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The 50 Greatest Awards-Show Speeches of the Last 55 Years

The best acceptance moments make or break careers, cement fandoms, and spark blind items..

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The entire room was holding its collective breath when Olivia Colman beat odds-favorite Glenn Close to the Best Actress Oscar in 2019. Close had long been expected to win the season’s biggest prize for her performance in The Wife — a movie in which she plays the wife of all wives — having already taken home the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama and other precursor awards. Colman also won a Golden Globe that year, for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy , for her part as the gouty, manipulated Queen Anne in The Favourite , and her tipsy speech (in which she thanked her “bitches” and extolled private jets) fortified what prognosticators already thought: Colman was funny, but Close was the serious winner. Until she wasn’t. In the face of such upset, what would Colman say?

Looking out onto a crowd she didn’t expect to face, Colman reached for the truth: to win, she said, is “ genuinely quite stressful ,” before admitting, through gasps and tears, it’s also “hilarious.” It’s an accurate two-part description of the general allure of awards shows, which can present moments both laughable and genuinely thrilling. We anticipate the Oscars and its kindred ceremonies for their red carpets and host monologues and cinematic montages and the times when Queen Latifah sings something, but we endure the hours-long award-show broadcasts for the psychic whiplash of acceptance speeches, when the polished Hollywood stars we admire are caught earnestly surprised, gracious, or moved to tears — or, just as captivating, when they perform surprise, gratitude, and deeply felt emotion and make it all seem genuine. Even the most choreographed of speeches embrace the power of pure spectacle, becoming windows into souls that are, at their core, either deeply beholden to the people who helped them along the way or deeply vengeful toward the people who didn’t help them along the way. Some of the best read like blind items forming live on our TV screens.

Back at the Oscars, Colman eventually composed herself and delivered a heartfelt and perfectly meandering ode to Close, Colman’s kids, her husband of 25 years, her agent, little girls practicing speeches in front of the telly, some people at Fox, Yorgos Lanthimos and her aforementioned “bitches” castmates, and, for no apparent reason other than she’s sitting in the front row of the audience, Lady Gaga — every appreciation customized for the subject and punctuated by genuine physical outbursts, as though her ecstatic brain was warring with her stunned body. It is a spectacle you can’t peel your eyes from that builds with tension until she blows a kiss to Ally Maine and relinquishes the stage to, as promised, snog anyone she forgot to acknowledge. Like any unforgettable speech giver, she managed to meet the high-stakes moment in which she found herself.

Watching as many acceptance speeches as we have as hosts of a podcast with the name “Oscar” in it , we’ve come to appreciate the specific qualities that separate the merely adequate awards-ceremony speeches (from nearly every male performer) from the truly special ones (from actresses, plus certain ornery old men and at least one rabble-rousing documentarian). The greatest acceptance speeches are enthusiastic like Colman’s without verging into inscrutability (sorry, Roberto Benigni ), though exceptions exist for speeches that are so low energy it’s the gag. They are quotable, with at least one defining line of speech, even if it’s the only line of speech (see Nos. 31 and 23 on this list). Sincerity in a speech is more important than the message; it’s why a baffling but believable reaction to winning an Oscar is cemented in our brains before the ones that are dutifully gracious or that perfunctorily advocate for something beyond the recipient’s own skills. (Although everyone loves a scorched-earth speech — see No. 14 on this list). And, of course, the prestige level of the award show itself matters; a memorable speech at the Oscars can outrank one of the same caliber at the Globes, because the pins-and-needles suspense at the pinnacle of awards season only ups the ante of the viewing experience. At the same time, a precursor speech of lower standing can tip the scales of an Oscar campaign, and we recognized those too. (In the interest of variety, we also only considered one speech per actor per awards cycle; sorry, Colman’s breathy “hi” at the Globes, but her breathy “hi” at the Oscars was better.)

This year, an already dense awards season will see the Emmys wedged in between the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards, so what better time to revisit unforgettable awards-season moments by acknowledging the 50 speeches of the last 55 years? (To be eligible for this list, speeches needed to be archived somewhere online, and the earliest recording here dates back to 1969.) While the Grammys will also be broadcast next month, we’re keeping this ranking to screen and stage awards (the MTV movie awards qualify, but the VMAs do not), where the art of the acceptance speech has been perfected by stars who make a living performing dialogue and the filmmakers and craftspeople who make them look good doing it. (Speeches by below-the-line artists were eligible for this list, but our final 50 ended up favoring the performers of Hollywood.) And remember, this ranking is about speeches , not bits. Winona Ryder mugging behind David Harbour’s SAG Ensemble speech for Stranger Things ? Good meme, beautiful meme, but you won’t see Harbour’s acceptance moment celebrated here.

50. Patti LuPone, 62nd Tony Awards (2008)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, Gypsy

The Tony Awards are where we’re most reliably reminded that “Stars, they are not like us. Its recipients are accustomed to not only the spotlight but commanding a theater of people eight times a week. Take, for example, Patti LuPone, who in 2008 won the second of her three Tonys as Mama Rose in a revival of Gypsy . It was her first win in nearly three decades, despite boasting one of the most revered careers in the American theater. With a sense of glory and triumph usually reserved for horn sections, LuPone amended a prepared speech from a previous loss (hilarious!) and trilled through an inventory of thank-yous that spanned multiple theater companies and professionals, up to and including the ghosts of the St. James Theatre. But as one of Broadway’s grand dames, naturally she still comes off as earnest and heartfelt doing it. When the orchestra begins to play over her speech (we’ll have more of those, just wait), she’s affable to it at first, but then she erupts like an ocean squall full of pent-up Tony losses and earned litigiousness toward Andrew Lloyd Webber: “Shut up! It’s been 29 years!”

49. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, 70th Academy Awards (1998)

Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, Good Will Hunting

Speaking of yelling: Sometimes when you win an award, the Boston jumps out. The otherwise prim quality of an awards ceremony can favor a speech where the winner’s enthusiasm and wide-eyed disbelief are at full volume. Here, Affleck and Damon maintain the composure expected in a ceremony like the Oscars (Affleck even says the words “We’re fortunate enough to be involved with a lot of great people upon whom it’s incumbent upon us to thank”) … before basically ending their speech doing keg stands. Like a pair of brothers with a fancy new toy, their thank-yous get louder, more tangled, more manic. Producers are great! Moms are beautiful! Their hometown is everything! Affleck’s voice eventually cracks and the effusion comes to a halt. They really were just two young guys!

48. Ving Rhames, 55th Golden Globe Awards (1998)

Best Actor — Miniseries or Television Film, Don King: Only in America

Over the years, the Golden Globes has earned a reputation for being the awards show where all the craziest shit happens. And that reputation was probably formed around the time Ving Rhames tried to give his best actor trophy to Jack Lemmon. The entire moment is a generosity battle between two unyielding mensches. First of all, Rhames is endearingly formal in asking “Mr. Jack Lemmon” to emerge from the crowd and take the stage. Lemmon is in a daze as he takes the long route to the stage. Rhames tells Lemmon he’s not going to give him the Globe — so as not to scare him off, then gives Lemmon the award as soon as he arrives at the mic. At this point, Lemmon’s basically playing one of his everyman characters, trying to figure out in real time whether the right thing to do is hand the award back or accept Rhames’s gesture in the spirit in which it was intended. Meanwhile, in the audience, Goldie Hawn is in tears, Jodie Foster is laughing her ass off, and Jack Nicholson is cheekily suggesting Lemmon pass the award to him next. Despite the “you take it, no you take it” tug-of-war that nearly ends with the statue getting dropped, both Rhames and Lemmon ultimately combine for an incredible tandem speech. Rhames brings emotion (the tears come quickly and don’t stop) and the elegance (a Stanislavsky quote). You get the sense that only someone as emotionally open as Rhames would have ever made the gesture, and only someone as seasoned as Lemmon could have rolled with the punch.

47. Susan Lucci, 26th Daytime Emmy Awards (1999)

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, All My Children

The occasion of Susan Lucci finally winning a Daytime Emmy after 18 previous nominations failed to result in a statue would have been enough to enshrine this moment in awards-show history. But Lucci went on to deliver a speech worthy of soap opera history, too. After lapping up the absolute pandemonium of the crowd (Rosie O’Donnell weeping; Oprah Winfrey hollering from the wings of the stage) for nearly 90 seconds, smiling, gasping, squealing, and bursting with “I can’t believe it’s,” Lucci eventually thanks the audience, her husband and kids, and the team at All My Children . But she gets into an oratory groove when she mentions that she was originally seen by casting directors as merely an “ethnic type,” only good enough to appear every other Tuesday. Lucci then points to Agnes Nixon, the great matriarch of daytime drama, for “changing the face of our medium” — placing her own struggle for legitimacy in the historical context of soaps’ perpetual uphill climb for industry respect. And she’s right to do so — Lucci’s quest for a long-awaited Daytime Emmy helped legitimize the awards by giving them a level of intrigue every year. And by the end of the speech, she might as well be standing in the middle of Pine Valley’s town square. She’s fully slipped into Erica Kane’s version of magnanimity, standing proudly beneath the stage lights, promising her legions of fans that she’ll be back at work with them on Monday.

46. Lin-Manuel Miranda, 62nd Tony Awards (2008)

Best Original Score, In the Heights

On any list of polarizing figures and acquired tastes in musical theater, there is Lin-Manuel Miranda, whose style of rapping has become as omnipresent at the Tonys as the phrase “the Shubert organization.” It’s easy to find his energy infectious, this fresh young face taking Broadway by storm, the look of awe still there on said face. You could, at the same time, find his schtick cringey, the Wesleyan try-hard pirouetting out as he nods to Thomas Kail “for keepin’ the engine burnin’, for being so discernin’.” But there’s an undeniable energy to his first Tony win as he tremulously freestyled his thank-yous, crescendoing with shout-outs to Stephen Sondheim and Puerto Rico. You need only look at the ensuing years of Tony Awards full of Neil Patrick Harris spitting L.M.M.-penned rhymes at the end of the show to see how this speech resonated.

45. Patty Duke, 22nd Primetime Emmy Awards (1970)

Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, My Sweet Charlie

There’s nothing like watching a celebrated performer suck the inflated pomp and circumstance out of a room with their sheer magnetic intensity. Patty Duke does so by taking the stage and making the audience soak in her silence — something you’ll almost never hear during an awards ceremony! Soon after she arrives at the mic, she raises a flattened hand to her brow to wordlessly investigate the audience only to utter the words, “You, Mom. Happy birthday.” (No exclamation point.) The dead air she inserts on either side of an eventual word — “enthusiasm” — turns her minimalist intensity into a fine art. And even as it dips into the slightly bizarre, she never loses our attention.

44. Rue McClanahan, 39th Primetime Emmy Awards (1987)

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy, The Golden Girls

When Ben Affleck won Best Picture for Argo , he said to endure in Hollywood as he had, you can’t hold grudges. But he said it in a way that sounded like he’d very much been holding onto some real grudges. He’d have been better off accepting his Oscar by showing a video of Rue McClanahan’s speech from 1987. After winning for her role on The Golden Girls , McClanahan recalled her mother’s advice that “Every kick’s a boost.” And to the ones who gave her kicks along the way, Rue — eyes darting and narrowing in a genuinely intimidating rhythm, fingers massaging her rings, that Southern voice purring as was her signature sound onscreen — assured them they’d be “in the book.”

43. James Cameron, 70th Academy Awards (1998)

Best Director, Titanic

This is a list of the greatest speeches, though not necessarily the most innately likable ones. James Cameron’s brand of cheerful self-regard, which he carried with him throughout Titanic ’s full-steam-ahead push in the 1997 awards season, wasn’t always the most endearing. But when he capped off his best director win by earnestly quoting his own character, Jack Dawson, with an “I’m the king of the world!” — his howls echoing through the Shrine Auditorium — he was the triumphant auteur incarnate. Sure, he sounded like he was shoving it in the face of all the other movies that got steamrolled by Titanic that year, but if you can’t feel on top of the world when you’re winning an Oscar, when can you?

42. Sharon Stone, 53rd Golden Globe Awards (1996)

Best Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama, Casino

For as much as Sharon Stone got kicked around Hollywood, with everyone from critics to comedians acting like she was some kind of bad actress after Basic Instinct , she’d be forgiven for thinking it a miracle that she’d get this award over the likes of Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson, and the eventual Oscar winner in her category that year, Susan Sarandon. Stone’s speech makes the list for two reasons: first, the pitch-perfect comic timing when Stone, fumbling for how to begin this unlikely acceptance, finally fixes her eyes on the audience and deadpans, “Okay, it’s a miracle.” And the unvarnished yet still appreciative way she thanks people like Martin Scorsese who made “room for the breadth and annoying moments of my uncontrollable passion.” We love candid self-awareness.

41. Steven Soderbergh, 73rd Academy Awards (2001)

Best Director, Traffic

In recent years, as Oscar telecast producers have gotten more stringent about limiting their broadcast’s runtimes, they have used the occasion of the nominees’ luncheon to screen Soderbergh’s 2001 acceptance as an ideal speech. It’s brief (under a minute), it says something meaningful about art, and thanks anybody out there “who spends part of their day creating.” Most importantly, it eschews the laundry list of names that ceremony producers just cannot stand. In general, this ranking endeavors to celebrate exactly the kind of speeches that Oscars producers say they don’t want, but we have to admit, Soderbergh is quite eloquent in his brevity. Here’s to those who create!

40. Marion Cotillard, 80th Academy Awards (2008)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, La Vie en Rose

Quick, say “Thank you, love; thank you, life” to the first person you find in an unironic beret and they will surely tell you that it’s true there are some angels in this city. At the 80th Academy Awards ceremony, a then new-to-English and new er -to-awards Cotillard brims with the gratitude and possibility of a child witnessing their first snowfall. You can’t blame her zeal — her performance as Édith Piaf in La Vie en Rose was the first performance in the French language to win a best actress statue, and no one could have predicted her win even after smaller roles in a few American movies. Cotillard was running neck-and-neck with Julie Christie for the win, and clearly Cotillard was taken by surprise to be declared the victor. The triumph blends the best of two awards-speech worlds: profound honesty and accidental quotability. “You rocked my life!”

39. Taraji P. Henson, 23rd Screen Actors Guild Awards (2017)

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, Hidden Figures

Speeches can achieve greatness for their level of contagious pep, or for the recipient’s simple talent for speaking, and Taraji P. Henson’s acceptance on behalf of her Hidden Figures cast is an example of both. But what it most resoundingly delivers is something that many speeches aim for and miss: a galvanizing message at exactly the moment we need to hear it. Succinctly speaking to the film’s real-life subjects as inspirational figures for finding solutions in times of infinite problems, Henson gave a response to the 2016 electoral elephant in the room without even having to invoke him by name. “This story is about unity, this story is about what happens when we put our differences aside and we come together as a human race.” SAG Ensemble prizes are often love fests, but Henson seized the moment and it was anything but an accident.

38. Tiffany Haddish, 84th New York Film Critics Circle Awards, 2018

Best Supporting Actress, Girls Trip

By the miracle of Vulture’s own Alison Willmore, there exists video evidence of Tiffany Haddish’s incredible 17-minute acceptance speech. Which means we’re clear to include this NYFCC award on our list. Haddish openly flirts with Michael B. Jordan; chats at length about the giant many-armed goddess statue at the ceremony’s venue, TAO; gives a line reading from Girls Trip that Universal demanded be cut; and wonders why critics don’t have another TV show like Siskel and Ebert did. It is a marathon, not a sprint, and Haddish held court the entire time, displaying her star power as sure as any onscreen performance could. Speeches like this one (and the annual Governor Awards that celebrate lifetime achievement in the film industry) don’t put time constraints on recipients, and are a reminder that if the speaker is captivating enough, we’ll watch them for as long as they want to keep speaking. And if they speak long enough, they might make a joke about wearing “God’s panties,” and that’s when it gets really special.

37. James Hong, 29th Screen Actors Guild Awards (2023)

Best Performance by an Ensemble in a Film, Everything Everywhere All at Once 

The great thing about SAG’s ensemble award is that it allows some of the cast members who haven’t been singled out for individual awards to get their moment in the spotlight. That was never better than when 94-year-old James Hong accepted on behalf of his Everything Everywhere All at Once cast in 2023. Hong began by speaking Cantonese “in case they broadcast us in Hong Kong,” then pulled some classic grandpa “I remember my first movie was with Clark Gable” business. But Hong followed that up with a harsh reminder of Hollywood’s racist past, when Asian characters were played by white men with slanted-eye makeup. Hong’s rebuke was a welcome dash of vinegar to keep Hollywood from being too self-congratulatory over finally awarding Asian actors like Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan.

36. Rita Moreno, 29th Tony Awards (1975)

Best Featured Actress in a Play, The Ritz

Not only did Moreno practically samba her way onto the stage to accept her Tony Award in a stunning fashion turban, but she did so with bracing honesty. “I’m the leading lady of The Ritz , I am not a supporting actress,” she said about her performance as heavily accented bathhouse performer Googie Gomez in Terrence McNally’s pre-AIDS sex farce. It was a not-so-subtle jab at the powers that be for putting her into a lesser category. Good natured as always, Moreno points out, as Ms. Gomez might have said: “Listen, honey, the only thing I support in that show is my beads!”

35. Tilda Swinton, 80th Academy Awards (2008)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, Michael Clayton

Tilda Swinton is a one-of-a-kind performer, and so she also delivered a one-of-a-kind acceptance speech. By that I mean, one curiously obsessed with anatomy. She kicks off her speech (clearly flummoxed, but in a totally chill Tilda Swinton way) by saying she’ll give the trophy to its doppelgänger, her agent, who looks like it in all physical attributes including, “It has to be said, the buttocks.” Then, when thanking her Michael Clayton collaborators, she calls out George Clooney’s Batman nipples as the inspiration that they are. You could give the art-world-borne Swinton points for being the most high-toned person in the room, but she wasn’t above this . Typically steelish and composed when speaking publicly, it’s oddly affecting to see Swinton with her guard down.

34. Denzel Washington, 74th Academy Awards (2002)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, Training Day

We’re going to say it a lot on this list, but so much of what goes into a great speech is a sense of occasion: delivering the right speech, with the right tone, at the right time, with the spotlight on you. Denzel Washington knew that Sidney Poitier would be in the audience when he accepted his Oscar. Poitier was an icon to Washtinton and to that date was the only Black performer to win an Oscar for a leading role. Both Washington and Halle Berry would join those ranks in 2002, and Washington used his speech to build a bridge from Poitier’s groundbreaking career to his own, and in doing so, helped to crystallize one of that night’s most historic narratives. “I’ll always be chasing you, Sidney,” Washington said, beaming. “I’ll always be following in your footsteps, sir. There’s nothing I would rather do.”

33. Ruth Gordon, 41st Academy Awards (1969)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, Rosemary’s Baby

One interesting element of speech writing is finding your own unique way of stating “thank you” without using those two words. Ruth Gordon, after years in the business, opened with this phrasing: “I can’t tell you how encouraging a thing like this is!” An Oscar, she hints, is simply the nicest pat on the back to emerging talent like her. The riotous laughter and applause she garnered is proof the succinct bit landed perfectly.

32. Ingrid Bergman, 47th Academy Awards (1975)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, Murder on the Orient Express

“It’s always very nice to get an Oscar” is the neatest way to begin any awards speech. In fact, it should be mandatory for all repeat winners, like an AMPAS pledge of allegiance. (See also: costume designer Sandy Powell’s “I’ve already got two of these.”) But third time winner and screen legend Ingrid Bergman’s acceptance for Murder on the Orient Express is even more wonderful for how she spends the rest of the speech either celebrating fellow nominee Valentina Cortese or lamenting how she doesn’t quite understand how Oscars rules work for international films.

31. Joe Pesci, 63rd Academy Awards (1991)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Goodfellas

Sometimes, the brevity of an acceptance speech can be read as shade (take, for example, Alfred Hitchcock accepting his honorary Oscar with a curt “Thank you” and a quick exit) or a symptom of confusion (hello, Gloria Grahame ). But the famously press-shy Pesci’s version of the simple hat tip was the gentleman’s version: “It was my privilege.” It was poetry that acknowledged his appreciation of his industry and his peers without skimping on the showmanship. Brief but full-bodied, like a shot of bourbon.

30. Sutton Foster, 65th Tony Awards (2011)

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, Anything Goes

Please give Sutton Foster another Tony so that she can give us an update on her former dresser Julien Havard who was leaving her next week (which was a great thing!!) to pursue his dream as an artist on Cape Cod.

29. Robin Williams, Eighth Critics’ Choice Awards (2003)

Best Actor, One Hour Photo

How does a loser give the most memorable speech of an awards ceremony? He just has to be Robin Williams. In the early days of the Critics’ Choice Awards, categories only held three nominees. When a tie occurred between Jack Nicholson for About Schmidt and Daniel Day-Lewis for Gangs of New York , rascal extraordinaire Nicholson called the unawarded Williams (for One Hour Photo ) to the stage. Williams then gave a speech to cheers that thanked the Irish people, mocked the ceremony’s set design, referenced Buddhism, and called Jack so thrilled “He could drop a log.” It’s so wild that it manages to make Day-Lewis seem painfully square, Nicholson seem so disarmed as to shed his trademark awards-show sunglasses, and presenter Salma Hayek seem like the only person in Hollywood able to corral them all.

28. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, 65th Primetime Emmy Awards (2013)

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy, Veep

Comedy bits as acceptance speeches can work, but the risk-reward ratio is daunting. For when they fail, they fail miserably. The secret sauce is commitment, which Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tony Hale possessed in spades when they opted to accept Louis-Dreyfus’s award in character, with Hale playing his Veep flunky. They didn’t cheat or giggle or give any indication that the ceremony was taking place in anything but some weird in-between space where reality and Veep have converged for the length of this one acceptance speech. As the series went on, that convergence felt permanent.

27. Jack Nicholson, 56th Golden Globe Awards (1999)

Cecil B. DeMille Award

Just a year prior to receiving his lifetime achievement award, Nicholson had taken the stage to accept an award for As Good As It Gets and paid tribute to his co-nominee Jim Carrey by literally talking out of his butt , Ace Ventura –style. The 1999 version of Nicholson was more demure, but only by a degree. At the 1999 Golden Globes ceremony, Nicholson reminisced on the good old days before the awards were televised, when Joan Crawford grabbed her own breasts onstage (“In my day, we had ’em”) and Rita Hayworth flipped her dress up over her head. It’s Jack in prime “life of the party” form, regaling you with tales like we were all courtside at a Lakers game. He takes some friendly shots at presenter and pal Warren Beatty, too, and delivers one perfectly executed joke about his agent (“… His name escapes me”). ) This is old-school Hollywood at its finest, and most unfiltered. And in feeling free to tell his ribald tales, Nicholson manages to be his most sincere. Even his acknowledgement of his advancing years is met with a joke (the “fear of the shroud”) and a reminder to the room that he’s still ready to work.

26. Renée Zellweger, 92nd Academy Awards (2020)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, Judy

Renée Zellweger’s second Oscars speech gloriously derailed, transforming from a well-meaning listing-off of her heroes to a communication from a fugue state. Neil Armstrong gives way to Dolores Huerta and Venus, Serena, and Selena. Bob Dylan! India, disillusionment, silence. The dreams we used to say, the house we spent away. Ever the class act, Zellweger finds her point again, making the whole thing positively Garlandian.

25. Fred Rogers, 24th Daytime Emmy Awards (1997)

Lifetime Achievement Award

What makes a tear-jerker speech worthy of accolades? Given the preponderance of award recipients who thank their spouses and children and parents and mentors, it’s not exactly difficult to find an acceptance moment that tugs at wholesome heartstrings. But there’s low-hanging sentiment and then there’s Mr. Rogers. His call for ten seconds of silence “To think of the people who helped you become the people you are” was a classic Fred Rogers gambit. And wouldn’t you know, he had Linda Dano weeping in the crowd.

24. Jane Fonda, 44th Academy Awards (1972)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, Klute

Fonda was no stranger to memorable awards-show stage appearances, whether she was signing in ASL for her second Oscar win for Coming Home or standing proud with a Mount Everest of hair as she accepted on behalf of her ailing father, Henry Fonda, for his On Golden Pond performance. But the most striking speech is the one she made after her first win for Klute , loaded in its simplicity — and therefore deeply quotable. This was months before her controversial visit to Hanoi, but she was already well-established as an antiwar activist, much to Hollywood’s discomfort. But instead of using her time at the mic to speak specifically to the activism she cared about, she let these words linger in the room instead: “There is a great deal to say and I’m not going to say it tonight.” There would continue to be a great deal to say, to say the least.

23. Merritt Wever, 65th Primetime Emmy Awards (2013)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, Nurse Jackie

The single greatest quick speech of all time came from a shock Emmy win for underdog contender Merritt Wever, facing stiff competition and clearly unprepared for victory. Whether Wever genuinely did not want to be in the situation or was simply yes-anding the surprise of her own win to comedic effect, her “I gotta go, bye” will absolutely go down in awards-ceremony history.

