were during his 30 years in the Bundestag. Nor can it be defined by his
time as head of the CSU and as finance minister of Germany.
It is defined
by his legacy: a legacy that is still shaping Europe today.
Mario Draghi, Laudatio for Theo Waigel
Speech, 17 June 2016
What Europeans need
Europe today
is one of the richest regions in the world. Our citizens enjoy one of the
highest standards of living. They also benefit from what is possibly the
world’s highest level of protection of fundamental rights. Our businesses, for
their part, can conduct their activities in an environment of legal certainty,
with an impressive pool of highly educated people to stay on the forefront in
their sector.
In many
respects we are leaders. We must never forget this and we should continue to be
proud of this.
And yet, despite these achievements, today we are
worried. We are worried that we will lose what we have. That we will fall
behind. (…)
Today I want to tell you that I am convinced that
these crises, despite the difficulties they create, have also helped us become
more aware of the strength and importance of the EU.
Martin Schulz, What’s next for
Europe?, 2 June 2016
We must all together think about the challenges of a
more general nature. Whether or not we rise to these challenges will affect not
only the economic future of Europe, but also its very existence as we know it.
At stake is the liberal-democratic order, along with whole catalogue of values
and principles, which have become a foundation of Western civilization. (…)
What we desperately need today is cool heads and warm
hearts. Not the opposite.
Donald Tusk, European Business Summit, 1
June 2016
Clearly,
what Europeans need right now is more time to watch football (…)
Tomorrow most of you will be focusing on the game. But
if you look at the players — and the clubs they play for — you will see a
reflection of Europe, a manifestation of Unity in Diversity.
Christine Lagarde, Unity in Diversity: The
Case for Europe, 17 June 2016
Hospitality
is becoming increasingly important in a world which is growing ever closer
together. That includes offering hospitality to people from other countries and
cultures. But it is precisely this type of hospitality that some people find
difficult.
Allow me to
quote from a French cultural icon – not from Proust or Flaubert – but from an
Asterix adventure. In the story, an innkeeper from the town of Orange moves
with his family to the small Gallic village where Asterix lives. This prompts
Geriatrix, the oldest inhabitant there, to say: “You know me, I’ve got nothing
against foreigners, some of my best friends are foreigners, but these
particular foreigners aren’t from this village!”.
Sabine Lautenschläger, Sponsors dinner of
the European Cultural Days, 20 June 2016
Connect with your audience’s senses and experience
We see developments in
technology which a few years ago were considered to be science fiction. The
power of computing has accelerated by the factor 2 a year which leads to
unimaginable exponential growth. A striking example I heard recently is that of
a supercomputer built by the American government in 1996. It was the world's
fastest supercomputer and cost $ 55 mio. Nine years later another computer
reached the same speed, but cost only $ 500.
This was Sony's PlayStation 3.
Maroš Šefčovič, Bundesverbandes der
Energie- und Wasserwirtschaft Congress 2016, 8 June 2016
If I think back 15 or 20 years, I can still remember dial-up modems and the sound they made when you tried to connect to the internet.
And how long it took to get online.
I'm sure many of you can
as well.
But our children might
struggle to remember. They are now used to high-speed internet access and would
not accept anything less.
Internet technology has
transformed people's habits and demands.
Andrus Ansip, Europe Mobile 360 Europe
event, 14 June 2016