22. Meryl Streep, 74th Golden Globe Awards (2017)

Donald Trump’s election was a fresh wound when Meryl Streep, hoarse from protesting, took the stage to accept her lifetime achievement award from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Streep took the occasion to blast the president — without ever uttering his name — for the cruelty of his politics, as well as his recently instituted travel ban on people from Muslim-majority countries. Streep took a tour of the ballroom at the Beverly Hilton and cited the birthplaces of everyone from Viola Davis to Ryan Gosling to Dev Patel — “outsiders and immigrants” partially responsible for the stories being celebrated that night. Sure, it wasn’t hard to whip up the spirits of a sympathetic room, but her staunch defense of compassion and multiculturalism gave focus and clarity to Hollywood’s anti-Trump movement — she’d be nominated a year later for the politically timely The Post — and earned her a place on the then-president’s shit list.

21. Ally Sheedy, 14th Independent Spirit Awards (1999)

Best Actress, High Art

“OHHH MYYY GODDDDD!” was how Ally Sheedy began her acceptance speech, after literally crawling up onto the stage and locking best pal and presenter Rosanna Arquette into an unbreakable embrace. Sheedy, an icon of ’80s movies like The Breakfast Club but largely forgotten by the time she starred in Lisa Cholodenko’s 1998 lesbian drama, High Art , physically demonstrated just how impossible it felt to claw her way back to industry recognition. And whatever emotional or chemical state she was in at the time, she was not going to relinquish that spotlight. Sheedy spoke, hollered, laughed, and cried for ten full minutes, highlighting the Spirits’ anti-Oscars vibe while at the same time guaranteeing this career resurgence of hers would live on in some way.

20. Kirstie Alley, 43rd Primetime Emmy Awards (1991)

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, Cheers

To say that Kirstie Alley was a peculiar personality in her prime is probably putting it lightly. Her acceptance speech when she won the Emmy on her third try as Cheers ’ leading lady was an exercise in resisting sincerity and schmaltziness. So she poked fun at co-star Ted Danson’s famous Emmy drought and made a joke about the dry cleaner finding her old unused acceptance speeches in her dress pockets. But she put a bow on her stand-up when she thanked her then-husband, Parker Stevenson, “For giving me the big one for the last eight years.” Cheers to that .

19. Mo’Nique, 82nd Academy Awards (2010)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Precious

Throughout Mo’Nique’s Oscars season in 2009–2010, she faced unfair criticisms from the press and bloggersphere for her reticence to participate in the Hollywood baby-kissing tour that is an Academy Awards campaign, even as she obtained frontrunner status. Mo’Nique gave very limited interviews, and appeared at few “for your consideration,” events but was also busy launching her talk show at that time. So when the multi-hyphenate performer took the stage and thanked the Academy for awarding “the performance and not the politics,” the more casual Oscar watchers at home might have been confused as to what she meant. But it was a gratifying crack to the system that Mo’Nique could achieve what many of them could not.

18. Geena Davis, 63rd Golden Globe Awards (2006)

Best Actress in a Television Series — Drama, Commander in Chief

Geena Davis delivered the ultrarare postmodern acceptance speech when she won the Globe for playing the [gasp] female president of the United States on Commander in Chief . Adopting some of the more treacly clichés of the acceptance-speech artform, Davis began to tell a story about a little girl out on the red carpet who tugged on her dress and told her, “Because of you, I want to be president.” And then Davis yanked the rug right out from under the audience, weaponizing their “ awwws ” against them by revealing the story to be a complete lie. Besides showing the Globes audience as a bunch of credulous saps, Davis also delivered a subtle message: Keep giving me awards and I’ll keep being this funny.

17. Elaine Stritch, 56th Primetime Emmy Awards (2004)

Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, Elaine Stritch at Liberty

Leave it to another Broadway legend to perform the hell out of a Hollywood acceptance speech. Elaine Stritch won the Emmy for the HBO filmed version of her stage show, then proceeded to stage an epic siege of the podium. Stritch referenced her drinking problem, got bleeped, nearly got HBO exec Chris Albrecht’s name wrong, and then declared she’d just start naming names until someone dragged her off the stage. Was the speech genuinely unhinged? Did it matter? By the time Stritch was shouting out Scott Saunders (“I don’t like him very much, but he got us the money!”) and flirting with an F-bomb, she’d very nearly earned herself a second Emmy for the speech itself.

16. Jack Palance, 64th Academy Awards (1992)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, City Slickers

It took nearly 40 years from Jack Palance’s first brush with Oscar — he was nominated back to back for 1952’s Sudden Fear and 1953’s Shane — for him to finally get the prize, and by the time he took the stage to accept his award from Whoopi Goldberg, the old man was full of beans. Casting a glance downstage to that year’s host, his City Slickers co-star Billy Crystal, Palance quoted his character, Curly, by sneering, “I crap bigger than him.” He followed that with some words about how Hollywood producers won’t always cast old veterans for parts that require any physicality, before dropping to the stage and performing a series of one-armed push-ups, to the delight of the audience — not to mention Crystal, who spent the rest of the evening riffing off of Palance’s surprising show of vitality.

15. Michelle Williams, 71st Primetime Emmy Awards (2019)

Best Lead Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie, Fosse/Verdon

Two years before she took on the role of Gwen Verdon, Michelle Williams found herself inadvertently at the center of one of the great dust-ups of the new Me Too era when it came out that she had been paid a fraction of what her All the Money in the World counterpart, Mark Wahlberg, had been paid for the job. Two years later, when accepting her Emmy, Williams put a button on that moment, thanking her bosses at FX for listening to her needs for more vocal training, dance lessons, better fake teeth and wigs (essential!), and for paying her equally. “They understood that when you put value in a person, it empowers that person to get in touch with their own inherent value, and where do they put that value? They put it into their work.” Williams made an extra-pointed statement for women of color in this regard, making the speech a home run for advocacy — and succinctness (the entire speech fell under two minutes).

14. Sacheen Littlefeather for Marlon Brando, 45th Academy Awards (1973)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, The Godfather

The massive success of The Godfather was a victory lap for Marlon Brando, overturning a decade’s worth of film failures overnight and making him the obvious best actor winner for his performance as Don Corleone. But Brando boycotted the ceremony to speak out against the ongoing mistreatment and misrepresentation of Native Americans in Hollywood films amid the ongoing occupation of Wounded Knee. In his place, Brando sent Native American actress and activist Sacheen Littlefeather to read a prepared statement (which was forcibly reduced onscreen by Oscars producers). Littlefeather received a torrent of boos in the theater and was harassed by industry members backstage before reading the entire speech for the press backstage. Brando was criticized not only for using the Oscars as a political platform but also for forcing Littlefeather to face the heat from the industry. Months before she passed away in 2022, the Academy issued Littlefeather a formal apology.

13. Sheryl Lee Ralph, 28th Critics’ Choice Awards (2023)

Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, Abbott Elementary

So many speeches, even great ones, play to the room rather than the audience watching at home. Not I, said the great Sheryl Lee Ralph, who after speaking of the hardships in her career, knew exactly where her camera was and pointed straight to it with the righteous self-conviction of a trash-talking WWE champion. But instead of bringing the pain, she brought a new pinnacle of the uplifting awards speech. Making eye contact with our souls as the camera operator zoomed in, she spoke of the importance of self-love (which can sound phony coming out of most Hollywood mouths) over any other form of respect, making even the most wavering self-doubter into a believer in only the way a truly self-actualized person can.

12. Jim Carrey, MTV Movie Awards (1999)

Best Male Performance, The Truman Show

It’s important to situate this one on the grand Jim Carrey timeline, as it came mere months after he was snubbed for an Academy Award and shortly after he filmed the Andy Kaufman biopic Man on the Moon . Perhaps taking Kaufman’s cue, Carrey accepted his tub of golden popcorn deep in character as a Jim Morrison–esque free-loving biker burnout. To the delight of several A-listers in the crowd (his co-star Courtney Love but also Keri Russell and Salma Hayek), Carrey leeringly noted that there was “Some fine-looking pussy in the room tonight,” thus checking the “quotable” box on our scorecard and bringing the performance of sincerity to a whole other stratosphere.

11. Cuba Gooding Jr., 69th Academy Awards (1997)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Jerry Maguire

In any awards show — but especially at the Oscars, it seems — there is an unspoken battle between the producers and the awards recipients. The producers have their eye on the clock, not wanting to let the ceremony drift toward an unwieldy runtime. They also know that a rambly, unfocused speech isn’t great television, and they tend to hustle those off the stage with a premature cue of the orchestra. This battle can be uncomfortable to watch play out. An overzealous orchestra can give the unwelcome impression that we’re all just trying to get this over with as soon as possible. But when Cuba Gooding Jr. accepted his Oscar for Jerry Maguire and seemed momentarily dazed by the enormity of the moment, the orchestra’s intrusion kind of hip-checked Gooding into action. Suddenly fighting back against the music, Gooding’s thank-yous got louder, his gratitude got more exuberant — he was about 30 seconds away from levitating off the stage. It’s one of the most pure expressions of joy ever seen at the Oscars, and it’s even better when you watch the view from the production booth .

10. Tom Hanks, 66th Academy Awards (1994)

Best Actor in a Leading Role, Philadelphia

It’s fair to criticize the history of straight actors being rewarded for playing gay characters, and Hanks was quick to acknowledge the unfairness of his position when awarded an Oscar for playing Andy Beckett in Philadelphia . The lasting impression of his speech is its impassioned plea for acceptance of gay people during a hostile time, one that rings more honestly felt than the talking points later male-acting winners would mimic. Hanks chokes up early and stays that way throughout, giving one of his first steps as everyone’s movie dad and a quintessential message speech so articulate you might overlook its religious overtones. Hanks also recognizes the impact of two gay fellow creatives on his life, a fellow actor and his high-school drama teacher, a statement that would be satirized a few years later in In and Out — bet you can’t name another acceptance speech that inspired a whole movie!

9. Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, MTV Movie Awards (2005)

Best Kiss, The Notebook

The MTV Movie Awards’ Best Kiss category has a checkered past, displaying mild-to-medium homophobia some years and engendering over-the-top eye rolls other years. But it’s an interesting subset of Hollywood awards in that it has, in retrospect, recognized some of our greatest performers (from Moonlight actors to Twilight actors). So how, in accepting such an award, do you express the gratitude indicative of a future star while also recognizing the frivolity of the whole affair? If you’re complete geniuses like Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, you re-create the whole lift-kiss thing from The Notebook onstage while perfectly mid-aughts sex-groove Maroon 5 plays in the background. And one of you has a Darfur T-shirt on. The then-still-dating stars milked the moment for all it was worth, demonstrating a level of confidence and showmanship you would expect from seasoned stars, not two breakthroughs, as well as a savvy understanding of the fact that the MTV Movie Awards exist for fan service and not much else. While McAdams hasn’t had many opportunities to accept awards thereafter (fix it, Academy cowards!), this speech set the tone for Gosling’s later mischief-maker persona, someone who refuses to take any awards ceremony too seriously.

8. Michael Moore (with Michael Donovan), 75th Academy Awards (2003)

Best Documentary Feature, Bowling for Columbine

Even with Moore’s reputation for political pot-stirring, the filmmaker was entering Oscars night as something of a success story, riding high on the praise for Bowling for Columbine that made him among the surest bets to win that night. But this ceremony was also three days after the U.S. invaded Iraq. Taking the stage for his documentary feature win with his fellow nominees, the audience gave him a standing ovation (how often does that happen for docs?!) and chaos ensued. Moore called out the Bush administration, remarking, “We live in fictitious times [with] fictitious election results that elects a fictitious president … sending us to war for fictitious reasons.” Instantly throughout the theater a cloud of boos descends, with scattered agreeable applause, and the voice of fear visibly ringing in the head of every star on camera not to show their true feelings (catch Scorsese beginning to clap, though! Harrison Ford, living for the chaos!). It would make Moore a household name in America and serve as table setting for his next film, Fahrenheit 9/11 , the highest-grossing documentary to that point.

7. Olivia Colman, 91st Academy Awards (2019)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, The Favourite

Colman’s win takes us on a breakneck guided tour of the best categories of awards speeches, arriving at each new fence post with a swiftness envied by most high-speed rail systems: the wildly funny type, the directed-to-the-daydreamers-at-home motivational type, the sobbing type, the effusively aware-of-her-fellow-nominees type. It is arguably the most quotable acceptance speech of recent years, from the anxious opener, “It’s genuinely quite stressful,” to her smooching “LADY GAGA!!” finish. But the speech category that ties them all together is one more typically found at the Golden Globes: the drunk type (later, Colman admitted that expecting not to win, she’d gotten knackered). Every great speech should offer a lingering question (in this case, who earned Colman’s early tears of “Hi”?). And if they must be scattered, they should be gloriously and hilariously so, and cement what makes the recipient a deeply lovable and emotionally activated comedic actress [ blows raspberry ].

6. Halle Berry, 74th Academy Awards (2002)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, Monster’s Ball

Halle Berry’s Oscar for Monster’s Ball was the first best-actress win for a Black woman, carrying with it the weight of not only the past but the present of an industry that hadn’t advanced as much as it liked to tell itself it had. And Berry managed to meet that moment with the feeling in her speech. Berry’s emotional outpouring is still impossible not to be moved by on rewatch, and it (along with Denzel’s speech) remains the gold standard for how to recognize the performers that paved the road before you. Crucially, her speech mentions not only former Oscar nominees like Dorothy Dandridge and Diahann Carroll but also her contemporaries who hadn’t been given the chance at an Oscar because of Hollywood’s continual denial of opportunities for Black actresses.

5. Sally Field, 57th Academy Awards (1985)

Best Performance by a Leading Actress, Places in the Heart

Sally Field got so much shit for this, you guys. Expressing how her second win felt like acceptance into an industry — that had once pigeonholed and discarded her as Gidget and the Flying Nun — in a way that her first had not, this speech was a moment of vulnerable “you like me!” earnestness that instead turned her into the butt of the joke. Forgive me for tsk-tsking the culture at large from half a century ago, but there was no mention at the time in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences rulebook that a second-time Oscar winner must be self-effacing, and there has yet to be any to this day.

4. Viola Davis, 89th Academy Awards (2017)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, Fences

A rousing speech can floor us in a single quote, as Viola Davis did: “There’s one place where all the people with the greatest potential are gathered … that’s the graveyard.” Hers is the delivery of a master speechwriter, piecing together the kind of personal and professional gratitudes that usually get doled out in an acceptance speech, and molding them into a moving proclamation as much about the artist’s calling as it is about how you choose to live a life. Too many speeches, even by the most charismatic stars, are bullet-pointed names of people we know nothing about, but Davis’s speech makes them feel like real humans begging to be known. Lesser stars can be clunkier when trying to pull into their speeches the themes of the film for which they won, but Davis shows Fences and the work of August Wilson as intrinsic to who she is as an actress and a person who makes this one hell of an artist’s statement.

3. Shirley MacLaine, 56th Academy Awards (1984)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, Terms of Endearment

Humility is a great virtue, provided it comes naturally. But if that’s not what you’re feeling, sing out , Louise! Shirley MacLaine ended her Oscar speech with a hurried “I deserve this,” which was partly comical and partly sincere — MacLaine owning her pride at achieving a career pinnacle in Terms of Endearment , into which she put so much of her creativity and hard work. But before the sincere part, MacLaine took a good-natured dig at the length of the ceremony, poked fun at her own recently earned reputation for transcendentalism, thanked Jack Nicholson for the “middle-aged joy” of having him in bed in the film, and thanked her co-nominated co-star, Debra Winger, for her “turbulent brilliance.” MacLaine and Winger famously feuded on the set of the film, and Winger’s bemused (yet smiling!) reaction seemed to hide something muttered under her breath. We’ll say it again, there’s nothing like an Oscar speech that produces a blind item.

2. Julia Roberts, 73rd Academy Awards (2001)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, Erin Brockovich

You think you know the moment when Julia Roberts’s Oscar speech becomes the second greatest of all time. Certainly, it was when she unhinged her jaw and let out that irrepressible, whooping cackle, ending with an “I love it up here!” Or wait, perhaps it was a smidge earlier when she admonished orchestra conductor Bill Conti (“Stick Man”) to keep his baton at bay. But the real moment when Roberts officially GOATed that speech arrived with the fifth word out of her mouth: “Thank you, thank you ever so much!” like she was just handed a scepter from the queen of England. And wield that scepter she did. By a rough watch of the clock, Roberts took three minutes and 48 seconds — including one break to make sure her dress looked pretty — to be gracious (mentioning her fellow nominees), quotable (she loves it up there!), and unabashedly thrilled. The speech was criticized at the time, mostly for being too long and for forgetting to thank the real Erin Brockovich (whom Roberts had thanked profusely at the Golden Globes). But what her critics failed (and in some cases continue to fail) to see is that the Oscars exist as a public pageant because of the power of movie stars. And here was Roberts, one of the biggest movie stars in the world, accepting a long-awaited industry recognition of her talent. So she took her time, straightened her dress, and thanked everybody else, from Steven Soderbergh to Albert Finney, Danny DeVito to her niece Emma. Her speech was everything the Oscars should be: self-indulgent, loudly complimentary about artists, compulsively watchable, and long.

1. 1. Dame Emma Thompson, 53rd Golden Globes (1996)

Best Motion Picture Screenplay, Sense and Sensibility

Let this be your quarterly reminder to invite Dame Emma Thompson to every awards show and let her do whatever she wants. There has never been a more ingenious way of accepting a Hollywood award than when Thompson called a séance on the ghost of Jane Austen after adapting Sense and Sensibility . Owing the success of the film’s writing (and thus the screenplay award she was accepting) to the original author, Thompson jettisoned a traditional speech and instead composed a diary entry in the voice of Austen herself, as if she had attended the Globes. (Among the speech’s many Austen-approximating brilliancies include calling the ceremony the “Golden Spheres” and saving the worst of her scorn for Thompson herself.) In doing so, Thompson simultaneously takes the piss out of the awards, exalts Austen, and ever-so-deftly silences any lingering naysayers who didn’t believe that a mere actress could translate the prose of one of the greatest writers of all time. And after winning the lion’s share of acting prizes a few years before for Howards End , why not have a little fun? Few have ever dared, much less achieved, a pre-written gag awards speech so decadently bold, but Thompson has the talent to pull it off without breaking a sweat. Her Austen invocation feels commensurately silly and self-aggrandizing, while hitting the bull’s-eye of legitimate gratitude. It’s a perfect speech if there ever was one, and it undoubtedly paved the way for her Oscar win that year .

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15 Inspiring Celebrity Commencement Speeches

By rudie obias | jun 4, 2016.

With graduation season well underway, it’s important that recent grads start their journey into the real world with strong words of encouragement and advice. Here are 15 famous people who gave inspiring and rousing commencement speeches.

1. OPRAH WINFREY // STANFORD UNIVERSITY

In 2008, Oprah Winfrey gave a 28-minute commencement speech at Stanford University. She spoke about her early career as a local news anchor in Nashville and her personal and professional journey of failure, success, and finding happiness in life.

"The secret I've learned to getting ahead is being open to the lessons," Winfrey said. "It's being able to walk through life eager and open to self-improvement and that which is going to best help you evolve, because that's really why we're here—to evolve as human beings. I believe that there is a lesson in almost everything that you do and every experience. Getting the lesson is how you move forward, is how you enrich your spirit. And trust me; I know that inner wisdom is more precious than wealth. The more you spend it, the more you gain."

2. STEVE JOBS // STANFORD UNIVERSITY

In 2005, Steve Jobs was the commencement speaker at Stanford University. He spoke about his work, but emphasized his failures in life, including getting fired at Apple and starting NeXT Computer. Jobs believed that failing at life made you better at working and living it.

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work,” Jobs said. “And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.”

3. JON STEWART // COLLEGE OF WILLIAM & MARY

Twenty years after talk show host/comedian Jon Stewart graduated from the College of William and Mary, he returned as the commencement speaker for the graduating class of 2004. He spoke about his time at the Virginia college and offered up advice about the future.

“Love what you do. Get good at it. Competence is a rare commodity in this day and age. And let the chips fall where they may,” Stewart told the crowd. “College is something you complete. Life is something you experience. So don’t worry about your grade, or the results or success.”

4. STEPHEN COLBERT // WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY

Stephen Colbert gave the commencement speech to the Class of 2015 at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. It was about six months after he finished his nine-year run as host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report and the talk show host/comedian compared his transition to The Late Show on CBS to graduating from college and entering the real world.

“It’s time to say goodbye to the person we’ve become, who we’ve worked so hard to perfect, and to make some crucial decisions in becoming who we’re going to be,” Colbert told the graduating class. “For me, I’ll have to figure out how to do an hour-long show every night. And you at some point will have to sleep. I am told the Adderall wears off eventually.”

Colbert also began and ended his speech with references to Mad Max: Fury Road , by telling the graduates, “May you ride eternal, shiny, and chrome.”

5. KATIE COURIC // UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN—MADISON

Katie Couric delivered the commencement speech at the University of Wisconsin—Madison in 2015, where she urged the students to “work hard, and then work even harder ... There may be days when you’ll say to yourself, ‘I can’t. I literally can’t even.’ But you can! You can even!”

6. JOHN GREEN // KENYON COLLEGE

In 2000, author and YouTube star (and mental_floss contributor) John Green graduated from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. He recently returned to his alma mater to give the commencement speech for the graduating Class of 2016. During his speech, Green admitted that being an adult is terrible.

“All of it, actually—from the electricity bills to the job where your co-workers call themselves teammates even though this isn’t football for God’s sake—all these so-called horrors of adulthood emerge from living in a world where you are inextricably connected to other people to whom you must learn to listen,” Green said. “And that turns out to be great news. And if you can remember that conversations about grass length and the weather are really conversations about how we are going to get through, and how we are going to get through together, they become not just bearable but almost kind of transcendent.”

7. MAYA RUDOLPH // TULANE UNIVERSITY

In 2015, Maya Rudolph gave the commencement speech at Tulane University in New Orleans. The Saturday Night Live alum did her famous impressions of Oprah Winfrey and Beyoncé, while giving the Class of 2015 some words of wisdom about creating your own life and destiny.

"During senior year, my father asked me what I planned to do after I graduated, and I told him 'I want to be on Saturday Night Live ,'" she shared. "But until that moment, I never wanted to admit that being on SNL was my dream. I never wanted to admit that I was a thespian ... So if I must give any of you advice it would be say yes. Say yes, and create your own destiny."

8. JIM CARREY // MAHARISHI UNIVERSITY OF MANAGEMENT

In 2014, Jim Carrey surprised the graduating class at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa with a touching and emotional commencement speech about his father. He implored graduates to choose their own paths in life and to not settle out of practicality. Carrey also received an honorary doctorate for his achievements in comedy, art, acting, and philanthropy.

“The decisions we make in this moment are based in either love or fear,” Carrey told the students. “So many of us chose our path out of fear disguised as practicality. What we really want seems impossibly out of reach and ridiculous to expect so we never ask the universe for it. I’m saying I’m the proof that you can ask the universe for it. And if it doesn’t happen for you right away, it’s only because the universe is so busy fulfilling my order.”

9. MINDY KALING // HARVARD LAW SCHOOL

Comedy writer/actress Mindy Kaling gave the commencement speech to the Class of 2014 at Harvard Law School, where she joked about her “glamorous” lifestyle, and questioned why Harvard would even ask her to be the commencement speaker in the first place. Kaling also joked that celebrities are the worst people in the world to give advice to recent graduates.

“What advice could I give you guys?” said the star of The Mindy Project . “Celebrities give too much advice and people listen to it too much. Most of us have no education whatsoever. Who should be giving advice and the answer is people like you. You are better educated and you are going to go out into the world and people are going to listen to what you say, whether you are good or evil, and that probably scares you because some of you look really young.”

10. STEVE CARELL // PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

In 2012, Steve Carell spoke to Princeton University graduates during Class Day. His niece was in the audience as one of the Ivy League school’s graduates. He spoke about his attempt to enter law school, but ultimately not becoming a lawyer once he read the question “Why do you want to be an attorney?" on the law school application. Carell then ended his speech with a few tidbits about what to expect from the real world.

“I would like to leave you with a few random thoughts. Not advice per se, but some helpful hints,” Carell told the graduating class. “Show up on time. Because to be late is to show disrespect. Remember that the words 'regime' and 'regimen' are not interchangeable. Get a dog, because cats are lame. Only use a 'That's what she said' joke if you absolutely cannot resist. Never try to explain a 'That's what she said' joke to your parents. When out to eat, tip on the entire check. Do not subtract the tax first. And every once in a while, put something positive into the world. We have become so cynical these days. And by we I mean us. So do something kind, make someone laugh, and don't take yourself too seriously.”

11. J.K. ROWLING // HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling gave the commencement speech at Harvard University in 2008. During her speech, Rowling talked about the value of imagination, failing in life to succeed, and friendship throughout school into the real world.

“The friends with whom I sat on graduation day have been my friends for life,” Rowling shared. “They are my children’s godparents, the people to whom I’ve been able to turn in times of trouble, people who have been kind enough not to sue me when I took their names for Death Eaters. At our graduation we were bound by enormous affection, by our shared experience of a time that could never come again.”

12. TOM HANKS // YALE UNIVERSITY

In 2011, Tom Hanks was the commencement speaker at Yale University. He told the graduates how they can make a deep impression on the world based on how they handle fear and if they inspire faith.

"Fear has become the commodity that sells as certainly as sex," Hanks said. "Fear is cheap, fear is easy, fear gets attention ... It's fast, it's gossip and it's just as glamorous, juicy and profitable. Fear twists facts into fictions that become indistinguishable from ignorance."

13. ELLEN DEGENERES // TULANE UNIVERSITY

Talk show host/comedian Ellen DeGeneres was the commencement speaker for Tulane University’s Class of 2009. At the ceremony, she was also awarded the Tulane University President's Medal. DeGeneres spoke about the importance of following your passions in life.

“Success is to live your life with integrity and to not give in to peer pressure to try to be something that you're not,” DeGeneres told the class. “Success is to be honest and to contribute in some way ... Follow your passion, stay true to yourself, never follow someone else's path unless you're in the woods and you're lost and you see a path then by all means you should follow that.”

14. CONAN O’BRIEN // DARTMOUTH COLLEGE

Late night talk show host Conan O’Brien addressed the Class of 2011 at Dartmouth College, along with “faculty, parents, relatives, undergraduates, and old people that just come to these things.” He spoke about his success and failures at NBC, while highlighting why it’s important to be disappointed in life: “Today I tell you that whether you fear it or not, disappointment will come. The beauty is that through disappointment you can gain clarity, and with clarity comes conviction and true originality.”

O’Brien ended his speech by saying, “At the end of my final program with NBC, just before signing off, I said ‘Work hard, be kind, and amazing things will happen.’ Today … I have never believed that more.”

15. KERRY WASHINGTON // GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

In 2013, Scandal star Kerry Washington gave the commencement speech at George Washington University, from which she herself graduated in 1998. She received an honorary degree from her alma mater and gave some words of advice to the recent graduates, “You and you alone are the only person who can live the life that can write the story that you were meant to tell.”

9 of the most inspiring award show acceptance speeches

ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images

We all love watching award shows. It’s super-fun to check out the fashions on the red carpet, and to see all our fave celebs in the one place. Celebrities often use their award wins to draw attention to issues they feel strongly about. We love to hear what they have to say about loving and being ourselves, and looking after our mental wellbeing.

1. Lady Gaga champions mental wellbeing

‘I’m so proud to be a part of a movie that addresses mental health issues. They’re so important. A lot of artists deal with that, and we’ve got to take care of each other.’

One of our fave awards-show moments is Lady Gaga’s speech at the 2019 Grammys. After being awarded Best Pop Performance, Gaga spoke about why she was so stoked to be part of the film A Star is Born . We love seeing celebs talking openly about the importance of mental health, and we know we can always count on Gaga to keep it real.

2. Sandra Oh faces her fears while hosting the 2019 Golden Globes

‘I said yes to the fear of being on this stage tonight to look out onto this audience and witness this moment of change.’

Sandra Oh was the first Asian woman to host the Golden Globes, and later went on to continue smashing history with a win. During her (hilarious) opening speech, she confessed to being afraid of hosting such a big event. She encouraged the room to enjoy the moment of change they were all a part of that night. She and co-host Andy Samberg decided to kill the crowd with kindness. Instead of roasting the room to get easy laughs, they complimented all the nominees. It was a sweet reminder that kindness is always cool.

3. Barry Jenkins finally gets to give his Oscars acceptance speech for Moonlight

‘To anyone watching this who sees themselves in us, let this be a symbol, a reflection that leads you to love yourself. Because doing so may be the difference between dreaming at all and … realising dreams you never allowed yourself to have.’

Who can forget the awkward moment at the 2018 Oscars when La La Land was incorrectly announced as the winner of Best Picture, instead of Moonlight ?! Barry Jenkins, the director of Moonlight , finally got a chance to give his Oscars acceptance speech at the 2018 SXSW media festival. Barry urged anyone with a dream to stop standing in their own way. Anything is possible, if we believe in ourselves, he said.

4. Oprah standing up for women everywhere

‘So I want all the girls watching here and now to know that a new day is on the horizon! And when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women … fighting hard to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has to say “Me too” again.’

Honoured with the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 2018 Golden Globes, Oprah used her time at the mic to give hope to women all over the world. She talked about the importance of seeing different faces and bodies on screen, of listening to women, and of fighting for equality of every kind. Her speech was so epic, it even had people begging her to run for US President.

5. Evan Rachel Wood becomes a hero for LGBTQI people everywhere

‘The only thing that I knew was fear and confusion and loneliness. How can you be who you are when you don’t understand how you’re feeling? Then one day I heard an actress say the word “bisexual”, and I thought, what the hell is that? And when I found out, a lightbulb went off. The word … made me feel less crazy, less alone, gave me hope.’

Evan Rachel Wood was awarded the Human Rights Campaign’s Visibility Award in 2017. In her acceptance speech, she spoke about growing up as a bisexual woman, and of how it affected her life. Bi-erasure is super real, and her speech showed us how important it is to see yourself in movies and TV. Feeling like other people were confused like you, and then figured it out, can make you feel way less alone.

6. Meryl Streep calls out bullies at the 2017 Golden Globes

‘Disrespect invites disrespect, violence incites violence. And when the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose.’

All hail the Queen! As if we couldn’t love Meryl Streep any more, she used her 2017 Golden Globes win to highlight the need for empathy and humanity in the fight against people who bully others. She reminded us that nobody likes a bully, and that it’s up to each one of us to stand up to them in any way we can.

7. Taylor Swift’s advice for young women at the 2016 Grammys

‘I want to say to all the young women out there, there are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame. But if you just focus on the work and you don't let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you're going, you will know it was you and the people who love you who put you there, and that will be the greatest feeling in the world.’

We all know about famous moment at the Grammys between Taylor and Kanye. But, did you know that Taylor followed it up with her best acceptance speech ever? After winning Album of the Year, and becoming the first woman to ever win it twice, Taylor shut down the haters and encouraged all young women to own their successes.

8. Al Gore begs for action on climate change at the Oscars in 2007

‘It’s not a political issue, it’s a moral issue. We have everything we need to get started, with the possible exception of the will to act. That’s a renewable resource. Let’s renew it.’

Al Gore, American politician, Nobel Peace Prize winner and environmentalist, won the Oscar for Best Documentary in 2007 for An Inconvenient Truth . The climate change activist used his win to beg the world to take notice of the environment and to take action before it’s too late. That’s a message that’s still important today.

9. Halle Berry’s historic Oscars win in 2002

‘This moment is so much bigger than me … it's for every nameless, faceless woman of colour that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened.’

Halle Berry made history as the first (and still only) African American woman to win an Academy Award for Best Actress. Her emotional speech summed up exactly why diversity in movies is so important. This is a HUGE deal, because being represented in the media makes you feel part of a community, helps build confidence and reduces discrimination in general. Plus, nothing makes you want to fist pump more than seeing someone like you doing something totally amazing on the big screen.

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The Most Memorable Acceptance Speeches in Oscar History

T he most memorable Academy Awards speeches are those that stay with you long after the ceremony is over. Those that feel raw, emotional, and sometimes even a little unhinged because they are being given by someone who is genuinely shocked to hear their name called on Hollywood’s biggest night. Think Olivia Colman’s charming 2019 speech in which she ended by shouting out Lady Gaga who she spotted in the front row because, well, Lady Gaga! 

Sometimes a speech sticks in your head because the winner makes Oscar history ; it’s hard not to be moved by the heartfelt words Hattie McDaniel spoke when she became the first Black American to ever win an Oscar, for Gone With the Wind , in 1940. Other times the speech makes an unforgettable political statement, as when Indigenous actor and activist Sacheen Littlefeather accepted Marlon Brando’s Oscar for The Godfather on his behalf, in an act of protest.

From Jennifer Lawrence tripping up the stairs to Tom Hanks’ passionate tribute to the LGBTQ+ community, these are the 29 most memorable speeches in Oscar history. 

Sally Field Didn’t Say What You Thought She Said

When Sally Field won the Best Actress Oscar in 1985 for Places in the Heart, she said three words that would live in pop culture infamy: “You like me.” The Academy really did; she won the same award just five years earlier for her performance as the titular union organizer in Norma Rae. But the line from her speech that has been endlessly spoofed by everyone, including Field herself , has been remembered all wrong. She didn’t actually say, “You like me. You really like me.” She said, “I can’t deny the fact that you like me. Right now, you like me!” 

Whether you like her speech or not, Field has chosen to stop caring what anyone thinks about it. “First of all, I was winning my second Oscar,” she told New York Magazine in 2017. “So I’m allowed to say anything I f-cking want.” It’s hard to argue with a two-time Oscar winner. 

Patricia Arquette Inspires a Beautiful Meryl Streep GIF

When Patricia Arquette won Best Supporting Actress for Boyhood in 2015, she used her speech to stump for gender equality. “To every woman who gave birth. To every taxpayer and citizen of this nation,” she said. “We have fought for everybody else's equal rights. It's our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America.” While Arquette’s speech had its critics , she found fans in fellow nominee Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lopez, whose supportive responses turned them into the perfect GIF for those times when you need to hype yourself up.

Hattie McDaniel Makes Bittersweet History

In 1940, Gone With the Wind ’s Hattie McDaniel became the first African American to ever win an Academy Award, but she was almost not allowed to attend the ceremony. Her film’s producer David O. Selznick had to ask the then segregated Ambassador Hotel for permission to invite McDaniel, which they granted, but she was relegated to a separate table away from her white co-stars. 

Yet despite this, McDaniel, the daughter of formerly enslaved Americans, graciously thanked the Academy for their “kindness” in her Best Supporting Actress speech, which was not the one Selznick had prepared for her. She instead delivered a more personal one that she had written with help from her close friend Ruby Berkley Goodwin. “It has made me feel very, very humble, and I shall always hold it as a beacon for anything I may be able to do in the future,” McDaniel said. “I sincerely hope I shall always be a credit to my race and to the motion picture industry.”

Following her win, McDaniel would become a polarizing figure in the Black community, with some arguing that she made a career out of playing racial stereotypes. Historian Jill Watts, who wrote the 2007 biography Hattie McDaniel: Black Ambition, White Hollywood , believes McDaniel’s place in Hollywood has been misunderstood. “She's an artist who's been resisting white domination with performance—up until she becomes involved in white show business,” Watts told Entertainment Weekly last year. “If you watch those performances, she's straitjacketed [by the writing], but she's trying to move her way out of that.”

Sacheen Littlefeather Rejects Marlon Brando’s Oscar

When Marlon Brando won the Best Actor Oscar for The Godfather in 1973, he chose to boycott the ceremony, sending Apache and Yaqui actor and activist Sacheen Littlefeather in his place. The then-26-year-old respectfully refused the honor on his behalf in protest of Hollywood’s treatment and portrayal of Native Americans in film. Her speech received cheers, but also jeers from the crowd. (It has been reported that John Wayne was so angered by Littlefeather’s speech that he had to be restrained by security guards so he wouldn’t storm the stage.)

In 2022, four months before Littlefeather’s death, the Academy formally apologized to her for how she was treated that night. Littlefeather told The Guardian in 2021 that despite the boos she always knew what she had done that day was a necessary disruption. “It was not a performance, it was a real presentation,” she said. “I think that’s what took people by surprise: that it was so real. It really touches people’s hearts to this day.”

The Time the Oscars Got the Wrong Envelope

And the winner is … not La La Land . But for a few minutes in 2017, the cast and crew of the Damien Chazelle musical believed that they had won Best Picture. After all, presenter Faye Dunaway announced their film’s name as the winner. La La Land ’s producers were in the middle of giving their victory speeches when the truth was revealed: There was a mix-up with the envelopes and Moonlight had actually won the night’s top prize. It was one of the most shocking moments in Oscars history, and there are photos to prove just how flabbergasted stars like Matt Damon, Meryl Streep, and Busy Philipps felt in the moment that was very much happening live. 

Amidst all the hullabaloo, Moonlight director Barry Jenkins managed to give a speech that embraced the joy, but also the absurdity of the moment. “Very clearly, very clearly, even in my dreams, this could not be true,” he said. “But to hell with dreams, I'm done with it, 'cause this is true. Oh my goodness.” 

Joe Pesci Proves He Is a Man of Few Words

With just six words, Joe Pesci gave one of the most memorable Oscar speeches of all time. After winning Best Supporting Actor for Goodfellas in 1991, he walked up to the podium, shook his head in disbelief, and said, “It was my privilege. Thank you.” Later, when Pesci returned to the stage as a presenter, he smiled and said, “I still can’t talk,” amusing the crowd—but definitely not like a clown .

Irving Berlin Gives the Academy Award to Irving Berlin

Composer and lyricist Irving Berlin has the unique honor of handing the statue for Best Original Song to himself. In 1943, when he won the prize for his song “White Christmas” from Holiday Inn, he was also the award’s presenter. According to the Los Angeles Times , after opening the envelope and seeing his name, he told the crowd, “I’m glad to present the award. I’ve known him for a long time.”

Anna Paquin Is Nearly Speechless

Anna Paquin won Best Supporting Actress for The Piano in 1994 when she was just 11 years old, becoming one of the youngest performers to ever win an Academy Award. ( Tatum O’Neal holds the record for the youngest Oscar winner, having won Best Supporting Actress statue 20 years earlier at the age of 10 for Paper Moon .) So you can’t blame the girl for being in utter shock when she heard her name called. For nearly 23 seconds, she stood at the podium wide-eyed in her adorable bedazzled beret searching for the right words to say. It’s one of the purest displays of shock and joy you’ll ever see. 

Roberto Benigni Shows How to Make an Entrance

When Life Is Beautiful won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film (now known as the Best International Feature Film) in 1999, the Italian film’s director, writer, and star Roberto Benigni made his way to the stage by climbing over the furniture and then bunny-hopping up the stairs into the arms of presenter Sophia Loren. The bit of acrobatics earned him a standing ovation, but he was too excited to even notice, telling the crowd, “I want to kiss everybody.” With all of that energy, we wouldn’t have put it past him to do it. 

Bong Joon Ho Pays Tribute to Martin Scorsese

By the time Bong Joon Ho had won Best Director for 2019’s Parasite , he had already collected awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature. So it was no surprise he wanted to talk about someone other than himself when he reached the podium that third time. “When I was young and studying cinema there was a saying that I carved deep into my heart, which is, ‘The most personal is the most creative,’” he said with help from his translator Sharon Choi. “That quote was from our great Martin Scorsese .” The line earned Scorsese, who was nominated for The Irishman, a standing ovation and showed just how much he means to a new generation of filmmakers. 

Halle Berry Knew the Moment Was Bigger Than Her

In 2002, Halle Berry became the first Black woman to win Best Actress, for her film Monster’s Ball. In her speech she paid tribute to those who came before her, including Dorothy Dandridge , who, in 1955, became the first African American woman nominated in that category. And those actresses who stood beside her in the fight for equality in Hollywood: Jada Pinkett Smith, Angela Bassett, Vivica A. Fox. “This moment is so much bigger than me,” Berry said through tears, adding, “It’s for every nameless, faceless woman of color that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened.”

Olivia Colman Is All of Us

Olivia Colman didn’t expect to win Best Actress for The Favourite in 2019 so, lucky for us, she hadn’t prepared a speech. Instead, when she got to the stage, she admitted how stressful award shows can be, apologized to fellow nominee (and projected winner) Glenn Close for stealing her thunder, and blew a kiss to Lady Gaga. All in all it may go down as the most relatable speech in Academy Awards history.

Adrien Brody’s Cringeworthy Kiss

In 2003, 29-year-old Adrien Brody went home with a little gold man for his Best Actor win for The Pianist , becoming the youngest actor to ever take home that prize . But not before stealing a kiss from his category’s presenter Halle Berry. “I bet they didn’t tell you that was in the gift bag,” he said after the off-the-cuff embrace, which reads as completely cringe now. 

Brody called the kiss one of the “most memorable moments ever. You could say time slowed down,” he told Vanity Fair in 2017. But Berry told Watch What Happens Live in 2017 that she was completely taken aback by the non-consensual smooch. “I was like, ‘What the f-ck is happening right now?!’” she joked. “And because I was there the year before and I know the feeling of being out of your body, I just f-cking went with it.” Maybe Berry deserves a second Oscar for that performance.

Rita Moreno Keeps it Short and Sweet

Rita Moreno made history when she won the Best Supporting Actress statue for West Side Story in 1962. Moreno, who is Puerto Rican, became the first Latina to win an acting Oscar. She also gave one of the shortest speeches in Academy Award history, saying just 11 words in seven seconds: “I can't believe it! Good Lord. I leave you with that.” 

In 2022, Moreno told the New York Times that she was convinced that Judy Garland was going to win the prize for her performance in Judgment at Nuremberg , and was even practicing her “loser face” for when the camera inevitably panned to her. But, when she won, she decided that she wasn’t going to thank anyone. “They didn’t give you the part as a favor,” she remembered thinking. “They were forced to give it to you because you did the best screen test.” Once she made that decision, she realized she didn’t have anything else to say. “And,” she told the Times. “I’ve been trying to make up for it with long acceptance speeches ever since.”

Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová Get a Second Try

The Once songwriters won for Best Original Song in 2008, but only Glen Hansard was able to give a speech. Just as Markéta Irglová stepped in front of the microphone, the orchestra began playing the duo off the stage. Luckily, host Jon Stewart invited Irglová back to the podium so she could get a chance to deliver a lovely dedication to all the dreamers out there. “The fact that we’re standing here tonight, the fact that we’re able to hold this [award] is just proof that no matter how far out your dreams are, it’s possible,” she said. “Fair play to those who dare to dream, and don’t give up.” 

James Cameron Becomes King of the Oscars

Titanic ruled the 1998 Academy Awards, taking home 11 awards, tying it with 1959’s Ben-Hur for most wins . ( Lord of the Rings: Return of the King has since joined those two films, tyingthat record in 2004.) Perhaps all that gold went to Cameron’s head. In his Best Director speech, he quoted his film’s iconic “I’m king of the world” line and barked like a dog. Almost immediately, Cameron regretted the self-referential choice. “[Warren Beatty] was just looking at me like, ‘You poor boob, what the f-ck did you just do?'” he told the Hollywood Reporter in 2023. “And I went, ‘Oh, was that not cool? OK.’”

Jennifer Lawrence’s Oscar-worthy Trip and Fall

After winning Best Actress for Silver Linings Playbook in 2013, Jennifer Lawrence stumbled on her way to the Oscar stage. Her beautiful floor-length Dior gown may have tripped her up, but she didn’t miss a beat once she finally got to the podium. “You guys are just standing up because you feel bad that I fell and that's really embarrassing,” she said. “But thank you. This is nuts.”

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon Get Hyped

Childhood besties Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were in their twenties when they won their first Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 1998. (At 25, Affleck became the youngest person to ever win an Academy Award for screenwriting.) So when the Good Will Hunting writers took the stage, they couldn’t hide their youth. “I just said to Matt, losing would suck and winning would be really scary,” Affleck said to open their speech. “It's really, really scary.” Perhaps, that’s why Affleck’s voice cracked as he thanked everyone they knew including their moms, who were also their dates.

Michelle Yeoh Proves Age Is Just a Number

In 2023, Michelle Yeoh became the first Southeast Asian woman to win Best Actress for her performance in Everything Everywhere All At Once . “For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities,” she said. “This is proof that dreams dream big, and dreams do come true.” But the 60-year-old actress also gave a special shoutout to those women of a certain age. “And, ladies,” she said. “Don't let anybody tell you you are ever past your prime.” 

Michael Moore Gets Political and Gets Booed

When Michael Moore won Best Documentary for Bowling For Columbine in 2003 , he decided to get political with his speech. Many in the crowd, however, seemed uninterested in hearing his opinions on President George W. Bush, booing at the first mention of the U.S.’s invasion of Iraq to destroy weapons of mass destruction, which had happened only days earlier. The less than supportive reaction didn’t stop the director from admonishing the Commander in Chief. “We are against this war, Mr. Bush!” Moore shouted just as the music began to play him off. “Shame on you, Mr. Bush! Shame on you!” 

In a 2017 op-ed for the Hollywood Reporter , Moore wrote that despite the criticisms of his speech at the time, he knows that he was right to speak out against the U.S. government's false claims that Iraq had WMDs . “People would later remember,” he wrote, “I’m ‘that guy who told the truth.’”

Sidney Poitier’s Speech Lives up to the Moment

Sidney Poitier ’s 1964 win for Best Actor in Lilies of the Field marked the first time a Black man had ever won in that category. It was a monumental win for the man who broke the color barrier in Hollywood , becoming a matinee idol who played characters that explored the full Black experience at a time when Black actors were too often expected to play racist stereotypes. 

“Because it is a long journey to this moment I am naturally indebted to countless numbers of people,” Poitier said before thanking his Lilies of the Field director and co-stars, as well as the members of the Academy. “For all of them, all I can say is a very special thank you.”

Jack Palance Shows Why You Shouldn’t Skip Arm Day

At the age of 73, Jack Palance won Best Actor in a Supporting Role for City Slickers . He celebrated his 1992 win by doing three one-armed push ups on stage to let Hollywood know that he wasn’t planning on slowing down anytime soon. And he didn’t; he appeared in nine more movies before his death in 2006 at the age of 87. 

Viola Davis Proves Why She’s the GOAT

Viola Davis began her 2017 Best Supporting Actress speech for Fences in the cemetery. “You know, there's one place that all the people with the greatest potential are gathered. One place. And that's the graveyard,” she said. “People ask me all the time, ‘What kind of stories do you want to tell, Viola?’ And I say, exhume those bodies. Exhume those stories.” She went on to explain that as an actor she gets to tell the stories of those ordinary people who live phenomenal lives. It’s only fitting then that she ended her emotional speech by thanking her parents, “the people who taught me, good or bad, how to fail, how to love, how to hold an award, how to lose.” It also seems that they taught her how to give a speech for the ages.

Ruth Gordon’s Win Boosts Her Ego

Ruth Gordon made her film debut in 1915, but it took another 50 years for her to win an Oscar. In 1969, when she won Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Rosemary’s Baby, she admitted that the little gold man was a boost to her self-esteem. “I can't tell you how encouragin' a thing like this is,” she told the audience, before thanking those who voted for her. “And all of you who didn't,” she said, “please excuse me.”

Marion Cotillard’s Perfect Hollywood Ending

Marion Cotillard began her 2008 Best Actress speech for the Edith Piaf biopic La Vie en Rose by telling the crowd that she was speechless. The French actress then went on to deliver a speech so quotable that it felt as if it had been written by a Hollywood screenwriter. “Thank you life, thank you love,” she said in English. “And it is true, there is some angels in this city.”

Denzel Washington’s Honors Sidney Poitier With Grace & Humor

Nearly 40 years after Sidney Poitier’s historic Best Actor win, Denzel Washington became the second Black man to take home the prize. (He had previously won for Supporting Actor in Glory in 1990.) Fittingly, Washington’s 2002 win happened on the same night Poitier received his honorary Oscar, a bit of happenstance that the Training Day actor just couldn’t ignore. “Forty years I've been chasing Sidney, they finally give it to me, what'd they do? They give it to him the same night,” he joked before gracefully paying tribute to the icon. “I'll always be chasing you, Sidney. I'll always be following in your footsteps,” he said. “There's nothing I would rather do, sir. Nothing I would rather do.”

Cuba Gooding Jr. Won’t Be Played Off

When Cuba Gooding Jr. won Best Supporting Actor for Jerry Maguire in 1997 , he knew he didn’t have much time. “I'm gonna rush and say everybody, and you cut away, I won't be mad at you,” he said. And when the Academy attempted to play him off, he just kept going, screaming his thank yous loud enough to be heard over the orchestra. Gooding’s career hasn’t reached similar heights since then, and in 2022 he pleaded guilty to a harassment charge. But all these years later, it remains one of the most exuberant speeches in Oscars history.

Tilda Swinton Thanks George Clooney and His Bat-Nipples

Tilda Swinton began her 2008 Best Supporting Actress speech by admitting that her agent looked very much like an Oscar. “Truly the same shape head,” she said. “And, it has to be said, the buttocks.” She ended it by thanking her Michael Clayton costar George Clooney for “the seriousness and the dedication to your art. Seeing you climb into that rubber bat suit from Batman & Robin , the one with the nipples, every morning under your costume, on the set, off the set, hanging upside-down at lunch,” she said. “You rock, man.” For many, it was a charming introduction to an actress whose talent knows no bounds—nor, apparently, do her speeches. 

Tom Hanks Brings the Audience to Tears

In 1994, Tom Hanks won Best Actor for Philadelphia , in which he plays an attorney who faces discrimination because he is gay and has AIDS. Hanks seemed to understand the importance of this moment and used it to pay tribute to his high school drama teacher Rawley Farnsworth and his classmate John Gilkerson. “Two of the finest gay Americans, two wonderful men that I had the good fortune to be associated with, to fall under their inspiration at such a young age,” he said. “I wish my babies could have the same sort of teacher, the same sort of friends.”

Hanks then eulogized AIDS victims including Gilkerson, an actor and puppeteer who died in 1989. “The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels,” he said with tears in his eyes. “We know their names.” 

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25 iconic speeches you'll want to watch on repeat

We've compiled a list of the most moving, inspirational and unforgettable public addresses. Be prepared to laugh, cry and gasp. Here are the most iconic speeches of all time.

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From Martin Luther King to Margaret Thatcher, prepare to be moved by the most iconic speeches of all time...

1. Martin Luther King, I Have A Dream , 1963

2. Margaret Thatcher, The Lady's Not For Turning, 1980

3. Angelina Jolie , World Refugee Day, 2009

4. Winston Churchill, We Shall Fight On The Beaches, 1940

5. Barack Obama, The Audacity Of Hope, 2004

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6. President Kennedy's Inaugural Address, 1961

7. Cuba Gooding Jr, Oscars Acceptance, 1997

8. Ronald Reagan, Brandenburg Gate, 1987

9. Elizabeth Gilbert, Your Creative Genius, 2009

10. Michelle Obama at Oxford University, 2011

The First Lady gave an inspirational speech telling a group of London schoolgirls they can achieve anything and when they do, to use that power to help others. *Melts*

11. Earl Spencer, Princess Diana 's Funeral, 1997

12. Nelson Mandela, Release From Prison, 1990

13. Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Address, 2005

14. J. K. Rowling , Harvard Commencement Address, 2011

J. K. Rowling gave a speech entitled The Fringe Benefits Of Failure And The Importance Of Imagination

15. Hillary Clinton, Women In The World, 2012

16. Maya Angelou, On the Pulse of Morning, 1993

17. Malala Yousafzai, Worldwide Access To Education, 2013

Her bravery stunned the world, and this speech marked her 16th birthday. Malala urged all assembled to 'fund new teachers, schools, books and recommit to getting every girl and boy in school by December 2015'.

18. Sir Ken Robinson, Do Schools Kill Creativity?, 2006

19. Stephen Hawking, Questioning The Universe, 2008

20. Oprah Winfrey , Stanford Address, 2008

21. The Queen's Speech, 1957

Although the footage seems quaint now, at the time, it was groundbreaking. She said: 'I very much hope that this new medium will make my Christmas message more personal and direct'. Her speech included the historic quote: 'I cannot lead you into battle, I do not give you laws or administer justice but I can do something else, I can give you my heart and my devotion to these old islands.'

22. Sheryl Sandberg, Why We have Too Many Female Leaders, 2010

COO of Facebook Sheryl looks at why a smaller percentage of women than men reach the top of their professions and advises women on how to get to the top.

23. Baz Luhrmann, Everybody's Free, 1999

Baz's speech is our only speech that's spoken over a score music. Narrated by the actor Lee Perry, the song reached number one in the UK and features witty advice like 'Be kind to your knees – you'll miss them when they're gone.' So true.

24. Scarlett Johansson, DNC Speech, 2012 

25. Sally Field, Oscars Acceptance, 1985

Famously gushing, and also misinterpreted, Sally Field's emotional speech saw her utter the lines 'I can't deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!'. She was parodying a line from her role in Norma Rae for which she had one the Oscar, but it went over many people's heads and the line has been satirised in many speeches since.

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10 uplifting speeches from history that will inspire you in times of crisis

• Throughout history, leaders have made speeches that inspired millions and changed the course of history. Those speeches still inspire us today. 
• Famous speeches like Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" and Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address still resonate today. 
• Lesser-known speeches like Hillary Clinton's "Human Rights Are Women's Rights" and Nora Ephron's commencement address are considered inspirational. 
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories .

While history is no stranger to crises, there are always leaders who come forward to help usher in more hopeful times by crafting and delivering impactful speeches. 

Leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln, and Maya Angelou have all delivered speeches that inspired millions — and some even changed the course of history. 

Take a look back at some of the most famous speeches from history that still move us today. 

Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address in 1863 reminds people to honor those we have lost.

President Abraham Lincoln gave a relatively short speech at the deadliest battle site during the Civil War on November 19, 1863. Although it wasn't meant to be monumental, some call it the best speech in history. In it, Lincoln tells his people that they must remember each and every person who fought and died on the battlefield, especially because every human is created equal. 

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here," Lincoln says in the address. "It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

In 1938, Lou Gehrig gave his "Luckiest Man" that celebrated the beauty of life.

On July 4, 1938, Lou Gehrig delivered a speech at Yankee Stadium after it was revealed that the baseball player had ALS. Although he was delivering devastating news to his fans in the speech, he instead focused on everything life has to offer. 

"Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth," he said in the speech. "I have been in ballparks for 17  years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans … So I close in saying that I may have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for."

Winston Churchill delivered the "We Shall Fight on the Beaches" speech in 1940, showing the strength of the human spirit.

On June 4, 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill addressed Parliament during a particularly difficult time in World War II. Smithsonian Magazine called it "one of the most rousing and iconic addresses" of the era. In the speech, the prime minister told his people that they would fight together and use all their strength to defeat their enemies. 

"We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender," Churchill says in the famous speech . 

In 1942, Mahatma Gandhi gave his "Quit India" speech, which encouraged peaceful protests.

The day before the Quit India movement started, Mahatma Gandhi delivered an inspiring speech, on August 8, 1942 . In the speech, he told his people to resist the British government but to do so in a peaceful, organized manner. He focused on the benefits of a nonviolent uprising, which became the cornerstone of his beliefs. 

The most famous line from the speech is: "I believe that in the history of the world, there has not been a more genuinely democratic struggle for freedom than ours."

John F. Kennedy delivered "The Decision to Go to The Moon" speech in 1961, proving humans know no bounds.

On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced to Congress and the world that the US was committed to sending an American to the moon. In the inspiring speech , the president explains the ambitious goal as one of necessity. 

"Many years ago the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it. He said, 'Because it is there,'" Kennedy said in his speech. "Well, space is there, and we're going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked."

Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream Speech" in 1963 reminds people there is always something better on the horizon.

On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr., delivered what is arguably the most famous and most inspiring speech in American history. Before the historic March on Washington, King stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and addressed the 250,000 attendees, calling for the end of discrimination and racism by dreaming about a brighter future. 

"I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice," he said in the speech. "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today."

In 1993, Maya Angelou read her poem "On the Pulse of the Morning" at Bill Clinton's inauguration in an attempt to bring the global community together.

On the morning of President Bill Clinton's inauguration in 1993, poet Maya Angelou delivered a moving speech when she read out her poem "On the Pulse of the Morning." It was the first time a poem had been recited at the ceremony since 1961 . In it, Angelou touched upon topics of equality and inclusion, and she attempted to inspire the world to unite under these principles.

Part of the poem reads:

"The river sings and sings on. There is a true yearning to respond to The singing river and the wise rock. So say the Asian, the Hispanic, the Jew, The African and Native American, the Sioux, The Catholic, the Muslim, the French, the Greek, The Irish, the Rabbi, the Priest, the Sheikh, The Gay, the Straight, the Preacher, The privileged, the homeless, the teacher. They hear. They all hear The speaking of the tree."

Hillary Clinton delivered the "Human Rights Are Women's Rights" speech in 1995, saying those who are suppressed also have a voice.

As the first lady, Hillary Clinton attended the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. She was pressured to water down her message, but instead, she delivered a moving speech that still resonates today. In it, she said women who are held back by sexist governments should be set free and heard. 

"If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights once and for all," Clinton said in the speech. "Let us not forget that among those rights are the right to speak freely — and the right to be heard."

Nora Ephron encouraged people to break the rules in her commencement address to Wellesley College in 1996.

While Nora Ephron is known for penning some of the most famous films in the '80s and '90s, she also made a legendary speech at the 1996 Wellesley College graduation ceremony . In it, she inspired women to break free of the mold placed on them. 

"Whatever you choose, however many roads you travel, I hope that you choose not to be a lady. I hope you will find some way to break the rules and make a little trouble out there," Ephron said in the speech. "And I also hope you will choose to make some of that trouble on behalf of women."

She also said, "Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim."

In 1977, Harvey Milk gave his "Give Them Hope" speech, urging people to celebrate their differences and to hold on to messages of hope.

When he was running for local office in California, Harvey Milk delivered his "Give Them Hope" remarks as a stump speech . It was meant to rally supporters behind him, but it quickly became a speech of hope and celebration for the LGBT community. 

"And the young gay people in Altoona, Pennsylvanias, and the Richmond, Minnesotas, who are coming out and hear Anita Bryant on television and her story. The only thing they have to look forward to is hope. And you have to give them hope," Milk said in his speech . "Hope for a better world, hope for a better tomorrow, hope for a better place to come to if the pressures at home are too great. Hope that all will be all right. Without hope, not only are the gays, but the blacks, the seniors, the handicapped, the 'us-es.' The 'us-es' will give up."

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• Main content

The 21 greatest graduation speeches of the last 60 years

By german lopez on may 11, 2016.

Graduation speeches are the last opportunity for a high school or college to educate its students. It's unsurprising, then, that these institutions often pull in some of the world's most powerful people to leave an equally powerful impression on their students. Here are the best of those speeches and some of the sections that resonate the most.

David Foster Wallace at Kenyon College, 2005

Jamie Sullivan

“There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, 'Morning, boys. How's the water?' And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, 'What the hell is water?' This is a standard requirement of US commencement speeches: the deployment of didactic little parable-ish stories. The story thing turns out to be one of the better, less bulshitty conventions of the genre, but if you're worried that I plan to present myself here as the wise, older fish explaining what water is to you younger fish, please don't be. I am not the wise old fish.”

Steve Jobs at Stanford University, 2005

Stanford University

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It’s life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it’s quite true. Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Ellen Degeneres at Tulane University, 2009

Tulane University

“I know that a lot of you are concerned about your future, but there’s no need to worry. The economy is booming, the job market is wide open, the planet is just fine. It’s gonna be great. You’ve already survived a hurricane. What else can happen to you? And as I mentioned before, some of the most devastating things that happen to you will teach you the most. And now you know the right questions to ask for your first job interview — like, ‘Is it above sea level?’ So to conclude my conclusion that I’ve previously concluded in the common cement speech, I guess what I’m trying to say is life is like one big Mardi Gras. But instead of showing your boobs, show people your brain. And if they like what they see, you’ll have more beads than you know what to do with. And you’ll be drunk most of the time.”

Conan O'Brien at Dartmouth College, 2011

“Way back in the 1940s there was a very, very funny man named Jack Benny. He was a giant star and easily one of the greatest comedians of his generation. And a much younger man named Johnny Carson wanted very much to be Jack Benny. In some ways he was, but in many ways he wasn’t. He emulated Jack Benny, but his own quirks and mannerisms, along with a changing medium, pulled him in a different direction. And yet his failure to completely become his hero made him the funniest person of his generation. David Letterman wanted to be Johnny Carson, and was not, and as a result my generation of comedians wanted to be David Letterman. And none of us are — my peers and I have all missed that mark in a thousand different ways. But the point is this: it is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique. It’s not easy, but if you accept your misfortune and handle it right, your perceived failure can be a catalyst for profound reinvention.”

Carol Bartz at University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2012

University of Wisconsin-Madison

“Accept failure and learn from it. Failure is part of life, it’s part of every career, and you have to know how to take advantage of it. The single greatest strength that this country has via Silicon Valley is that failure is seen as a sign of experience. Failure is part of work, it’s part of life. People are willing to take risks on the way to innovation. One of my fondest sayings is fail, fast, forward. Recognize you’ve failed, try to do it fast, learn from it, build on it, and move forward. Embrace failure, have it be part of your persona. You’re going to have long careers, as I’ve already told you, you’re going to have many failures — personal, business, professional. I’ve had my share. But just use this as a building block to your next success.”

President John F. Kennedy at American University, 1963

“Genuine peace must be the product of many nations, the sum of many acts. It must be dynamic, not static, changing to meet the challenge of each new generation. For peace is a process — a way of solving problems. With such a peace, there will still be quarrels and conflicting interests, as there are within families and nations. World peace, like community peace, does not require that each man love his neighbor — it requires only that they live together in mutual tolerance, submitting their disputes to a just and peaceful settlement.”

David McCullough Jr. at Wellesley High School, 2012

Wellesley High School

“Like accolades ought to be, the fulfilled life is a consequence — a gratifying byproduct. It’s what happens when you’re thinking about more important things. Climb the mountain not to plant your flag but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air, and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you. Go to Paris to be in Paris, not to cross it off your list and congratulate yourself for being worldly. Exercise free will and creative independent thought not for the satisfactions they will bring you but for the good they will do others — the rest of the 6.8 billion and those who will follow them. And then you too will discover the great and curious truth of the human experience is that selflessness is the best thing you can do for yourself. The sweetest joys of life, then, come only with the recognition that you’re not special, because everyone is.”

Stephen Colbert at Northwestern University, 2011

Joshua Sherman

“You have been told to follow your dreams, but what if it’s a stupid dream? For instance, Stephen Colbert of 25 years ago lived at 2015 North Ridge with two men and three women in what I now know was a brothel. He dreamed of living alone — well, alone with his beard in a large, barren loft apartment, lots of blonde wood, wearing a kimono, with a futon on the floor and a Samovar of tea constantly bubbling in the background, doing Shakespeare in the street for homeless people. Today, I am a beardless, suburban dad who lives in a house, wears no iron khakis, and makes Anthony Weiner jokes for a living. And I love it, because thankfully dreams can change. If we’d all stuck with our first dream, the world would be overrun with cowboys and princesses. So whatever your dream is right now, if you don’t achieve it, you haven’t failed, and you’re not some loser. But just as importantly — and this is the part I may not get right and you may not listen to — if you do get your dream, you are not a winner.”

Sheryl Sandberg at Harvard Business School, 2012

Harvard Business School

“I sat down with Eric Schmidt, who had just become the CEO [of Google], and I showed him the spreadsheet and I said, this job meets none of my criteria. He put his hand on my sheet and he looked at me and said, ‘Don’t be an idiot.’ Excellent career advice. And then he said, ‘Get on a rocketship. When companies are growing quickly and having a lot of impact, careers take care of themselves. And when companies aren’t growing quickly or their missions don’t matter as much, that’s when stagnation and politics come in. If you’re offered a seat on a rocketship, don’t ask what seat. Just get on.’”

Michael Lewis at Princeton University, 2012

Princeton University

“In a general sort of way you’ve been appointed leader of the group. Your appointment may not be entirely arbitrary. But you must sense right now its arbitrary aspect: you are the lucky few. Lucky in your parents, lucky in your country, lucky that a place like Princeton exists that can take in lucky people, introduce them to other lucky people, and increase their chances of becoming even luckier. Lucky that you live in the richest society the world has ever seen, in a time when no one actually expects you to sacrifice your interest to anything. All of you have been faced with the extra cookie. All of you will be faced with many more of them. In time you will find it easy to assume that you deserve the extra cookie. For all I know, you may deserve the extra cookie. But you will be happier, and you will be better off, if you at least pretend that you don't.”

Jon Stewart at the College of William & Mary, 2004

College of William & Mary

“Lets talk about the real world for a moment. ... I don’t really know to put this, so I’ll be blunt: we broke it. Please don’t be mad. I know we were supposed to bequeath to the next generation a world better than the one we were handed. So, sorry. I don’t know if you’ve been following the news lately, but it just kinda got away from us. Somewhere between the gold rush of easy internet profits and an arrogant sense of endless empire, we heard kind of a pinging noise, and then the damn thing just died on us. So I apologize. But here’s the good news: you fix this thing, you’re the next greatest generation, people.”

Oprah Winfrey at Spelman College, 2012

Spelman College

“You must have some kind of vision for your life, even if you don’t know the plan. You have to have a direction in which you choose to go. I never was the kind of woman who liked to get in a car and just go for a ride. I had a boyfriend that would say, ‘Let’s just go for a ride.’ I want to know where are we going. Do we have a destination? Is there a plan? Are we just riding? What I’ve learned is that’s a great metaphor for life. You want to be in the driver’s seat of your own life, because if you’re not, life will drive you.”

Neil Gaiman at the University of the Arts, 2012

Lennie Alzate

“The moment that you feel that, just possibly, you’re walking down the street naked, exposing too much of your heart and your mind and what exists on the inside, showing too much of yourself, that’s the moment you may be starting to get it right. The things I’ve done that worked the best were the things I was the least certain about, the stories where I was sure they would either work or more likely be the kinds of embarrassing failures that people would gather together and discuss until the end of time. They always had that in common. Looking back at them, people explain why they were inevitable successes. And while I was doing them, I had no idea. I still don’t. And where would be the fun in making something you knew was going to work? And sometimes the things I did really didn’t work. There are stories of mine that have never been reprinted. Some of them never even left the house. But I learned as much from them as I did from the things that worked.”

George Saunders at Syracuse University's College of Arts and Sciences, 2013

Syracuse University's College of Arts and Sciences

“Seek out the most efficacious anti-selfishness medicines energetically for the rest of your life. And do all the other things of course, the ambitious things: travel, get rich, get famous, innovate, lead, fall in love, make and lose fortunes, swim naked in a wild jungle river — after first testing it for monkey poop. But as you do, to the extent that you can, err in the direction of kindness. Do those things that incline you toward the big questions, and avoid the things that would reduce you and make you trivial. That luminous part of you that exists beyond personality — your soul, if you will — is as bright and shining as any that has ever been. Bright as Shakespeare’s, bright as Gandhi’s, bright as Mother Teresa’s. Clear away everything that keeps you separate from this secret luminous place. Believe it exists, come to know it better, nurture it, share its fruits tirelessly.”

Nora Ephron at Wellesley College, 1996

Wellesley College

“So what are you going to do? This is the season when a clutch of successful women who have it all get up and give speeches to women like you and say, ‘To be perfectly honest, you can’t have it all.’ Well, maybe young women don’t wonder whether they can have it all any longer, but in case any of you are wondering, of course you can have it all. What are you going to do? Everything is my guess. It will be a little messy, but embrace the mess. It will be complicated, but rejoice in the complications. It will not be anything like what you think it’s going to be like, but surprises are good for you. And don't be frightened. You can always change your mind. I know. I've had four careers and three husbands. And this is something else I want to tell you, one of the hundreds of things I didn’t know when I was sitting here so many years ago: you are not going to be you, fixed and immutable you, forever.”

Aaron Sorkin at Syracuse University, 2012

Syracuse University

“Decisions are made by those who show up. Don't ever forget that you're a citizen of this world. Don't ever forget that you’re a citizen of this world, and there are things you can do to lift the human spirit, things that are easy, things that are free, things that you can do every day: civility, respect, kindness, character. You’re too good for schadenfreude, you’re too good for gossip and snark, you’re too good for intolerance — and since you're walking into the middle of a presidential election, it’s worth mentioning that you’re too good to think people who disagree with you are your enemy. … Don’t ever forget that a small group of thoughtful people can change the world. It’s the only thing that ever has.”

Barbara Kingsolver at DePauw University, 1994

DePauw University

“It’s not up to you to save the world. That’s the job of every living person who likes the idea of a future. But I’m going to go out on a limb here and give you one little piece of advice, and that is, like the idea of a future. Believe you have it in you to make the world look better rather than worse seven generations from now. Figure out what that could look like. And then if you’re lucky, you’ll find a way to live inside that hope, running down its hallways, touching the walls on both sides.”

Jane Lynch at Smith College, 2012

Smith College

“My counsel to you, women of Smith College: let life surprise you. Don’t have a plan. Plans are for wusses. If my life went according to my plan, I would never ever have the life I have today. Now, you are obviously good planners, or you wouldn’t be here. So stop it! Stop it now! Don’t deprive yourself of the exciting journey your life can be when you relinquish the need to have goals and a blueprint.”

Bill Gates at Harvard University, 2007

Harvard University

“In line with the promise of this age, I want to exhort each of the graduates here to take on an issue — a complex problem, a deep inequity, and become a specialist on it. If you make it the focus of your career, that would be phenomenal. But you don’t have to do that to make an impact. For a few hours every week, you can use the growing power of the internet to get informed, find others with the same interests, see the barriers, and find ways to cut through them. Don’t let complexity stop you. Be activists. Take on big inequities. I feel sure it will be one of the great experiences of your lives.”

Eugene Mirman at Lexington High School, 2009

Eugene Mirman

“What’s the worst grade you’ve ever gotten? A D? An F? When I was in eighth grade in Diamond Middle School on a homework assignment — this is true — I once got a -8. Sadly very true. I did my assignment worse than not doing it. But did I let getting a grade lower than the lowest possible grade stop me? No. I was put into resource room in special education, and I turned my F into a D. So you see sometimes you can fail, then barely pass, and then become a comedian.”

Michelle Obama at Spelman College, 2011

“Some of you may have grown up like me, in neighborhoods where few had the chance to go to college, where being teased for doing well in school was a fact of life, where well-meaning but misguided folks questioned whether a girl with my background could get into a school like Princeton. Sometimes I’d save them the trouble and raised the questions myself, in my own head, lying awake at night, doubting whether I had what it took to succeed. And the truth is that there will always be folks out there who make assumptions about others. There will always be folks who try to raise themselves up by cutting other people down. That happens to everyone, including me, throughout their lives. But when that happens to you all, here’s what I want you to do: I want you to just stop a minute, take a deep breath — because it’s going to need to be deep — and I want you to think about all those women who came before you.”

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• Designer: Uy Tieu
• Developer Yuri Victor
• Special Thanks Chao Li

Influencer Marketing | 7 min read

8 Memorable Celebrity Commencement Speeches

Written By Dale David

Published on may 08, 2023.

Caption: Photo courtesy of Glamour

Ladies and gentlemen, we’re pretty sure that’s how the tradition of graduation speeches came to be. 

Some of the world’s best speakers are actually—you guessed it— your favourite celebrities .

Check out eight of the most memorable celebrity commencement speeches below!

• Taylor Swift
• Stephen Curry  
• Arianna Huffington
• Tim McGraw 
• Barack Obama
• LeBron James
• John Legend  

1. Taylor Swift

At New York University’s Class of 2022 commencement exercises held at the Yankee Stadium, Taylor Swift was honoured with an honorary doctorate in fine arts . She also took the stage to deliver one of the best commencement speeches of all time. 

The world knows all too well just how witty Doctor Taylor Swift can be. Whether it’s a hit song that tops the Billboard charts or a celebrity graduation speech, her words are never less than thought-provoking—and the cheers from the packed stadiums are always at full volume.

Memorable Moments:

• “…Life can be heavy, especially if you try to carry it all at once. Part of growing up and moving into new chapters of your life is about catch and release. What I mean by that is, knowing what things to keep and what things to release. You can’t carry all things, all grudges, all updates on your ex, all enviable promotions your school bully got at the hedge fund his uncle started. Decide what is yours to hold and let the rest go. Oftentimes the good things in your life are lighter anyway, so there’s more room for them. One toxic relationship can outweigh so many wonderful, simple joys. You get to pick what your life has time and room for. Be discerning.”
• “My experience has been that my mistakes led to the best things in my life. And being embarrassed when you mess up is part of the human experience. Getting back up, dusting yourself off and seeing who still wants to hang out with you afterward and laugh about it? That’s a gift. The times I was told no or wasn’t included, wasn’t chosen, didn’t win, didn’t make the cut…looking back, it really feels like those moments were as important, if not more crucial, than the moments I was told ‘yes.”
• “As long as we are fortunate enough to be breathing, we will breathe in, breathe through, breathe deep, breathe out. And I’m a doctor now, so I know how breathing works. I hope you know how proud I am to share this day with you. We’re doing this together. So let’s just keep dancing like we’re… … the class of ’22.”

BTS isn’t just the biggest band on the planet, they’re also influential youth ambassadors (and presidential favourites!). The South Korean President appointed the band as diplomats and “ special presidential envoys for future generations and culture .” Even world leaders a few oceans away from their home country also recognize just how much of an impact they have— President Biden invited them to speak at the White House’s anti-Asian hate summit . 

Throughout their career, they have always managed to move the youth with their inspiring messages—and their appearance at YouTube’s Dear Class of 2020 event was no exception! It’s a celebrity graduation speech that will live in your head rent-free. 

• BTS’ Jin: “My memory of graduation is a little different. It was before my debut as BTS. I was around 20, just a high school graduate going into university. Back then, the notion of becoming an adult was something quite scary. Anxious about making my way into an unfamiliar world, I was cautious about everything I said or did. Sometimes, I’d feel restless, watching my friends go on far ahead of me, and attempting to keep up with their speed would only leave me breathless. I soon realized that their pace was not my own. What held me together during these times was a promise I made with myself to ‘take it slow.’ I’d go at my own pace, steadily. From then on, it became a habit of mine to take extra time for myself. For instance, when learning choreography, I begin practice days earlier than the others. If any of you feels lost in the face of uncertainty, or the pressure of starting anew, don’t rush. Take a deep breath. You may find that any moment can be turned into opportunity. Allow yourself to take it easy. Take it one step at a time. You might discover the important things you were missing, and they will reach out to you.”
• BTS’ Suga: “This might not be the grand finale that you had imagined, and a fresh start might seem far away. But I wish to tell you: Please don’t be afraid, don’t worry yourself. The end and beginning, beginning and end are connected. There are some things you can only do in isolation, such as focusing only on myself and breaking my own barriers. One small person can dream the biggest dream, paint the largest picture, and make endless possibilities come true. When we meet again, I look forward to seeing your dream, your picture, and your endless possibilities out in this world. Take your hands off what you can’t control, and get your hands on what you can change. As you and I continue on in life, we will find ourselves in so many situations out of our grasp. The only thing we can control is ourselves. Get your hands on the changes you can make, because your possibilities are limitless. After all, I also had no idea I would become BTS either.”

3. Stephen Curry

As a Golden State Warrior and NBA All-Star Game MVP of 2022 , Stephen Curry is no stranger to the champion life—and he championed the class of 2020 during the height of the pandemic with his celebrity commencement speech at Chase’s #ShowMeYourWalk event!

• “I’m grateful for this opportunity to congratulate you, the undefeated class of 2020…You are my kind of people; you know that. You’re record-setting, history-making, and you show up to win, even in the greatest of adversity. You follow through on the promises to yourself. You adapt. You create. You inspire, and you continue to dream big and hope.”
• “We are here today to celebrate because we believe the work that you’ve done should be celebrated, no matter what’s going on right now.”
• This commencement honors the early mornings that turned into late nights, the grind every single day to better yourself, and every single moment of sacrifice that you’ve gone through.”

4. Arianna Huffington

As an award-winning author and the co-founder of The Huffington Post , you can count on it that Arianna Huffington has a magical way with words. Her celebrity graduation speech at Smith College ’s 2013 commencement ceremony can only be defined with one word: #Preach.

• “Commencement speakers are traditionally expected to tell graduates how to go out there and climb the ladder of success, but I want to ask you, instead, to redefine success. Because the world you are headed into desperately needs it. And because you are up to it. Your education at Smith has made it unequivocally clear that you are entitled to take your place in the world on equal footing, in every field, and at the top of every field. But what I urge you to do is not just take your place at the top of the world, but to change the world.” 

5. Will Ferrell

He’s one of the most famous comedians of all time and a total pro at giving celebrity commencement speeches . Will Ferrell’s commencement address in 2017 was an absolute smash hit, connecting with the graduating class of his own alma mater, the University of Southern California.

• “To those of you graduates sitting out there who have a pretty good idea of what you’d like to do with your life, congratulations. For many of you who maybe don’t have it all figured out, it’s okay. That’s the same chair that I sat in. Enjoy the process of your search without succumbing to the pressure of the result.”
• “Trust your gut, keep throwing darts at the dartboard. Don’t listen to the critics – and you will figure it out.”

6. Barack Obama

When have the graduation speeches of the 44th President of the United States ever not resonated with his audiences? During the “ Graduate Together: America Honors the High School Class of 2020 ” television broadcast, Barack Obama challenged everyone to “set the world on a different path.” 

• “This pandemic has shaken up the status quo, laid bare a lot of our country’s, deep-seated problems, from massive economic inequality, to ongoing racial disparities, to a lack of basic healthcare for people who need it. It’s woken a lot of young people up to the fact that the old ways of doing things just don’t work. That it doesn’t matter how much money you make if everyone around you is hungry and sick, and that our society are not democracy only work when we think not just about ourselves but about each other. It’s also pulled the curtain back on another hard truth, something that we all have to eventually accept once our childhood comes to an end. You know all those adults that used to think [they were] in charge or knew what they were doing? Turns out they don’t have all the answers. A lot of them aren’t even asking the right questions. So if the world’s going to get better, it’s going to be up to you.”

7. LeBron James

The star-studded “ Graduate Together: America Honors the High School Class of 2020 ” event was a treasure trove for memorable celebrity commencement speeches—and 18-time NBA All-Star, LeBron James was the host of this TV special. 

• “And now it is time to go to a new place. It is time to chase every dream, accept every challenge, strive for greatness, honor every promise, and recommit to your community. I know that’s the last thing you want to think about right now in a place you’ve been sitting in for the last two months, really, I mean, the last 18 years for you guys, but it’s the truth. The community needs you. And when I say to the community, I mean your rec league, your church, your youth group, and most of all, your school. They need you. Most importantly, building your community is how you change the world.”

8. John Legend

At Duke University’s 2021 commencement ceremony, award-winning musician John Legend gave one of the most legendary celebrity graduation speeches that encouraged everyone to embrace our shared humanity. 

• “When you feel lost in this tangled web of problems, know that in truth, the way out of it is simple. Instinctual, really. It’s LOVE. Love should be your North Star. Let it guide you. Maybe this sounds more like song lyrics than a serious point. But I believe it with every fiber of my being. Think about what it actually means to let yourself feel and show love for your neighbors. It means being curious about their lives. Genuinely wanting the best for them. Investing in their success. And once we recognize our interdependence—our mutuality—it’s clear that love is precisely what our society needs: To take care of and look out for each other. There are nearly 8 billion people on the planet: 8 billion strangers. What does it mean to love people we don’t know? It means letting go of fear and embracing our shared humanity.”

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Perfect Your PPC Marketing Strategy Paid Search Checklist

1. define your goals.

Are you aiming to increase web traffic or grow your social media presence? Figure out why you’re leveraging paid media in the first place and build your strategy from there. Having clearly defined goals in mind will help you focus on your brand’s key priorities.

2. Outline a TOFU/MOFU/BOFU Strategy

Designing strategies that cater to all three stages of the buyer journey ensures that you’re maximizing your brand’s reach. Every user at every stage is valuable—and you have to make sure you’re creating paid media content that speaks to each audience type.

3. Research Keywords for Search

Effective paid media is tied to targeting the right keywords. If you’re leveraging paid search ads to appear on SERPs (search engine results pages), then in-depth research is necessary. Bid on the keywords that are most relevant to your business to trigger only the most effective ad appearances.

4. Craft Engaging Ad Copy & Stand-Out Creative

Gather your team—because it’s time to start coming up with ad copy that wins attention. The key is to resonate with your audience and inspire engagement. Be real. Be relatable. And most importantly, don’t underestimate the power of creativity.

5. Create Conversion-Friendly Landing Pages

Do the landing pages on your website effectively push visitors further down the sales funnel? If not, you’re letting potential customers slip through your fingers. Optimize each of your landing pages so that they nudge users towards converting.

6. Choose Your Paid Platforms

The options are plenty when it comes to paid advertising, including Google, Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, Microsoft, and Pinterest among others. Analyze who your target demographic is, research where it’s best to connect with them, and then target the platforms where you wish to build awareness.

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If you’re ready to build your paid media ad campaign, you’ll find that it will be further broken down into “ad groups” to ensure more effective pay-per-click advertising. These ad groups house one or more ads that have similar targets or categories. Let’s say your brand’s website features categories such as clothing, shoes, and accessories. Creating ad groups according to keywords that fall under these categories will help the PPC system decide when to show ads for these products.

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Retargeting ads are bound to succeed because it’s a second shot at a conversion. Visitors have shown interest in the product/service once before, and sometimes all it takes is a little reminder to push them to the checkout page. So don’t forget to retarget and aim better this time.

9. Run A/B Tests

In the world of paid media, what works and what doesn’t? You’ll have to run A/B tests to find out! Whether you’re testing which keywords bring more traffic or which social platforms earn more ad engagement, you won’t find out what really works for your brand until you test it.

10. Track Your Results

Revisit your initial goals. Did your efforts bring about the results you expected? Tracking results is an essential step in your brand’s paid advertising campaigns. The data you collect from currently running ads will help lay the foundation for your future campaigns.

11. Adjust as Needed

After tracking your results, you’ll be able to see where adjustments are necessary. There’s always room for improvement, so keep striving to consistently resonate and build trust with your audience—it’s how to create paid ads that pay off.

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40 famous persuasive speeches you need to hear.

Written by Kai Xin Koh

Across eras of calamity and peace in our world’s history, a great many leaders, writers, politicians, theorists, scientists, activists and other revolutionaries have unveiled powerful rousing speeches in their bids for change. In reviewing the plethora of orators across tides of social, political and economic change, we found some truly rousing speeches that brought the world to their feet or to a startling, necessary halt. We’ve chosen 40 of the most impactful speeches we managed to find from agents of change all over the world – a diversity of political campaigns, genders, positionalities and periods of history. You’re sure to find at least a few speeches in this list which will capture you with the sheer power of their words and meaning!

1. I have a dream by MLK

“I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification – one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. This will be the day, this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning “My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my father’s died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!”

Unsurprisingly, Martin Luther King’s speech comes up top as the most inspiring speech of all time, especially given the harrowing conditions of African Americans in America at the time. In the post-abolition era when slavery was outlawed constitutionally, African Americans experienced an intense period of backlash from white supremacists who supported slavery where various institutional means were sought to subordinate African American people to positions similar to that of the slavery era. This later came to be known as the times of Jim Crow and segregation, which Martin Luther King powerfully voiced his vision for a day when racial discrimination would be a mere figment, where equality would reign.

2. Tilbury Speech by Queen Elizabeth I

“My loving people, We have been persuaded by some that are careful of our safety, to take heed how we commit our selves to armed multitudes, for fear of treachery; but I assure you I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear. I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good-will of my subjects; and therefore I am come amongst you, as you see, at this time, not for my recreation and disport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live and die amongst you all; to lay down for my God, and for my kingdom, and my people, my honour and my blood, even in the dust. I know I have the body of a weak, feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm; to which rather than any dishonour shall grow by me, I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field. I know already, for your forwardness you have deserved rewards and crowns; and We do assure you on a word of a prince, they shall be duly paid. In the mean time, my lieutenant general shall be in my stead, than whom never prince commanded a more noble or worthy subject; not doubting but by your obedience to my general, by your concord in the camp, and your valour in the field, we shall shortly have a famous victory over these enemies of my God, of my kingdom, and of my people.”

While at war with Spain, Queen Elizabeth I was most renowned for her noble speech rallying the English troops against their comparatively formidable opponent. Using brilliant rhetorical devices like metonymy, meronymy, and other potent metaphors, she voiced her deeply-held commitment as a leader to the battle against the Spanish Armada – convincing the English army to keep holding their ground and upholding the sacrifice of war for the good of their people. Eventually against all odds, she led England to victory despite their underdog status in the conflict with her confident and masterful oratory.

3. Woodrow Wilson, address to Congress (April 2, 1917)

“The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have been made as secure as the faith and the freedom of nations can make them. Just because we fight without rancor and without selfish object, seeking nothing for ourselves but what we shall wish to share with all free peoples, we shall, I feel confident, conduct our operations as belligerents without passion and ourselves observe with proud punctilio the principles of right and of fair play we profess to be fighting for. … It will be all the easier for us to conduct ourselves as belligerents in a high spirit of right and fairness because we act without animus, not in enmity toward a people or with the desire to bring any injury or disadvantage upon them, but only in armed opposition to an irresponsible government which has thrown aside all considerations of humanity and of right and is running amuck. We are, let me say again, the sincere friends of the German people, and shall desire nothing so much as the early reestablishment of intimate relations of mutual advantage between us—however hard it may be for them, for the time being, to believe that this is spoken from our hearts. We have borne with their present government through all these bitter months because of that friendship—exercising a patience and forbearance which would otherwise have been impossible. We shall, happily, still have an opportunity to prove that friendship in our daily attitude and actions toward the millions of men and women of German birth and native sympathy who live among us and share our life, and we shall be proud to prove it toward all who are in fact loyal to their neighbors and to the government in the hour of test. They are, most of them, as true and loyal Americans as if they had never known any other fealty or allegiance. They will be prompt to stand with us in rebuking and restraining the few who may be of a different mind and purpose. If there should be disloyalty, it will be dealt with with a firm hand of stern repression; but, if it lifts its head at all, it will lift it only here and there and without countenance except from a lawless and malignant few. It is a distressing and oppressive duty, gentlemen of the Congress, which I have performed in thus addressing you. There are, it may be, many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance. But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts—for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free. To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those who know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and happiness and the peace which she has treasured. God helping her, she can do no other.”

On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson of the USA delivered his address to Congress, calling for declaration of war against what was at the time, a belligerent and aggressive Germany in WWI. Despite his isolationism and anti-war position earlier in his tenure as president, he convinced Congress that America had a moral duty to the world to step out of their neutral observer status into an active role of world leadership and stewardship in order to liberate attacked nations from their German aggressors. The idealistic values he preached in his speech left an indelible imprint upon the American spirit and self-conception, forming the moral basis for the country’s people and aspirational visions to this very day.

4. Ain’t I A Woman by Sojourner Truth

“That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman? … If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back , and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.”

Hailing from a background of slavery and oppression, Sojourner Truth was one of the most revolutionary advocates for women’s human rights in the 1800s. In spite of the New York Anti-Slavery Law of 1827, her slavemaster refused to free her. As such, she fled, became an itinerant preacher and leading figure in the anti-slavery movement. By the 1850s, she became involved in the women’s rights movement as well. At the 1851 Women’s Rights Convention held in Akron, Ohio, she delivered her illuminating, forceful speech against discrimination of women and African Americans in the post-Civil War era, entrenching her status as one of the most revolutionary abolitionists and women’s rights activists across history.

5. The Gettsyburg Address by Abraham Lincoln

“Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

President Abraham Lincoln had left the most lasting legacy upon American history for good reason, as one of the presidents with the moral courage to denounce slavery for the national atrocity it was. However, more difficult than standing up for the anti-slavery cause was the task of unifying the country post-abolition despite the looming shadows of a time when white Americans could own and subjugate slaves with impunity over the thousands of Americans who stood for liberation of African Americans from discrimination. He urged Americans to remember their common roots, heritage and the importance of “charity for all”, to ensure a “just and lasting peace” among within the country despite throes of racial division and self-determination.

6. Woman’s Rights to the Suffrage by Susan B Anthony

“For any State to make sex a qualification that must ever result in the disfranchisement of one entire half of the people is to pass a bill of attainder, or an ex post facto law, and is therefore a violation of the supreme law of the land. By it the blessings of liberty are for ever withheld from women and their female posterity. To them this government has no just powers derived from the consent of the governed. To them this government is not a democracy. It is not a republic. It is an odious aristocracy; a hateful oligarchy of sex; the most hateful aristocracy ever established on the face of the globe; an oligarchy of wealth, where the right govern the poor. An oligarchy of learning, where the educated govern the ignorant, or even an oligarchy of race, where the Saxon rules the African, might be endured; but this oligarchy of sex, which makes father, brothers, husband, sons, the oligarchs over the mother and sisters, the wife and daughters of every household–which ordains all men sovereigns, all women subjects, carries dissension, discord and rebellion into every home of the nation. Webster, Worcester and Bouvier all define a citizen to be a person in the United States, entitled to vote and hold office. The only question left to be settled now is: Are women persons? And I hardly believe any of our opponents will have the hardihood to say they are not. Being persons, then, women are citizens; and no State has a right to make any law, or to enforce any old law, that shall abridge their privileges or immunities. Hence, every discrimination against women in the constitutions and laws of the several States is today null and void, precisely as in every one against Negroes.”

Susan B. Anthony was a pivotal leader in the women’s suffrage movement who helped to found the National Woman Suffrage Association with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and fight for the constitutional right for women to vote. She courageously and relentlessly advocated for women’s rights, giving speeches all over the USA to convince people of women’s human rights to choice and the ballot. She is most well known for her act of righteous rebellion in 1872 when she voted in the presidential election illegally, for which she was arrested and tried unsuccessfully. She refused to pay the $100 fine in a bid to reject the demands of the American system she denounced as a ‘hateful oligarchy of sex’, sparking change with her righteous oratory and inspiring many others in the women’s suffrage movement within and beyond America.

7. Vladimir Lenin’s Speech at an International Meeting in Berne, February 8, 1916

“It may sound incredible, especially to Swiss comrades, but it is nevertheless true that in Russia, also, not only bloody tsarism, not only the capitalists, but also a section of the so-called or ex-Socialists say that Russia is fighting a “war of defence,” that Russia is only fighting against German invasion. The whole world knows, however, that for decades tsarism has been oppressing more than a hundred million people belonging to other nationalities in Russia; that for decades Russia has been pursuing a predatory policy towards China, Persia, Armenia and Galicia. Neither Russia, nor Germany, nor any other Great Power has the right to claim that it is waging a “war of defence”; all the Great Powers are waging an imperialist, capitalist war, a predatory war, a war for the oppression of small and foreign nations, a war for the sake of the profits of the capitalists, who are coining golden profits amounting to billions out of the appalling sufferings of the masses, out of the blood of the proletariat. … This again shows you, comrades, that in all countries of the world real preparations are being made to rally the forces of the working class. The horrors of war and the sufferings of the people are incredible. But we must not, and we have no reason whatever, to view the future with despair. The millions of victims who will fall in the war, and as a consequence of the war, will not fall in vain. The millions who are starving, the millions who are sacrificing their lives in the trenches, are not only suffering, they are also gathering strength, are pondering over the real cause of the war, are becoming more determined and are acquiring a clearer revolutionary understanding. Rising discontent of the masses, growing ferment, strikes, demonstrations, protests against the war—all this is taking place in all countries of the world. And this is the guarantee that the European War will be followed by the proletarian revolution against capitalism”

Vladimir Lenin remains to this day one of the most lauded communist revolutionaries in the world who brought the dangers of imperialism and capitalism to light with his rousing speeches condemning capitalist structures of power which inevitably enslave people to lives of misery and class stratification. In his genuine passion for the rights of the working class, he urged fellow comrades to turn the “imperialist war” into a “civil” or class war of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie. He encouraged the development of new revolutionary socialist organisations, solidarity across places in society so people could unite against their capitalist overlords, and criticised nationalism for its divisive effect on the socialist movement. In this speech especially, he lambasts “bloody Tsarism” for its oppression of millions of people of other nationalities in Russia, calling for the working class people to revolt against the Tsarist authority for the proletariat revolution to succeed and liberate them from class oppression.

8. I Have A Dream Speech by Mary Wollstonecraft

“If, I say, for I would not impress by declamation when Reason offers her sober light, if they be really capable of acting like rational creatures, let them not be treated like slaves; or, like the brutes who are dependent on the reason of man, when they associate with him; but cultivate their minds, give them the salutary, sublime curb of principle, and let them attain conscious dignity by feeling themselves only dependent on God. Teach them, in common with man, to submit to necessity, instead of giving, to render them more pleasing, a sex to morals. Further, should experience prove that they cannot attain the same degree of strength of mind, perseverance, and fortitude, let their virtues be the same in kind, though they may vainly struggle for the same degree; and the superiority of man will be equally clear, if not clearer; and truth, as it is a simple principle, which admits of no modification, would be common to both. Nay, the order of society as it is at present regulated would not be inverted, for woman would then only have the rank that reason assigned her, and arts could not be practised to bring the balance even, much less to turn it.”

In her vindication of the rights of women, Mary Wollstonecraft was one of the pioneers of the feminist movement back in 1792 who not only theorised and advocated revolutionarily, but gave speeches that voiced these challenges against a dominantly sexist society intent on classifying women as irrational less-than-human creatures to be enslaved as they were. In this landmark speech, she pronounces her ‘dream’ of a day when women would be treated as the rational, deserving humans they are, who are equal to man in strength and capability. With this speech setting an effective precedent for her call to equalize women before the law, she also went on to champion the provision of equal educational opportunities to women and girls, and persuasively argued against the patriarchal gender norms which prevented women from finding their own lot in life through their being locked into traditional institutions of marriage and motherhood against their will.

9. First Inaugural Speech by Franklin D Roosevelt

“So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is…fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and of vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. And I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days. … More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return. Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment. Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. There are many ways in which it can be helped, but it can never be helped merely by talking about it. We must act and act quickly. … I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken Nation in the midst of a stricken world may require. These measures, or such other measures as the Congress may build out of its experience and wisdom, I shall seek, within my constitutional authority, to bring to speedy adoption. But in the event that the Congress shall fail to take one of these two courses, and in the event that the national emergency is still critical, I shall not evade the clear course of duty that will then confront me. I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis — broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.”

Roosevelt’s famous inaugural speech was delivered in the midst of a period of immense tension and strain under the Great Depression, where he highlighted the need for ‘quick action’ by Congress to prepare for government expansion in his pursuit of reforms to lift the American people out of devastating poverty. In a landslide victory, he certainly consolidated the hopes and will of the American people through this compelling speech.

10. The Hypocrisy of American Slavery by Frederick Douglass

“What to the American slave is your Fourth of July? I answer, a day that reveals to him more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mock; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy – a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation of the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour. Go search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.”

On 4 July 1852, Frederick Douglass gave this speech in Rochester, New York, highlighting the hypocrisy of celebrating freedom while slavery continues. He exposed the ‘revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy’ of slavery which had gone unabolished amidst the comparatively obscene celebration of independence and liberty with his potent speech and passion for the anti-abolition cause. After escaping from slavery, he went on to become a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York with his oratory and incisive antislavery writings. To this day, his fierce activism and devotion to exposing virulent racism for what it was has left a lasting legacy upon pro-Black social movements and the overall sociopolitical landscape of America.

11. Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

“You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I’ll rise. Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? ’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells Pumping in my living room. Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I’ll rise. Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops, Weakened by my soulful cries? Does my haughtiness offend you? Don’t you take it awful hard ’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines Diggin’ in my own backyard. You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I’ll rise. Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I’ve got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs? Out of the huts of history’s shame I rise Up from a past that’s rooted in pain I rise I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise I rise I rise.”

With her iconic poem Still I Rise , Maya Angelou is well-known for uplifting fellow African American women through her empowering novels and poetry and her work as a civil rights activist. Every bit as lyrical on the page, her recitation of Still I Rise continues to give poetry audiences shivers all over the world, inspiring women of colour everywhere to keep the good faith in striving for equality and peace, while radically believing in and empowering themselves to be agents of change. A dramatic reading of the poem will easily showcase the self-belief, strength and punch that it packs in the last stanza on the power of resisting marginalization.

12. Their Finest Hour by Winston Churchill

“What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, “This was their finest hour.””

In the darkest shadows cast by war, few leaders have been able to step up to the mantle and effectively unify millions of citizens for truly sacrificial causes. Winston Churchill was the extraordinary exception – lifting 1940 Britain out of the darkness with his hopeful, convicted rhetoric to galvanise the English amidst bleak, dreary days of war and loss. Through Britain’s standalone position in WWII against the Nazis, he left his legacy by unifying the nation under shared sacrifices of the army and commemorating their courage.

13. A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

“Life for both sexes – and I looked at them (through a restaurant window while waiting for my lunch to be served), shouldering their way along the pavement – is arduous, difficult, a perpetual struggle. It calls for gigantic courage and strength. More than anything, perhaps, creatures of illusion as we are, it calls for confidence in oneself. Without self-confidence we are babes in the cradle. And how can we generate this imponderable quality, which is yet so invaluable, most quickly? By thinking that other people are inferior to oneself. By feeling that one has some innate superiority – it may be wealth, or rank, a straight nose, or the portrait of a grandfather by Romney – for there is no end to the pathetic devices of the human imagination – over other people. Hence the enormous importance to a patriarch who has to conquer, who has to rule, of feeling that great numbers of people, half the human race indeed, are by nature inferior to himself. It must indeed be one of the great sources of his power….Women have served all these centuries as looking-glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size. Without that power probably the earth would still be swamp and jungle. The glories of all our wars would be on the remains of mutton bones and bartering flints for sheepskins or whatever simple ornament took our unsophisticated taste. Supermen and Fingers of Destiny would never have existed. The Czar and the Kaiser would never have worn their crowns or lost them. Whatever may be their use in civilised societies, mirrors are essential to all violent and heroic action. That is why Napoleon and Mussolini both insist so emphatically upon the inferiority of women, for if they were not inferior, they would cease to enlarge. That serves to explain in part the necessity that women so often are to men. And it serves to explain how restless they are under her criticism; how impossible it is for her to say to them this book is bad, this picture is feeble, or whatever it may be, without giving far more pain and rousing far more anger than a man would do who gave the same criticism. For if she begins to tell the truth, the figure in the looking-glass shrinks; his fitness in life is diminished. How is he to go on giving judgment, civilising natives, making laws, writing books, dressing up and speechifying at banquets, unless he can see himself at breakfast and at dinner at least twice the size he really is?”

In this transformational speech , Virginia Woolf pronounces her vision that ‘a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction’. She calls out the years in which women have been deprived of their own space for individual development through being chained to traditional arrangements or men’s prescriptions – demanding ‘gigantic courage’ and ‘confidence in oneself’ to brave through the onerous struggle of creating change for women’s rights. With her steadfast, stolid rhetoric and radical theorization, she paved the way for many women’s rights activists and writers to forge their own paths against patriarchal authority.

14. Inaugural Address by John F Kennedy

“In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility–I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it–and the glow from that fire can truly light the world. And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you–ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man. Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.”

For what is probably the most historically groundbreaking use of parallelism in speech across American history, President JFK placed the weighty task of ‘asking what one can do for their country’ onto the shoulders of each American citizen. Using an air of firmness in his rhetoric by declaring his commitment to his countrymen, he urges each American to do the same for the broader, noble ideal of freedom for all. With his crucial interrogation of a citizen’s moral duty to his nation, President JFK truly made history.

15. Atoms for Peace Speech by Dwight Eisenhower

“To pause there would be to confirm the hopeless finality of a belief that two atomic colossi are doomed malevolently to eye each other indefinitely across a trembling world. To stop there would be to accept helplessly the probability of civilization destroyed, the annihilation of the irreplaceable heritage of mankind handed down to us from generation to generation, and the condemnation of mankind to begin all over again the age-old struggle upward from savagery towards decency, and right, and justice. Surely no sane member of the human race could discover victory in such desolation. Could anyone wish his name to be coupled by history with such human degradation and destruction?Occasional pages of history do record the faces of the “great destroyers”, but the whole book of history reveals mankind’s never-ending quest for peace and mankind’s God-given capacity to build. It is with the book of history, and not with isolated pages, that the United States will ever wish to be identified. My country wants to be constructive,not destructive. It wants agreements, not wars, among nations. It wants itself to live in freedom and in the confidence that the peoples of every other nation enjoy equally the right of choosing their own way of life. So my country’s purpose is to help us to move out of the dark chamber of horrors into the light, to find a way by which the minds of men, the hopes of men, the souls of men everywhere, can move forward towards peace and happiness and well-being.”

On a possibility as frightful and tense as nuclear war, President Eisenhower managed to convey the gravity of the world’s plight in his measured and persuasive speech centred on the greater good of mankind. Using rhetorical devices such as the three-part paratactical syntax which most world leaders are fond of for ingraining their words in the minds of their audience, he centers the discourse of the atomic bomb on those affected by such a world-changing decision in ‘the minds, hopes and souls of men everywhere’ – effectively putting the vivid image of millions of people’s fates at stake in the minds of his audience. Being able to make a topic as heavy and fraught with moral conflict as this as eloquent as he did, Eisenhower definitely ranks among some of the most skilled orators to date.

16. The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action by Audre Lorde

“I was going to die, if not sooner then later, whether or not I had ever spoken myself. My silences had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you. But for every real word spoken, for every attempt I had ever made to speak those truths for which I am still seeking, I had made contact with other women while we examined the words to fit a world in which we all believed, bridging our differences. What are the words you do not have yet? What do you need to say? What are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and attempt to make your own, until you will sicken and die of them, still in silence? Perhaps for some of you here today, I am the face of one of your fears. Because I am a woman, because I am black, because I am myself, a black woman warrior poet doing my work, come to ask you, are you doing yours?”

Revolutionary writer, feminist and civil rights activist Audre Lorde first delivered this phenomenal speech at Lesbian and Literature panel of the Modern Language Association’s December 28, 1977 meeting, which went on to feature permanently in her writings for its sheer wisdom and truth. Her powerful writing and speech about living on the margins of society has enlightened millions of people discriminated across various intersections, confronting them with the reality that they must speak – since their ‘silence will not protect’ them from further marginalization. Through her illuminating words and oratory, she has reminded marginalized persons of the importance of their selfhood and the radical capacity for change they have in a world blighted by prejudice and division.

17. 1965 Cambridge Union Hall Speech by James Baldwin

“What is dangerous here is the turning away from – the turning away from – anything any white American says. The reason for the political hesitation, in spite of the Johnson landslide is that one has been betrayed by American politicians for so long. And I am a grown man and perhaps I can be reasoned with. I certainly hope I can be. But I don’t know, and neither does Martin Luther King, none of us know how to deal with those other people whom the white world has so long ignored, who don’t believe anything the white world says and don’t entirely believe anything I or Martin is saying. And one can’t blame them. You watch what has happened to them in less than twenty years.”

Baldwin’s invitation to the Cambridge Union Hall is best remembered for foregrounding the unflinching differences in white and African Americans’ ‘system of reality’ in everyday life. Raising uncomfortable truths about the insidious nature of racism post-civil war, he provides several nuggets of thought-provoking wisdom on the state of relations between the oppressed and their oppressors, and what is necessary to mediate such relations and destroy the exploitative thread of racist hatred. With great frankness, he admits to not having all the answers but provides hard-hitting wisdom on engagement to guide activists through confounding times nonetheless.

18. I Am Prepared to Die by Nelson Mandela

“Above all, My Lord, we want equal political rights, because without them our disabilities will be permanent. I know this sounds revolutionary to the whites in this country, because the majority of voters will be Africans. This makes the white man fear democracy. But this fear cannot be allowed to stand in the way of the only solution which will guarantee racial harmony and freedom for all. It is not true that the enfranchisement of all will result in racial domination. Political division, based on colour, is entirely artificial and, when it disappears, so will the domination of one colour group by another. The ANC has spent half a century fighting against racialism. When it triumphs as it certainly must, it will not change that policy. This then is what the ANC is fighting. Our struggle is a truly national one. It is a struggle of the African people, inspired by our own suffering and our own experience. It is a struggle for the right to live. During my lifetime I have dedicated my life to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal for which I hope to live for and to see realised. But, My Lord, if it needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

Apartheid is still considered one of these most devastating events of world history, and it would not have ended without the crucial effort and words of Nelson Mandela during his courageous political leadership. In this heartbreaking speech , he voices his utter devotion to the fight against institutionalised racism in African society – an ideal for which he was ‘prepared to die for’. Mandela continues to remind us today of his moral conviction in leading, wherein the world would likely to be a better place if all politicians had the same resolve and genuine commitment to human rights and the abolition of oppression as he did.

19. Critique on British Imperialism by General Aung San

“Do they form their observations by seeing the attendances at not very many cinemas and theatres of Rangoon? Do they judge this question of money circulation by paying a stray visit to a local bazaar? Do they know that cinemas and theatres are not true indicators, at least in Burma, of the people’s conditions? Do they know that there are many in this country who cannot think of going to these places by having to struggle for their bare existence from day to day? Do they know that those who nowadays patronise or frequent cinemas and theatres which exist only in Rangoon and a few big towns, belong generally to middle and upper classes and the very few of the many poor who can attend at all are doing so as a desperate form of relaxation just to make them forget their unsupportable existences for the while whatever may be the tomorrow that awaits them?”

Under British colonial rule, one of the most legendary nationalist leaders emerged from the ranks of the thousands of Burmese to boldly lead them towards independence, out of the exploitation and control under the British. General Aung San’s speech criticising British social, political and economic control of Burma continues to be scathing, articulate, and relevant – especially given his necessary goal of uniting the Burmese natives against their common oppressor. He successfully galvanised his people against the British, taking endless risks through nationalist speeches and demonstrations which gradually bore fruit in Burma’s independence.

20. Nobel Lecture by Mother Teresa

“I believe that we are not real social workers. We may be doing social work in the eyes of the people, but we are really contemplatives in the heart of the world. For we are touching the Body Of Christ 24 hours. We have 24 hours in this presence, and so you and I. You too try to bring that presence of God in your family, for the family that prays together stays together. And I think that we in our family don’t need bombs and guns, to destroy to bring peace–just get together, love one another, bring that peace, that joy, that strength of presence of each other in the home. And we will be able to overcome all the evil that is in the world. There is so much suffering, so much hatred, so much misery, and we with our prayer, with our sacrifice are beginning at home. Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the action that we do. It is to God Almighty–how much we do it does not matter, because He is infinite, but how much love we put in that action. How much we do to Him in the person that we are serving.”

In contemporary culture, most people understand Mother Teresa to be the epitome of compassion and kindness. However, if one were to look closer at her speeches from the past, one would discover not merely her altruistic contributions, but her keen heart for social justice and the downtrodden. She wisely and gracefully remarks that ‘love begins at home’ from the individual actions of each person within their private lives, which accumulate into a life of goodness and charity. For this, her speeches served not just consolatory value or momentary relevance, as they still inform the present on how we can live lives worth living.

21. June 9 Speech to Martial Law Units by Deng Xiaoping

“This army still maintains the traditions of our old Red Army. What they crossed this time was in the true sense of the expression a political barrier, a threshold of life and death. This was not easy. This shows that the People’s Army is truly a great wall of iron and steel of the party and state. This shows that no matter how heavy our losses, the army, under the leadership of the party, will always remain the defender of the country, the defender of socialism, and the defender of the public interest. They are a most lovable people. At the same time, we should never forget how cruel our enemies are. We should have not one bit of forgiveness for them. The fact that this incident broke out as it did is very worthy of our pondering. It prompts us cool-headedly to consider the past and the future. Perhaps this bad thing will enable us to go ahead with reform and the open policy at a steadier and better — even a faster — pace, more speedily correct our mistakes, and better develop our strong points.”

Mere days before the 4 June 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising, Chinese Communist Party leader Deng Xiaoping sat with six party elders (senior officials) and the three remaining members of the Politburo Standing Committee, the paramount decision-making body in China’s government. The meeting was organised to discuss the best course of action for restoring social and political order to China, given the sweeping economic reforms that had taken place in the past decade that inevitably resulted in some social resistance from the populace. Deng then gave this astute and well-regarded speech, outlining the political complexities in shutting down student protests given the context of reforms encouraging economic liberalization already taking place, as aligned with the students’ desires. It may not be the most rousing or inflammatory of speeches, but it was certainly persuasive in voicing the importance of taking a strong stand for the economic reforms Deng was implementing to benefit Chinese citizens in the long run. Today, China is an economic superpower, far from its war-torn developing country status before Deng’s leadership – thanks to his foresight in ensuring political stability would allow China to enjoy the fruits of the massive changes they adapted to.

22. Freedom or Death by Emmeline Pankhurst

“You won your freedom in America when you had the revolution, by bloodshed, by sacrificing human life. You won the civil war by the sacrifice of human life when you decided to emancipate the negro. You have left it to women in your land, the men of all civilised countries have left it to women, to work out their own salvation. That is the way in which we women of England are doing. Human life for us is sacred, but we say if any life is to be sacrificed it shall be ours; we won’t do it ourselves, but we will put the enemy in the position where they will have to choose between giving us freedom or giving us death. Now whether you approve of us or whether you do not, you must see that we have brought the question of women’s suffrage into a position where it is of first rate importance, where it can be ignored no longer. Even the most hardened politician will hesitate to take upon himself directly the responsibility of sacrificing the lives of women of undoubted honour, of undoubted earnestness of purpose. That is the political situation as I lay it before you today.”

In 1913 after Suffragette Emily Davison stepped in front of King George V’s horse at the Epsom Derby and suffered fatal injuries, Emmeline Pankhurst delivered her speech to Connecticut as a call to action for people to support the suffragette movement. Her fortitude in delivering such a sobering speech on the state of women’s rights is worth remembering for its invaluable impact and contributions to the rights we enjoy in today’s world.

23. Quit India by Mahatma Gandhi

“We shall either free India or die in the attempt; we shall not live to see the perpetuation of our slavery. Every true Congressman or woman will join the struggle with an inflexible determination not to remain alive to see the country in bondage and slavery. Let that be your pledge. Keep jails out of your consideration. If the Government keep me free, I will not put on the Government the strain of maintaining a large number of prisoners at a time, when it is in trouble. Let every man and woman live every moment of his or her life hereafter in the consciousness that he or she eats or lives for achieving freedom and will die, if need be, to attain that goal. Take a pledge, with God and your own conscience as witness, that you will no longer rest till freedom is achieved and will be prepared to lay down your lives in the attempt to achieve it. He who loses his life will gain it; he who will seek to save it shall lose it. Freedom is not for the coward or the faint-hearted.”

Naturally, the revolutionary activist Gandhi had to appear in this list for his impassioned anti-colonial speeches which rallied Indians towards independence. Famous for leading non-violent demonstrations, his speeches were a key element in gathering Indians of all backgrounds together for the common cause of eliminating their colonial masters. His speeches were resolute, eloquent, and courageous, inspiring the hope and admiration of many not just within India, but around the world.

24. 1974 National Book Award Speech by Adrienne Rich, Alice Walker, Audre Lorde

“The statement I am going to read was prepared by three of the women nominated for the National Book Award for poetry, with the agreement that it would be read by whichever of us, if any, was chosen.We, Audre Lorde, Adrienne Rich, and Alice Walker, together accept this award in the name of all the women whose voices have gone and still go unheard in a patriarchal world, and in the name of those who, like us, have been tolerated as token women in this culture, often at great cost and in great pain. We believe that we can enrich ourselves more in supporting and giving to each other than by competing against each other; and that poetry—if it is poetry—exists in a realm beyond ranking and comparison. We symbolically join together here in refusing the terms of patriarchal competition and declaring that we will share this prize among us, to be used as best we can for women. We appreciate the good faith of the judges for this award, but none of us could accept this money for herself, nor could she let go unquestioned the terms on which poets are given or denied honor and livelihood in this world, especially when they are women. We dedicate this occasion to the struggle for self-determination of all women, of every color, identification, or derived class: the poet, the housewife, the lesbian, the mathematician, the mother, the dishwasher, the pregnant teen-ager, the teacher, the grandmother, the prostitute, the philosopher, the waitress, the women who will understand what we are doing here and those who will not understand yet; the silent women whose voices have been denied us, the articulate women who have given us strength to do our work.”

Adrienne Rich, Audre Lorde, and Alice Walker wrote this joint speech to be delivered by Adrienne Rich at the 1974 National Book Awards, based on their suspicions that the first few African American lesbian women to be nominated for the awards would be snubbed in favour of a white woman nominee. Their suspicions were confirmed, and Adrienne Rich delivered this socially significant speech in solidarity with her fellow nominees, upholding the voices of the ‘silent women whose voices have been denied’.

25. Speech to 20th Congress of the CPSU by Nikita Khruschev

“Considering the question of the cult of an individual, we must first of all show everyone what harm this caused to the interests of our Party. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin had always stressed the Party’s role and significance in the direction of the socialist government of workers and peasants; he saw in this the chief precondition for a successful building of socialism in our country. Pointing to the great responsibility of the Bolshevik Party, as ruling Party of the Soviet state, Lenin called for the most meticulous observance of all norms of Party life; he called for the realization of the principles of collegiality in the direction of the Party and the state. Collegiality of leadership flows from the very nature of our Party, a Party built on the principles of democratic centralism. “This means,” said Lenin, “that all Party matters are accomplished by all Party members – directly or through representatives – who, without any exceptions, are subject to the same rules; in addition, all administrative members, all directing collegia, all holders of Party positions are elective, they must account for their activities and are recallable.””

This speech is possibly the most famed Russian speech for its status as a ‘secret’ speech delivered only to the CPSU at the time, which was eventually revealed to the public. Given the unchallenged political legacy and cult of personality which Stalin left in the Soviet Union, Nikita Khruschev’s speech condemning the authoritarian means Stalin had resorted to to consolidate power as un-socialist was an important mark in Russian history.

26. The Struggle for Human Rights by Eleanor Roosevelt

“It is my belief, and I am sure it is also yours, that the struggle for democracy and freedom is a critical struggle, for their preservation is essential to the great objective of the United Nations to maintain international peace and security. Among free men the end cannot justify the means. We know the patterns of totalitarianism — the single political party, the control of schools, press, radio, the arts, the sciences, and the church to support autocratic authority; these are the age-old patterns against which men have struggled for three thousand years. These are the signs of reaction, retreat, and retrogression. The United Nations must hold fast to the heritage of freedom won by the struggle of its people; it must help us to pass it on to generations to come. The development of the ideal of freedom and its translation into the everyday life of the people in great areas of the earth is the product of the efforts of many peoples. It is the fruit of a long tradition of vigorous thinking and courageous action. No one race and on one people can claim to have done all the work to achieve greater dignity for human beings and great freedom to develop human personality. In each generation and in each country there must be a continuation of the struggle and new steps forward must be taken since this is preeminently a field in which to stand still is to retreat.”

Eleanor Roosevelt has been among the most well-loved First Ladies for good reason – her eloquence and gravitas in delivering every speech convinced everyone of her suitability for the oval office. In this determined and articulate speech , she outlines the fundamental values that form the bedrock of democracy, urging the rest of the world to uphold human rights regardless of national ideology and interests.

27. The Ballot or The Bullet by Malcolm X

“And in this manner, the organizations will increase in number and in quantity and in quality, and by August, it is then our intention to have a black nationalist convention which will consist of delegates from all over the country who are interested in the political, economic and social philosophy of black nationalism. After these delegates convene, we will hold a seminar; we will hold discussions; we will listen to everyone. We want to hear new ideas and new solutions and new answers. And at that time, if we see fit then to form a black nationalist party, we’ll form a black nationalist party. If it’s necessary to form a black nationalist army, we’ll form a black nationalist army. It’ll be the ballot or the bullet. It’ll be liberty or it’ll be death.”

Inarguably, the revolutionary impact Malcolm X’s fearless oratory had was substantial in his time as a radical anti-racist civil rights activist. His speeches’ emancipatory potential put forth his ‘theory of rhetorical action’ where he urges Black Americans to employ both the ballot and the bullet, strategically without being dependent on the other should the conditions of oppression change. A crucial leader in the fight for civil rights, he opened the eyes of thousands of Black Americans, politicising and convincing them of the necessity of fighting for their democratic rights against white supremacists.

28. Living the Revolution by Gloria Steinem

“The challenge to all of us, and to you men and women who are graduating today, is to live a revolution, not to die for one. There has been too much killing, and the weapons are now far too terrible. This revolution has to change consciousness, to upset the injustice of our current hierarchy by refusing to honor it, and to live a life that enforces a new social justice. Because the truth is none of us can be liberated if other groups are not.”

In an unexpected commencement speech delivered at Vassar College in 1970, Gloria Steinem boldly makes a call to action on behalf of marginalized groups in need of liberation to newly graduated students. She proclaimed it the year of Women’s Liberation and forcefully highlighted the need for a social revolution to ‘upset the injustice of the current hierarchy’ in favour of human rights – echoing the hard-hitting motto on social justice, ‘until all of us are free, none of us are free’.

29. The Last Words of Harvey Milk by Harvey Milk

“I cannot prevent some people from feeling angry and frustrated and mad in response to my death, but I hope they will take the frustration and madness and instead of demonstrating or anything of that type, I would hope that they would take the power and I would hope that five, ten, one hundred, a thousand would rise. I would like to see every gay lawyer, every gay architect come out, stand up and let the world know. That would do more to end prejudice overnight than anybody could imagine. I urge them to do that, urge them to come out. Only that way will we start to achieve our rights. … All I ask is for the movement to continue, and if a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door…”

As the first openly gay elected official in the history of California, Harvey Milk’s entire political candidature was in itself a radical statement against the homophobic status quo at the time. Given the dangerous times he was in as an openly gay man, he anticipated that he would be assassinated eventually in his political career. As such, these are some of his last words which show the utter devotion he had to campaigning against homophobia while representing the American people, voicing his heartbreaking wish for the bullet that would eventually kill him to ‘destroy every closet door’.

30. Black Power Address at UC Berkeley by Stokely Carmichael

“Now we are now engaged in a psychological struggle in this country, and that is whether or not black people will have the right to use the words they want to use without white people giving their sanction to it; and that we maintain, whether they like it or not, we gonna use the word “Black Power” — and let them address themselves to that; but that we are not going to wait for white people to sanction Black Power. We’re tired waiting; every time black people move in this country, they’re forced to defend their position before they move. It’s time that the people who are supposed to be defending their position do that. That’s white people. They ought to start defending themselves as to why they have oppressed and exploited us.”

A forceful and impressive orator, Stokely Carmichael was among those at the forefront of the civil rights movement, who was a vigorous socialist organizer as well. He led the Black Power movement wherein he gave this urgent, influential speech that propelled Black Americans forward in their fight for constitutional rights in the 1960s.

31. Speech on Vietnam by Lyndon Johnson

“The true peace-keepers are those men who stand out there on the DMZ at this very hour, taking the worst that the enemy can give. The true peace-keepers are the soldiers who are breaking the terrorist’s grip around the villages of Vietnam—the civilians who are bringing medical care and food and education to people who have already suffered a generation of war. And so I report to you that we are going to continue to press forward. Two things we must do. Two things we shall do. First, we must not mislead the enemy. Let him not think that debate and dissent will produce wavering and withdrawal. For I can assure you they won’t. Let him not think that protests will produce surrender. Because they won’t. Let him not think that he will wait us out. For he won’t. Second, we will provide all that our brave men require to do the job that must be done. And that job is going to be done. These gallant men have our prayers-have our thanks—have our heart-felt praise—and our deepest gratitude. Let the world know that the keepers of peace will endure through every trial—and that with the full backing of their countrymen, they are going to prevail.”

During some of the most harrowing periods of human history, the Vietnam War, American soldiers were getting soundly defeated by the Vietnamese in guerrilla warfare. President Lyndon Johnson then issued this dignified, consolatory speech to encourage patriotism and support for the soldiers putting their lives on the line for the nation.

32. A Whisper of AIDS by Mary Fisher

“We may take refuge in our stereotypes, but we cannot hide there long, because HIV asks only one thing of those it attacks. Are you human? And this is the right question. Are you human? Because people with HIV have not entered some alien state of being. They are human. They have not earned cruelty, and they do not deserve meanness. They don’t benefit from being isolated or treated as outcasts. Each of them is exactly what God made: a person; not evil, deserving of our judgment; not victims, longing for our pity ­­ people, ready for  support and worthy of compassion. We must be consistent if we are to be believed. We cannot love justice and ignore prejudice, love our children and fear to teach them. Whatever our role as parent or policymaker, we must act as eloquently as we speak ­­ else we have no integrity. My call to the nation is a plea for awareness. If you believe you are safe, you are in danger. Because I was not hemophiliac, I was not at risk. Because I was not gay, I was not at risk. Because I did not inject drugs, I was not at risk. The lesson history teaches is this: If you believe you are safe, you are at risk. If you do not see this killer stalking your children, look again. There is no family or community, no race or religion, no place left in America that is safe. Until we genuinely embrace this message, we are a nation at risk.”

Back when AIDS research was still undeveloped, the stigma of contracting HIV was even more immense than it is today. A celebrated artist, author and speaker, Mary Fisher became an outspoken activist for those with HIV/AIDS, persuading people to extend compassion to the population with HIV instead of stigmatizing them – as injustice has a way of coming around to people eventually. Her bold act of speaking out for the community regardless of the way they contracted the disease, their sexual orientation or social group, was an influential move in advancing the human rights of those with HIV and spreading awareness on the discrimination they face.

33. Freedom from Fear by Aung San Suu Kyi

“The quintessential revolution is that of the spirit, born of an intellectual conviction of the need for change in those mental attitudes and values which shape the course of a nation’s development. A revolution which aims merely at changing official policies and institutions with a view to an improvement in material conditions has little chance of genuine success. Without a revolution of the spirit, the forces which produced the iniquities of the old order would continue to be operative, posing a constant threat to the process of reform and regeneration. It is not enough merely to call for freedom, democracy and human rights. There has to be a united determination to persevere in the struggle, to make sacrifices in the name of enduring truths, to resist the corrupting influences of desire, ill will, ignorance and fear. Saints, it has been said, are the sinners who go on trying. So free men are the oppressed who go on trying and who in the process make themselves fit to bear the responsibilities and to uphold the disciplines which will maintain a free society. Among the basic freedoms to which men aspire that their lives might be full and uncramped, freedom from fear stands out as both a means and an end. A people who would build a nation in which strong, democratic institutions are firmly established as a guarantee against state-induced power must first learn to liberate their own minds from apathy and fear.”

Famous for her resoluteness and fortitude in campaigning for democracy in Burma despite being put under house arrest by the military government, Aung San Suu Kyi’s speeches have been widely touted as inspirational. In this renowned speech of hers, she delivers a potent message to Burmese to ‘liberate their minds from apathy and fear’ in the struggle for freedom and human rights in the country. To this day, she continues to tirelessly champion the welfare and freedom of Burmese in a state still overcome by vestiges of authoritarian rule.

34. This Is Water by David Foster Wallace

“Our own present culture has harnessed these forces in ways that have yielded extraordinary wealth and comfort and personal freedom. The freedom all to be lords of our tiny skull-sized kingdoms, alone at the centre of all creation. This kind of freedom has much to recommend it. But of course there are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear much talk about much in the great outside world of wanting and achieving…. The really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness and discipline, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them over and over in myriad petty, unsexy ways every day. That is real freedom. That is being educated, and understanding how to think. The alternative is unconsciousness, the default setting, the rat race, the constant gnawing sense of having had, and lost, some infinite thing.”

Esteemed writer David Foster Wallace gave a remarkably casual yet wise commencement speech at Kenyon College in 2005 on the importance of learning to think beyond attaining a formal education. He encouraged hundreds of students to develop freedom of thought, a heart of sacrificial care for those in need of justice, and a consciousness that would serve them in discerning the right choices to make within a status quo that is easy to fall in line with. His captivating speech on what it meant to truly be ‘educated’ tugged at the hearts of many young and critical minds striving to achieve their dreams and change the world.

35. Questioning the Universe by Stephen Hawking

“This brings me to the last of the big questions: the future of the human race. If we are the only intelligent beings in the galaxy, we should make sure we survive and continue. But we are entering an increasingly dangerous period of our history. Our population and our use of the finite resources of planet Earth are growing exponentially, along with our technical ability to change the environment for good or ill. But our genetic code still carries the selfish and aggressive instincts that were of survival advantage in the past. It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand or million. Our only chance of long-term survival is not to remain inward-looking on planet Earth, but to spread out into space. The answers to these big questions show that we have made remarkable progress in the last hundred years. But if we want to continue beyond the next hundred years, our future is in space. That is why I am in favor of manned — or should I say, personned — space flight.”

Extraordinary theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author Stephen Hawking was a considerable influence upon modern physics and scientific research at large, inspiring people regardless of physical ability to aspire towards expanding knowledge in the world. In his speech on Questioning the Universe, he speaks of the emerging currents and issues in the scientific world like that of outer space, raising and answering big questions that have stumped great thinkers for years.

36. 2008 Democratic National Convention Speech by Michelle Obama

“I stand here today at the crosscurrents of that history — knowing that my piece of the American dream is a blessing hard won by those who came before me. All of them driven by the same conviction that drove my dad to get up an hour early each day to painstakingly dress himself for work. The same conviction that drives the men and women I’ve met all across this country: People who work the day shift, kiss their kids goodnight, and head out for the night shift — without disappointment, without regret — that goodnight kiss a reminder of everything they’re working for. The military families who say grace each night with an empty seat at the table. The servicemen and women who love this country so much, they leave those they love most to defend it. The young people across America serving our communities — teaching children, cleaning up neighborhoods, caring for the least among us each and every day. People like Hillary Clinton, who put those 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling, so that our daughters — and sons — can dream a little bigger and aim a little higher. People like Joe Biden, who’s never forgotten where he came from and never stopped fighting for folks who work long hours and face long odds and need someone on their side again. All of us driven by a simple belief that the world as it is just won’t do — that we have an obligation to fight for the world as it should be. That is the thread that connects our hearts. That is the thread that runs through my journey and Barack’s journey and so many other improbable journeys that have brought us here tonight, where the current of history meets this new tide of hope. That is why I love this country.”

Ever the favourite modern First Lady of America, Michelle Obama has delivered an abundance of iconic speeches in her political capacity, never forgetting to foreground the indomitable human spirit embodied in American citizens’ everyday lives and efforts towards a better world. The Obamas might just have been the most articulate couple of rhetoricians of their time, making waves as the first African American president and First Lady while introducing important policies in their period of governance.

37. The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama

“I’m not talking about blind optimism here — the almost willful ignorance that thinks unemployment will go away if we just don’t think about it, or the health care crisis will solve itself if we just ignore it. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about something more substantial. It’s the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs; the hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores; the hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta; the hope of a millworker’s son who dares to defy the odds; the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too. Hope — Hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope! In the end, that is God’s greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation. A belief in things not seen. A belief that there are better days ahead.”

Now published into a book, Barack Obama’s heart-capturing personal story of transformational hope was first delivered as a speech on the merits of patriotic optimism and determination put to the mission of concrete change. He has come to be known as one of the most favoured and inspiring presidents in American history, and arguably the most skilled orators ever.

38. “Be Your Own Story” by Toni Morrison

“But I’m not going to talk anymore about the future because I’m hesitant to describe or predict because I’m not even certain that it exists. That is to say, I’m not certain that somehow, perhaps, a burgeoning ménage a trois of political interests, corporate interests and military interests will not prevail and literally annihilate an inhabitable, humane future. Because I don’t think we can any longer rely on separation of powers, free speech, religious tolerance or unchallengeable civil liberties as a matter of course. That is, not while finite humans in the flux of time make decisions of infinite damage. Not while finite humans make infinite claims of virtue and unassailable power that are beyond their competence, if not their reach. So, no happy talk about the future. … Because the past is already in debt to the mismanaged present. And besides, contrary to what you may have heard or learned, the past is not done and it is not over, it’s still in process, which is another way of saying that when it’s critiqued, analyzed, it yields new information about itself. The past is already changing as it is being reexamined, as it is being listened to for deeper resonances. Actually it can be more liberating than any imagined future if you are willing to identify its evasions, its distortions, its lies, and are willing to unleash its secrets.”

Venerated author and professor Toni Morrison delivered an impressively articulate speech at Wellesley College in 2004 to new graduates, bucking the trend by discussing the importance of the past in informing current and future ways of living. With her brilliance and eloquence, she blew the crowd away and renewed in them the capacity for reflection upon using the past as a talisman to guide oneself along the journey of life.

39. Nobel Speech by Malala Yousafzai

“Dear brothers and sisters, the so-called world of adults may understand it, but we children don’t. Why is it that countries which we call “strong” are so powerful in creating wars but so weak in bringing peace? Why is it that giving guns is so easy but giving books is so hard? Why is it that making tanks is so easy, but building schools is so difficult? As we are living in the modern age, the 21st century and we all believe that nothing is impossible. We can reach the moon and maybe soon will land on Mars. Then, in this, the 21st century, we must be determined that our dream of quality education for all will also come true. So let us bring equality, justice and peace for all. Not just the politicians and the world leaders, we all need to contribute. Me. You. It is our duty. So we must work … and not wait. I call upon my fellow children to stand up around the world. Dear sisters and brothers, let us become the first generation to decide to be the last. The empty classrooms, the lost childhoods, wasted potential-let these things end with us.”

At a mere 16 years of age, Malala Yousafzai gave a speech on the severity of the state of human rights across the world, and wowed the world with her passion for justice at her tender age. She displayed tenacity and fearlessness speaking about her survival of an assassination attempt for her activism for gender equality in the field of education. A model of courage to us all, her speech remains an essential one in the fight for human rights in the 21st century.

40. Final Commencement Speech by Michelle Obama

“If you are a person of faith, know that religious diversity is a great American tradition, too. In fact, that’s why people first came to this country — to worship freely. And whether you are Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Sikh — these religions are teaching our young people about justice, and compassion, and honesty. So I want our young people to continue to learn and practice those values with pride. You see, our glorious diversity — our diversities of faiths and colors and creeds — that is not a threat to who we are, it makes us who we are. So the young people here and the young people out there: Do not ever let anyone make you feel like you don’t matter, or like you don’t have a place in our American story — because you do. And you have a right to be exactly who you are. But I also want to be very clear: This right isn’t just handed to you. No, this right has to be earned every single day. You cannot take your freedoms for granted. Just like generations who have come before you, you have to do your part to preserve and protect those freedoms. … It is our fundamental belief in the power of hope that has allowed us to rise above the voices of doubt and division, of anger and fear that we have faced in our own lives and in the life of this country. Our hope that if we work hard enough and believe in ourselves, then we can be whatever we dream, regardless of the limitations that others may place on us. The hope that when people see us for who we truly are, maybe, just maybe they, too, will be inspired to rise to their best possible selves.”

Finally, we have yet another speech by Michelle Obama given in her final remarks as First Lady – a tear-inducing event for many Americans and even people around the world. In this emotional end to her political tenure, she gives an empowering, hopeful, expressive speech to young Americans, exhorting them to take hold of its future in all their diversity and work hard at being their best possible selves.

Amidst the bleak era of our current time with Trump as president of the USA, not only Michelle Obama, but all 40 of these amazing speeches can serve as sources of inspiration and hope to everyone – regardless of their identity or ambitions. After hearing these speeches, which one’s your favorite? Let us know in the comments below!

Article Written By: Kai Xin Koh

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Here Are A Bunch Of Celebrities Who Gave Commencement Speeches And I Need To Know If You Think They Were Qualified

"You've made it and you're fucked."

BuzzFeed Contributor

Graduation ceremonies can be long and tedious — unless you've got an A-list celeb giving the commencement address obv!

These college grads hit the jackpot when it came to commencement speakers and learned some valuable lessons along the way., here's who took the stage at college graduations:, 1. taylor swift.

Taylor Swift received an honorary doctorate degree when she took the stage to talk to New York University students in May 2022. In her speech, Taylor talked about her career and accepting that life is going to be a little "cringe" sometimes. She added that it's important to know that everyone makes mistakes — and it's how you grow from them that's important. 

"I know it can be really overwhelming figuring out who to be, and when. Who you are now and how to act in order to get where you want to go. I have some good news: it’s totally up to you. I also have some terrifying news: it’s totally up to you," Taylor said on stage . 

2. Robert De Niro

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In 2015, Robert De Niro also took the stage at NYU, giving Tisch School of the Arts students a little bit of tough love about the realities of life. The actor bluntly opened his speech by telling grads, "You've made it and you're fucked." He went on to get real about working in entertainment and the sometimes painstaking process of auditioning but encouraged students to keep going.  

“You discovered a talent, developed an ambition, and recognized your passion. When you feel that, you can’t fight it — you just go with it. When it comes to the arts, passion should always trump common sense. You aren’t just following dreams, you’re reaching for your destiny...You’re an artist — yeah, you’re fucked. The good news is that’s not a bad place to start," Robert said. 

3. Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep shared almost 30 minutes of wisdom with the graduates of Columbia University's Barnard College back in 2010. She took students through the trajectory of her career, sharing that at the end of the day, it's most important to be yourself. She also emphasized the importance of empathy and how it's a fundamental part of creating a happy and successful life.

"You don’t have to be famous. You just have to make your mother and father proud of you…and you already have," Meryl concluded her speech. 

4. Ken Jeong

The Hangover actor Ken Jeong was actually the perfect choice for a commencement speech considering the comedian was actually a doctor before he found success in the entertainment industry. He spoke to the graduates of UNC Greensboro in 2019 and definitely kept everyone laughing. But in addition to his humor, he also told grads to find their passion and be persistent in achieving their goals. 

"I encourage you, good times and bad, keep moving, keep finding your passion. I honestly say to every single soul in this coliseum: If I can do this, and if I can do what I want, so can you. You have the light and the future and the universe ahead of you," Ken said. 

5. Dolly Parton

In 2009, Dolly Parton addressed graduates of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville with a commencement speech, something she thought she'd never do. She opened by saying she didn't like to give advice because what works for one person may not work for another — but she ended up being pretty inspirational. Dolly encouraged the crowd to dream more and fight for the things they wanted.

"Do not confuse dreams with wishes. There is a difference. Dreams are where you visualize yourself being successful at what’s important to you to accomplish. Dreams build convictions because you work hard to pay the price to make sure that they come true. Wishes are hoping good things will happen to you, but there's no fire in your gut that causes you to put everything forth to overcome all the obstacles. So you have to dream more and never, ever, ever blame somebody else if it doesn’t happen," Dolly said. 

6. Lisa Kudrow

Lisa Kudrow returned to her alma mater, Vassar College, in 2010 to address recent graduates in a touching speech about dealing with failure. Lisa says when she first started out as an actor, she often experienced rejection and almost gave up on her dreams of being an actor. Fortunately, it all led up to her big break on Friends . 

"I understand that because the 20s is that time in your life when you’re really getting acquainted with self-doubt when there’s so much seemingly at stake. So let me reassure you, it’s not supposed to be easy. You are supposed to have moments of uncertainty about which path to take because the 20s are full of crossroads. When one door closes, another door always opens," Lisa said on stage. 

7. Tom Hanks

In 2011, Tom Hanks spoke in front of Yale's graduating class, where he encouraged students to take fear head on. During the speech, Tom shared his love of history and referenced events throughout the United States' past where fear was overcome to create a better place. 

"To stand on the fulcrum between fear and faith — fear at your back, faith in front of you. Which way will you move? Move forward, move ever forward and tweet out a picture of the results," Tom concluded his speech. 

8. Will Ferrell

Will Ferrell gave an "unorthodox" speech during Harvard University's Class Day in 2003. Although Will said he wouldn't be using humor in his speech and wasn't going to "sugarcoat" his thoughts, it ended up being almost 10 minutes of hilarity. Will shared fake quotes, dished his advice on everything from dealing with incompetent assistants to tax fraud, and ended his speech with a song. 

"I’m sorry, graduates. But this is a world where you aren’t allowed to use your cell phone on airplanes, during live theater, at the movies, at funerals, or even during your own elective surgery. Apparently, the Berlin Wall went back up because we now live in Russia. I mean just try lighting up a cigar in a movie theater or paying for a dinner for 20 friends with an autograph. It ain’t that easy. Strong words, I know. Tough talk. But more like tough love. Because this is where my faith in you guys comes into play, Harvard University’s graduating Class of 2003, without a doubt, the finest, most talented group of sexual beings this great land has to offer," Will said at one point . 

9. Jennifer Garner

In 2019, Jennifer Garner gave a speech at Denison University, which she attended in the early '90s. In addition to receiving an honorary doctorate of humane letters, Jennifer shared some truths about vaping, sunscreen, and the friends you make in college. She also explained three important things all people should be disciplined about. 

"Impose self-discipline around three things: have a book on your bedside table at all times and read it, obviously. Be in charge of your consumption of social media, and foster a sense of humor about yourselves because otherwise, you run the risk of being boring," Jennifer shared. 

10. Steve Carell

Steve Carell took the stage at Princeton University's Class Day in 2012, hilariously discussing the impact of technology on the world and offering new grads some helpful hints...that weren't really that helpful. In addition to reminding students not to tell “that’s what she said” jokes to their parents and noting the superiority of dogs over cats, Steve also got serious for a moment. 

"Every once in a while, put something positive into the world. We have become so cynical these days. And by we I mean us. So do something kind, make someone laugh, and don’t take yourself too seriously," Steve concluded. 

11. John Krasinski

John Krasinski returned to his alma mater, Brown University, in 2019 to address new graduates and discuss how one decision can change your entire life. He encouraged students to get involved and pursue as much as they could until they figured out their passion. John explained that's happened for him when he joined the school's sketch comedy group. 

"Not because I got in, not because I started acting. It was through that group that I found my way into this community. It was through that group that I met my people and all of a sudden I was surrounded by the most inspiring peers. One of the best decisions I made in my life was just to lean all the way in," John said. 

12. Mindy Kaling

In 2018, Mindy Kaling spoke with the students of Dartmouth College, where she graduated in 2001. While Mindy was excited to be sharing her words of wisdom with the recent grads, she reminded the students that just one story can't give you the entire roadmap to being successful. She did offer some insight into her personal success story though, explaining that it all had to do with confidence. 

"I'll tell you my secret, the one thing that has kept me going through the years, my superpower: delusion. This is something I may share with our president [Donald Trump], a fact that is both horrifying and interesting. Two years in, I think we can pretty safely say that he's not getting carved onto Mount Rushmore, but damn if that isn't a testament to how far you can get just by believing you're the smartest, most successful person in the world. My point is, you have to have insane confidence in yourself, even if it's not real," Mindy shared. 

Which celebrity commencement speech was your favorite? If yours didn't make the list, tell us in the comments!

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10 Famous Speeches To Ignite The Feminist Fire Within You

Be inspired by the words of these powerful women

Throughout history, so many of the people to make us stop and take note with their famous speeches have been women. From the women's suffrage movement in the 1800s and feminism's second wave in the 1970s to the global Women's March in 2017, the words and actions of famous figures such as Emmeline Pankhurst, Virginia Woolf, Maya Angelou and Gloria Steinhem (to name just a few) have transformed society.

It might explain then why the theme of International Women's Day 2021 was #ChooseToChallenge. We can learn so much from the powerful actions and inspiring words of the women who came before us – but, also, there's still so much work we have to do. It's our duty to carry on their work, challenging and changing and speaking up for equality .

And so here, we've rounded up the most famous speeches from a new era of women, who are continuing the task of transforming opinions, breaking boundaries and inspiring us all to keep choosing to challenge. Listen, learn and take note.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Will Not Accept Your Apology

After Florida Representative Ted Yoho reportedly called Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez 'a f*cking b*tch' on the steps of the Capitol in July 2020, he tried to excuse his behaviour by saying he has a wife and daughters. In response, AOC (as she's commonly referred to) took to the House floor with what has since been hailed 'the most important feminist speech of a generation' – fluently and passionately detailing why his 'apology' was, simply, not good enough.

Quotes of note:

'I am someone's daughter too. My father, thankfully, is not alive to see how Mr Yoho treated his daughter. My mother got to see Mr. Yoho's disrespect on the floor of this House towards me on television, and I am here because I have to show my parents that I am their daughter and that they did not raise me to accept abuse from men.

'What I believe is that having a daughter does not make a man decent. Having a wife does not make a decent man. Treating people with dignity and respect makes a decent man, and when a decent man messes up, as we all are bound to do, he tries his best and does apologise.'

Natalie Portman On Dismantling The Patriarchy

From her smart quip of 'here are all the male nominees' at the 2018 Golden Globes , calling out the women directors snubbed for the category, to her rousing 'f*ck up and thrive, sisters' speech at the ELLE Women In Hollywood event in 2019, Portman consistently calls out inequality in the film industry. And the actor's address at Variety's Women of Power event in 2019 was no different. In what is now referred to as 'Natalie Portman's Step-by-Step Guide to Toppling the Patriarchy', she made a strong case for all the ways in which we, as individuals, can make a difference.

'Be embarrassed if everyone in your workplace looks like you. Pay attention to physical ability, age, race, sexual orientation, gender identity and make sure you've got all kinds of experiences represented.

'Stop the rhetoric that a woman is crazy or difficult. If a man says a woman is crazy or difficult, ask him: What bad thing did you do to her? It's code that he is trying to discredit her reputation. Make efforts to hire people who've had their reputations smeared in retaliation.'

Michelle Obama On The Inequality Of Failure

Let's be honest: there are so many Michelle Obama speeches to choose from – the former FLOTUS is renowned for her passion for equality and her ability to uplift others with her words. But in a poignant keynote conversation with Tracee Ellis Ross at the United State of Women Summit in 2018, Obama spoke openly about the often-overlooked inequality of failure, and the disparities in repercussions for men and women.

Quote of note:

'I wish that girls could fail as bad as men do and be OK. Because let me tell you, watching men fail up, it is frustrating. It's frustrating to see a lot of men blow it and win. And we hold ourselves to these crazy, crazy standards.

'Start with what you can control. You start there. Because thinking about changing your workplace and changing the way the world thinks – that's big; that's daunting. And then you shrink from that. So start with what you can control. And that's you, first. And those questions start within. First, we must ask ourselves, "Are we using our voices? And when are we not? When are we playing it safe?" And at least be cognisant of that and understand, "These are the times that I shrunk away from doing more than I could, and let me think about why that was."'

Gina Martin On Misogyny, The Power Of Anger And How She Changed The Law

As she tells us in this refreshing TEDx talk from 2020, Gina Martin is not the kind of woman you'd expect to change the law. And yet, she did. The activist discusses the moment in 2017 when a stranger took a picture of her crotch at a festival without her consent – and how, after years of relentless campaigning, she succeeded in making upskirting a criminal offence. Martin makes it clear that anyone can make a change, no matter who they are or where they're from. And that's a lesson we all need to hear.

'Anger is a very normal response to having your human rights compromised. That's important to say. We have to stop using it to delegitimise people, with "angry feminist" or "angry Black woman" – all of these stereotypes. People are allowed to be angry about this stuff. And we have to hold space for them there. We have to realise it's not about us.

'Think about where you hold privilege – it might be in your job, as a parent, as a teacher, or just in the colour of your skin – and start this work now. Stop laughing at the jokes, buy the book, go to the event, diversify your social feeds, ask the questions. Sympathy is soothing, but it doesn't go far enough. Action does. And listen, you'll get things wrong. We all do, I've had some clangers. But it's not about perfection, it's about progress, it's about doing it because it's the right thing to do. We are so done with waiting for society to "change things" for us. We literally are society.'

Lady Gaga On Reclaiming Your Power

When Lady Gaga accepted her ELLE Women In Hollywood award in 2018, her career appeared to be at an all-time high, with Oscar buzz for her role in A Star Is Born , and her song 'Shallow' at number one in the US. But, as she explained, what people perceive a woman, especially in Hollywood, isn't always the reality.

Gaga may have made this moving speech several years ago, but it feels particularly poignant to revisit it during a period in which violence towards women is a more devastating and pressing topic than ever. In it, Gaga recounts how being sexually assaulted caused her to 'shut down' and 'hide'. She explores the debilitating effect of shame on her mental health and also the power of kindness and support in overcoming it.

Importantly, Gaga explains that she eventually found her power within herself – and how, once she took it back, she was able to use it to move beyond the prescribed expectations society puts upon women.

'What does it really mean to be a woman in Hollywood? We are not just objects to entertain the world. We are not simply images to bring smiles or grimaces to people's faces. We are not members of a giant beauty pageant meant to be pit against one another for the pleasure of the public. We women in Hollywood, we are voices. We have deep thoughts and ideas and beliefs and values about the world and we have the power to speak and be heard and fight back when we are silenced.'

'I decided today I wanted to take the power back. Today I wear the pants... I had a revelation that I had to be empowered to be myself today more than ever. To resist the standards of Hollywood, whatever that means. To resist the standards of dressing to impress. To use what really matters: my voice.'

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie On Redefining Feminism

You may not have knowingly heard to author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's speech before, but there's a good chance you will have listened to her words without realising – Beyoncé actually weaved a key part of Adichie's feminist manifesto into her track '***Flawless'. In her speech, Adichie reflects on the gender disparities still evident our society, with a focus on those in her native Africa, and dissects the meaning of 'feminist' – both the connotations and myths it carries – and how she came to define the term for herself.

'We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller, we say to girls, "You can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful, otherwise you would threaten the man." ...But what if we question the premise itself? Why should a woman's success be a threat to a man?

'I want to be respected in all of my femaleness because I deserve to be. Gender is not an easy conversation to have. For both men and women, to bring up gender is sometimes to encounter almost immediate resistance... Some of the men here might be thinking, "OK, all of this is interesting, but I don't think like that." And that is part of the problem – that many men do not actively think about gender or notice gender is part of the problem.'

Kamala Harris On Setting A New Standard For The Next Generation

On November 7 2020, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris delivered her first national address after Joe Biden 's position as President was secured. As the first woman to hold the position and the first person of colour to do so, Harris' presence alone was enough to break boundaries. But then came her words. In the speech, she reflected on triumph of democracy and credited the work of the women who came before us, plus that of 'a new generation of women in... who cast their ballots and continued the fight for their fundamental right to vote and be heard'.

'While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last, because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities. And to the children of our country, regardless of your gender, our country has sent you a clear message: Dream with ambition, lead with conviction, and see yourselves in a way that others may not, simply because they've never seen it before, but know that we will applaud you every step of the way.'

Amanda Gorman On Finding Your Voice

If you didn't know Amanda Gorman before this year, you'll definitely know her now, thanks to her reading at US President Joe Biden's swearing-in ceremony. The United States' first-ever youth poet laureate's powerful, rhythmic poem 'The Hill We Climb' made the world stop and listen, highlighting the many inequalities in our society and reminding us that we need to work together to overcome them.

While 2021 was the year that catapulted Gorman into the spotlight, it wasn't the first time she'd spoken out about the world around her. In her 2018 TED Talk, she discusses the power of speech, learning to find her voice and how 'poetry is actually at the centre of our most political questions about what it means to be a democracy'.

'I had a moment of realisation, where I thought, "If I choose not to speak out of fear, then there's no one that my silence is standing for."'

'When someone asks me to write a poem that's not political, what they're really asking me is to not ask charged and challenging questions in my poetic work. And that does not work, because poetry is always at the pulse of the most dangerous and most daring questions that a nation or a world might face.'

'If I choose, not out of fear, but out of courage, to speak, then there's something unique that my words can become... It might feel like every story has been told before, but the truth is, no one's ever told my story in the way I would tell it.'

Frances McDormand Demands Inclusion In Hollywood

It's one thing to make a great acceptance speech at the Oscars. But to share that honour with your fellow nominees and use it as a platform to highlight where your industry needs to do better? That's a whole other story, and one told by McDormand in a speech that got everybody on their feet as she accepted the Oscar for Best Actress at the 2018 Academy Awards.

'I want to get some perspective. If I may be so honoured to have all the female nominees in every category stand with me in this room tonight, the actors... the filmmakers, the producers, the directors, the writers, the cinematographers, the composers, the songwriters, the designers... We all have stories to tell and projects we need financed. Don't talk to us about it at the parties tonight. Invite us into your office in a couple days, or you can come to ours, whatever suits you best, and we'll tell you all about them. I have two words to leave with you tonight, ladies and gentlemen: "inclusion rider".'

Meghan Markle On Realising The Magnitude Of Individual Action

Long before she made headlines as the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle had already made the world take notice. At the UN Women Conference back in 2015, she spoke about 'accidentally' becoming a female advocate when at just 11 years old, when she convinced a dish soap company to change their sexist tagline from 'Women all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans' to 'People all over America…' instead. Here, she discusses the power of individual action, and why we need to remind women that 'their involvement matters'.

'It is just imperative: women need a seat at the table, they need an invitation to be seated there, and in some cases, where this is not available, well then, you know what, they need to create their own table. We need a global understanding that we cannot implement change effectively without women's political participation.

'It is said that girls with dreams become women with vision. May we empower each other to carry out such vision – because it isn't enough to simply talk about equality. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to simply believe in it. One must work at it. Let us work at it. Together. Starting now.

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Matthew McConaughey

In 2013 during the 86th Academy Awards, Matthew McConaughey won the award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his character in The Dallas Buyer’s Club – based on a true story. He played the Ron Woodroof who was a Texan rodeo-riding electrician who was diagnosed with HIV in 1985 and was originally given 30 days to live. He died seven years later due to complications from Aids in 1992. McConaughey’s character broke the law in attempt to stay alive by smuggling in drugs and basically selling them on the black market.

McConaughey lost 47 pounds for the role. He began his speech by thanking God. He said, “First off, I want to thank God, because that’s who I look up to. He has graced my life with opportunities that I know are not of my hand or any other human hand. He has shown me that it’s a scientific fact that gratitude reciprocates. In the words of the late Charlie Laughton, who said, 'When you’ve got God, you’ve got a friend. And that friend is you.'"

Oprah Winfrey

In 2012 during Oprah Winfrey’s Lifeclass in New York City, she made a profession of faith to her millions of fans. Oprah opened up about her spiritual journey and how she aligned her values of tolerance, acceptance, and reverence for life. Many people have doubted Oprah’s faith as a Christian in the past due to the fact that she has had people of different faiths on her show and similar disparities. However, during her speech Oprah was very open about what God has taught her: to respect people of all faiths, be loving and kind to strangers, and open her mind! This isn’t Oprah’s first time speaking about the Lord, saying in her acceptance speech at the 84th Academy Awards that she knows without Him she would never be where she is today and He ultimately changed her life.

Steph Curry

Steph Curry is the first NBA athlete to be unanimously picked as the Most Valuable Player. Curry is known for being speaking out on his faith whether it’s during a press conference or in the locker. During his MVP speech and throughout other interviews he’s participated in Curry has called out Lord and Savior for standing by his side and blessing him with more than he could have ever hoped or dreamed for.

“I want to thank God, obviously for the health, for the talent He's given me, for my family who supports me, for the things that basketball's taught me on and off the court. For the people that I've been able to meet through the game of basketball," the 28-year-old said. "I've been blessed in that regard through and through. So I'm just thankful for this opportunity to play the game that I love and share that with the world."

Curry pounds his chest and points up during his game play because that is his way of remembering that he has a heart of God and plays the game of basketball for God.

Cuba Gooding, Jr.

At the 1997 Oscars Cuba Gooding, Jr. won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the film Jerry Maguire. In the speech Gooding put his hands in the air and said halleluiah praise the Lord. Those words are spoken so genuinely and naturally by Gooding that you get goosebumps because you know deep down that he truly praises the God for his many blessings. He goes onto to thank God for giving him the many gifts in his life and allowed him to pursue him dreams as an actor. Gooding has never really been outspoken about his faith; however when he thanked the man upstairs for his award you could see the personal relationship that Gooding has with his Lord and Savior. And sometimes those are the best and most memorable moments because you don’t expect the support and love. Gooding was experiencing a vulnerable moment and he wanted to acknowledge God for everything He had done to make this all a possibility.

Kevin Durant

Kevin Durant is not shy about his love and devotion for God. When he accepted the Most Valuable Player award in 2014, Durant immediately thanked God for the opportunity to pursue his dreams. “First off, I'd like to thank God for changing my life. It let me really realize what life is all about. Basketball is just a platform in order for me to inspire people, and I realize that,” said Durant. In fact, Durant credits pastor Carl Lentz of Hillsong New York City for teaching him that God is entirely about love, which helped him clear his mind from the misconceptions he had previously been bogged down with. In an interview with  GW Magazine Durant gave credit to God for every game his team has won and further commented by saying that Jesus was the Lord of his game.

The MVP speech was one of the biggest platforms in which Durant has spoken – and the award is one of the highest honors he’s accepted. Therefore, when he pays homage to his Lord and Savior that speaks volumes about his character and overall lifestyle.

The 10 Most Inspiring and Famous Speeches Transcribed From Video

There is nothing like watching great speeches to find inspiration.

From scenes of political affirmation and universal ideas to moments of deep emotions, videos have especially captured the greatest lessons of the modern world.

The written transcripts of these speeches immerse yourself in them, without losing a crumb of the poetry and intensity of the moment.

Here, Checksub brings you the most remarkable extracts of the most famous speeches, converted with our video transcription solution to capture the power of words even better.

Enjoy the read ;) -moreover, if you want to keep a written copy of your favorite speech, we also explain the process.

Famous Speeches: Historic and Remarkable Ones

We start our top with speeches that will give you a moving digest of history. Get ready to read and hear an eloquence that will never be equaled.

Winston Churchill: "We shall fight on the beaches"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skrdyoabmgA

Certainly one of the most famous speeches in modern history. After the miraculous success of Operation Dynamo and at the dawn of a merciless war, Churchill addressed the British people to make them understand the tough challenges ahead. These words resonate with great determination and firmness, showing with the repetition "We shall fight" that the British will fight on all fronts without ever backing down.

Here is an extract of the transcript :

We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender!

And if which I do not for a moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World with all its power and might steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old!

Martin Luther King:'' I have a dream"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP4iY1TtS3s&t=178s

Even more unmissable, the speech of Martin Luther King, one of the most illustrious symbols of the civil rights movement in the United States, captivates by its lyrical power. Giving black Americans his future vision of an America finally freed from racist prejudice, he brings the immense hope of a reconciled humanity. His ''I have a dream'' is intended as a universal affirmation of harmony among the American people.

Here is the essential transcript of his speech:

I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification - one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

John F. Kennedy: "We choose to go to the Moon"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZyRbnpGyzQ

While the Soviets were taking the lead in the "space race", the young and brilliant American President John F. Kennedy decided to give the American people an ambitious and clear objective: to put astronauts on the Moon. In his speech, he underlined with rare precision and prescience the imperative need for this project. What is incredible is the visionary force of his words, which led the United States to the feat that we know.

Here is an extract of the transcript:

There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

It is for these reasons that I regard the decision last year to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the office of the Presidency.

Nelson Mandela: "I am prepared to die"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Su6d6X8rn4

Accused by the South African government of insurrection and sabotage, Nelson Mandela, the figure of the liberation of the blacks in South Africa, delivers at his trial a poignant speech of realism. Strongly defending himself from the political actions of his organization, he denounces the social situation of black people and affirms a deep desire for freedom. The speech ends with Mandela's determination "I am prepared to die", challenging the audience to condemn him to death. It is this rhetorical audacity that undoubtedly saved him from this fate.

Here is the transcript of the end of the speech :

But this fear cannot be allowed to stand in the way of the only solution which will guarantee racial harmony and freedom for all. It is not true that the enfranchisement of all will result in racial domination. Political division, based on color, is entirely artificial and, when it disappears, so will the domination of one color group by another. The ANC has spent half a century fighting against racialism. When it triumphs, as it certainly must, it will not change that policy.

This then is what the ANC is fighting. Our struggle is a truly national one. It is a struggle of the African people, inspired by our own suffering and our own experience. It is a struggle for the right to live. [someone coughs]

During my lifetime, I have dedicated my life to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal for which I hope to live for and to see realized. But, My Lord, if it needs to be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.

Charles de Gaulle: "The call for Resistance".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjPeo1IY05o

While France was surrounded and invaded by Germany, General de Gaulle managed to flee to Great Britain. Inspired by a strong sense of duty, General de Gaulle organized the resistance of the French people outside and within its borders. The brevity of his speech contrasts with its determination and appealing force. A large part of the French was to draw inspiration from it to fight and harm German soldiers. Its lyricism will also seduce you.

Here is a written extract of the speech :

This war is not limited to the unfortunate territory of our country. This war is not finished by the battle of France. This war is a world-wide war. All the faults, all the delays, all the suffering, do not prevent there to be, in the world, all the necessary means to one day crush our enemies. Vanquished today by mechanical force, we will be able to overcome in the future by a superior mechanical force.

The destiny of the world is here. I, General de Gaulle, currently in London, invite the officers and the French soldiers who are located in British territory or who would come there, with their weapons or without their weapons, I invite the engineers and the special workers of armament industries who are located in British territory or who would come there, to put themselves in contact with me.

Whatever happens, the flame of the French resistance not must not be extinguished and will not be extinguished. Tomorrow, as today, I will speak on Radio London.

Great Speech: Fascinating and Motivating Ones

Let us now move on to speeches of a different kind, just as remarkable. Here, you will face words that call to the depths of human emotions and the mysteries of our world. Hold on tight!

Stephen Hawking: "Questioning the Universe*

https://youtu.be/xjBIsp8mS-c

Afflicted with Charcot's disease and unable to speak, the great physicist Stephen Hawking dedicated his life to his research on the origins of the universe. Returning to his lifelong work, he delivers in his TED Talk a fascinating discourse on the essential truths related to the presence of life on our planet. With his robotic yet profound voice, his words give a metaphysical thrill that is hard to forget.

Here is the transcribed speech :

There is nothing bigger or older than the universe. The questions I would like to talk about are: one, where did we come from? How did the universe come into being? Are we alone in the universe? Is there alien life out there? What is the future of the human race?

Up until the 1920s, everyone thought the universe was essentially static and unchanging in time. Then it was discovered that the universe was expanding. Distant galaxies were moving away from us. This meant they must have been closer together in the past. If we extrapolate back, we find we must have all been on top of each other about 15 billion years ago. This was the Big Bang, the beginning of the universe. But was there anything before the Big Bang? If not, what created the universe? Why did the universe emerge from the Big Bang the way it did?

We used to think that the theory of the universe could be divided into two parts. First, there were the laws like Maxwell's equations and general relativity that determined the evolution of the universe, given its state over all of the space at one time. And second, there was no question of the initial state of the universe. We have made good progress on the first part, and now have the knowledge of the laws of evolution in all but the most extreme conditions. But until recently, we have had little idea about the initial conditions for the universe.

Lou Gherig: "Farewell to Baseball".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNLKPaThYkE

Suffering from the same illness, the undisputed baseball champion Lou Gherig of the New York Yankees, delivered his farewell speech to the stadium and his fans. Far from stooping in the face of illness, he expresses enormous gratitude for the circumstances and people who helped him in his long and victorious journey. Gherig conveys unforgettable words of wisdom about perseverance and lucidity.

Here is an extract of the written transcript :

Sure, I'm lucky. Who wouldn't consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert - also the builder of baseball's greatest empire, Ed Barrow - to have spent the next nine years with that wonderful little fellow Miller Huggins - then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology - the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy!

Sure, I'm lucky. When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift, that's something! When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies, that's something.

When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles against her own daughter, that's something. When you have a father and mother who work all their lives so that you can have an education and build your body, it's a blessing! When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed, that's the finest I know.

So I close in saying that I might have had a tough break - but I have an awful lot to live for!

Steve Jobs: "Stanford Commencement Address"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc&t=10s

Everyone knows the talent of the founder of Apple and Pixar, a symbol of modern entrepreneurship. Here he gives new Stanford graduates the synthetic and inspiring story of his life, and the essential lessons they can learn to find meaning in their lives. With simple and punchy words, he invites his audience to find what they would love to do in their lives with all their hearts. Discover the power of dreams by listening to his words full of inspiration.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras.

It was sort of like Google in paperback form,35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, overflowing with neat tools, and great notions. Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age.

On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it was the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."

Simon Sinek "How Great Leaders Inspire Action"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp0HIF3SfI4

In another genre, the great communications expert Simon Sinek shows the common ground of leaders who have made history. With an extraordinary sense of words, he shows the extreme coherence and purpose of great personalities and companies. His sermons will inspire your quest for meaning in business and the search for a culture that suits you. Let yourself be tempted by his words.

As it turns out, all the great inspiring leaders and organizations in the world, whether it's Apple or Martin Luther King or the Wright brothers, they all think, act, and communicate the exact same way. And it's the complete opposite of everyone else. All I did was codify it, and it's probably the world's simplest idea. I call it the golden circle.

Why? How? What? This little idea explains why some organizations and some leaders are able to inspire where others aren't. Let me define the terms really quickly. Every single person, every single organization on the planet knows what they do, 100 percent. Some know how they do it, whether you call it your differentiated value proposition or your proprietary process or your USP.

But very, very few people or organizations know why they do what they do. And by "why" I don't mean "to make a profit."That's a result. It's always a result. By "why," I mean: What's your purpose? What's your cause? What's your belief? Why does your organization exist? Why do you get out of bed in the morning? And why should anyone care?

J.K. Rowling: "Harvard Begins".

​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHGqp8lz36c​

A true fairy tale, the life lessons J.K. Rowling teaches in his speech to young graduates are memorable. With great humor, she recounts the journeys that led her to her success. She conveys the crucial values of imagination and perseverance, giving us faith in the magic of life. Enjoy her enchanting speech!

You might think that I chose my second theme -the importance of imagination- because of the part it played in rebuilding my life. But that is not wholly so, though I personally will defend the value of bedtime stories to my last gasp. I have learned to value imagination in a much broader sense. Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not and therefore to found all invention and innovation in its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity. It is the power that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared.

How to transcribe a Video Speech with Checksub?

You also want to get precise and beautiful written transcripts of your favorite speeches? You're in luck!

At Checksub, we have been working for 4 years on the simplest and most efficient video transcriptions tool .

We provide you with the best technologies available on the market:

• The best voice recognition and automatic translation APIs to analyze your video (more than a hundred languages being accurately translated)
• A powerful and very easy to use online subtitling editor

The process is fairly straightforward:

• Upload your video if you have it in your database.
• Indicate the original language and the languages you may want to obtain (there are 128 languages in all).
• Check the result
• Export the written transcript file and do whatever you want with it.

If you want to keep to yourself precious and inspiring speeches, give it a try ! 8-)

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Mariska Hargitay Calls Out Harvey Weinstein Ruling, Gives Fiery Speech on Sexual Abuse Survivors: ‘Risky to Let Women Speak? You’re Damn Right It Is’

By Emily Longeretta

Emily Longeretta

• Variety’s Power of Women Honorees Call for Change at New York Event: ‘We Need Every Person to Use Their Voice’ 5 hours ago
• Mariska Hargitay Calls Out Harvey Weinstein Ruling, Gives Fiery Speech on Sexual Abuse Survivors: ‘Risky to Let Women Speak? You’re Damn Right It Is’ 8 hours ago
• Rosie O’Donnell Joins ‘And Just Like That’ Season 3, Reveals Character Details and Premiere Episode Title 1 day ago

“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” star Mariska Hargitay gave a powerful speech on Thursday in New York during Variety ‘s Power of Women event, presented by Lifetime. The two-time Emmy winner, who celebrated 25 years of “SVU” this year, was honored at the event for her work as an advocate for sexual assault survivors.

Hargitay took the stage at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum following an introduction by her close friend, Glenn Close. After many years of acting, “she still finds the heart, the art and the power in her craft,” Close said of Hargitay.

“I want to talk today about reversing convictions,” Hargitay said. “It’s impossible to reverse my conviction that survivors matter, that what happened to us matters, and that our society must respond to survivors more compassionately, more holistically, with a deeper, more nuanced understanding of what healing means.”

She called upon those in the entertainment industry to “use your power as a catalyst for change” and “examine how your actions either contribute to either keeping the system the way it’s always been or to change it.”

Hargitay also spoke of the irony that Weinstein’s conviction was overturned because “too many” victims testified at his trial.

“I do want to say something about the overturned Harvey Weinstein conviction. Specifically about the reason it was overturned: Too many women’s voices. Too many women were allowed to speak,” she said, referring to the conviction being overturned after the court found testimony against Weinstein was unfairly allowed based on allegations that weren’t part of the case.

“Risky to let women speak? You’re damn right it is. Too many women speaking brings change,” she said. The backlash to #MeToo is evidence of “how powerful those voices are,” she continued.

The foundation has launched numerous programs including the End the Backlog initiative, prioritizing eliminating the massive backlog of untested rape kits in police departments.

“It’s impossible to reverse my conviction that we must listen to survivors,” Hargitay continued, talking about the work of the Joyful Heart Foundation.

“It’s impossible reverse my conviction, and the conviction of my extraordinary team at Joyful Heart, that the backlog of untested rape kits can be brought to zero, that the testing of all new kits must be mandated, that we need a statewide kit tracking system, and that survivors have the right to access the status of their kits,” she said.

“Her decades of steadfast advocacy on behalf of survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse has truly changed how we all talk about these crimes,” says Joyful Heart executive director Robyn Mazur. “Her passion and encouragement has been the driving force at the organization, and every day I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish next.”

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Carrie Bickmore writes powerful letter calling for a stop to violence against women: ‘Stop killing us’

Carrie Bickmore has left her co-host Tommy Little in tears with her powerful letter pleading for an end to violence against women.

Kyle mercilessly mocks axed radio duo on-air

Axed radio stars fume on-air: ‘You shafted us’

‘Ripped her out’: Kyle shares horror memory

Carrie Bickmore has pleaded with the Australian government to put a stop to violence against women in a powerful letter read aloud on air on her radio show, Carrie & Tommy .

The radio personality turned to her co-host Tommy Little to read out the letter she had written about the issue, which has become a national crisis.

“Us women have been talking about this issue forever and no one seems to be listening, so I’m thinking if you read out the thoughts that I wrote down, it might mean more people will listen or it might just give a different perspective on what it feels like to be a woman in this country at the moment,” an emotional Bickmore asked Little, as she urged him and other men around the country to “stand up, and speak up and speak loudly”.

Little said he would “happily stand by your side” as he began to read Bickmore’s letter to listeners.

“It’s taken me days to work out what to say about the crisis that our country is in at the moment. Not because I don’t have things to say about the abhorrent amount of women dying every week in our country at the hands of a man, because I no longer know what to say because it feels like we are yelling into the abyss. We are exhausted,” Bickmore’s letter, read by her co-host said.

In her letter, Bickmore said women have to watch their every move from where to run to what clothes to wear in order to feel safe in the community, while also being on constant guard from the taxi driver, the Uber driver or a former partner or current partner that may pose as a threat.

“No, not all men are monsters, but we live in fear of the ones that are,” her letter continued. “We change our behaviour to account for the bad ones, not the good ones because the risk is too high for us not to.

“To the good men out there, do something more. Just not killing us is not enough. Do something.”

Bickmore pointed out that if men were killed by terrorists or a ground of male cyclists were run down on the road in Australia, “laws would be drawn up overnight to stop it from happening again”. But she said nothing is being done to help women in equally violent situations.

“What we are asking for is not too much. We are simply asking to have the same basic right as you. The right to live, to be safe,’” Little read out, while choking back tears.

“‘To the men who want control, the men who can’t handle rejection, the men who think the law doesn’t apply to them, to the men who think they can intimidate, manipulate, coerce, to the men who can’t regulate their emotions, can’t act with respect, your time is up.’

“To the PM, do something. We shouldn’t have to march to draw attention to his issue. You know what the issue is. Please do something more and now. Governments stop building another freeway for a moment. Build a safer future for our daughters. This is not political, this is not a matter of opinion. The facts speaks for themselves. Every four days a woman in Australia is violently killed.’”

The radio host said that instead of censoring nipples on Instagram, the government should “instead censor the views of misogynistic, violent men online”. She urged for increased funding for safe houses, frontline centres and support services.

“‘I know I absolutely do not have the answers, but there are so many groups out there who spend their life working in this area. They know some of the answers. Listen to them,’” the letter continued.

“If you think women are becoming shrill, think again. If you think we are being dramatic, think again. If you think we are sensationalising the issue, think again. We are scared and we are asking, pleading for help. Do something and stop killing us.”

More Coverage

Bickmore’s plea comes days after thousands of people attended 17 rallies across Australia over the weekend to call out the government for not stepping up when it comes to violence against women.

Twenty-eight Australian women have died allegedly at the hands of a male perpetrator since January 1, according to the Counting Dead Women project.

The relentlessness of violence has prompted pleas for urgent action and a clear message that women are fed up.

After slamming his “bully-like behaviour,” Lauren and Jase have copped a clapback from Kyle Sandilands, gloating about how much he’s rattled them.

Radio hosts Jase and Lauren were left fuming when a giant Kyle and Jackie O bus crashed their show, calling it “bully behaviour.”

Kyle Sandilands has opened up about a traumatic experience from his childhood days after making a desperate plea to PM Anthony Albanese.

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• House 2 Home

Hakeem Jeffries isn't speaker yet, but the Democrat may be the most powerful person in Congress

Congress Speaker in Waiting FILE - In this image from video, House impeachment manager Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., answers a question during the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 29, 2020. (Senate Television via AP, File) (Uncredited/AP)

WASHINGTON — (AP) — Without wielding the gavel or holding a formal job laid out in the Constitution, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries might very well be the most powerful person in Congress right now.

The minority leader of the House Democrats, it was Jeffries who provided the votes needed to keep the government running despite opposition from House Republicans to prevent a federal shutdown.

Jeffries who made sure Democrats delivered the tally to send $95 billion foreign aid to Ukraine and other U.S. allies.

And Jeffries who, with the full force of House Democratic leadership behind him, decided this week his party would help Speaker Mike Johnson stay on the job rather than be ousted by far-right Republicans led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

“How powerful is Jeffries right now?” said Jeffery Jenkins, a public policy professor at the University of Southern California who has written extensively about Congress. “That’s significant power.”

The decision by Jeffries and the House Democratic leadership team to lend their votes to stop Johnson's ouster provides a powerful inflection point in what has been a long political season of dysfunction, stalemate and chaos in Congress .

By declaring enough is enough, that it's time to “turn the page” on the Republican tumult, the Democratic leader is flexing his power in a very public and timely way, an attempt to show lawmakers, and anyone else watching in dismay at the broken Congress, that there can be an alternative approach to governing.

“From the very beginning of this Congress, House Republicans have visited chaos, dysfunction and extremism on the American people,” Jeffries said Wednesday at the Capitol.

Jeffries said that with House Republicans “unwilling or unable" to get "the extreme MAGA Republicans under control, “it’s going to take a bipartisan coalition and partnership to accomplish that objective. We need more common sense in Washington, D.C., and less chaos.”

In the House, the minority leader is often seen as the speaker-in-waiting, the highest-ranking official of the party that's out of power, biding their time in hopes of regaining the majority — and with it, the speaker's gavel — in the next election. Elected by their own party, it's a job without much formal underpinning.

But in Jeffries' case, the minority leader position has come with enormous power, filling the political void left by the actual speaker, Johnson, who commands a fragile, thread-thin Republican majority and is constantly under threat from far-right provocateurs that the GOP speaker cannot fully control.

“He’s operating as a shadow speaker on all the important votes,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

While Johnson still marshals the powerful tools of the speaker's office, a job outlined in the Constitution and second in the line of succession to the presidency, the Republican-led House has churned through a tumultuous session of infighting and upheaval that has left their goals and priorities stalled out.

In a fit of displeasure just months into their majority, far-right Republicans ousted the previous speaker , the now-retired Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., last fall in a never-before-seen act of party revolt. He declined to specifically ask the Democrats for help.

Johnson faces the same threat of removal, but Jeffries sees in Johnson a more honest broker and potential partner he is willing to at least temporarily prop up — even though Johnson, too, has not overtly asked for any assist from across the aisle. A vote on Greene's motion to vacate the speaker is expected next week.

As Johnson sidles up to Donald Trump, receiving the presumed Republican presidential nominee's nod of support , it is Jeffries who holds what Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the speaker emerita, has referred to as "currency of the realm" — votes — that are required in the House to get any agenda over the finish line.

Pelosi said in an interview that Jeffries as the minority leader has “always had leverage” because of the slim House majority.

“But it’s a question of him showing that he’s willing to use it,” she said.

Jeffries has been “masterful,” she said, at securing Democratic priorities, notably humanitarian assistance in the foreign aid package that Republicans initially opposed.

But Pelosi disagreed with the idea that Democrats lending support to Johnson at this juncture creates some sort of new coalition era of U.S. politics.

"Our House functions because we’re willing to be bipartisan in making it function,” she said. “He’s not necessarily saving Speaker Johnson — he’s upholding the dignity of the institution."

Jeffries is a quietly confident operator, positioning himself, and his party, as purveyors of democratic norms amid the Republican thunderclap of Trump-era disruption.

The first Black American to lead a political party in Congress, Jeffries is already a historic figure, whose stature will only rise further if he is elected as the first to wield the gavel as House speaker.

Born in Brooklyn, Jeffries, 53, rose steadily through the ranks in New York state politics and then on the national stage, a charismatic next-generation leader, first elected to Congress in 2012 from the district parts of which were once represented by another historic lawmaker, Shirley Chisolm , the first Black woman elected to Congress.

A former corporate lawyer, Jeffries is also known for his sharp oratory, drawing on his upbringing in the historically Black Cornerstone Baptist Church, a spiritual home for many grandchildren and great-grandchildren of enslaved African Americans who fled to Brooklyn from the American South. But he also infuses his speeches and remarks with a modern sensibility and cadence, bridging generations.

Last year, when Republicans could not muster the votes on a procedural step for a budget and debt deal , it was Jeffries who stood intently at his desk in the House chamber, and lifted his voting card to signal to Democrats it was time to step up and deliver.

Repeatedly, Jeffries has ensured the Democratic votes to prevent a federal government shutdown. And last month, when Johnson faced an all-out hard-right Republican revolt over the Ukraine aid, Jeffries again stepped in, assuring Democrats had more votes than Republicans to see it to passage.

Ahead of the November election, the two parties are in a fight for political survival to control the narrowly divided House, and Jeffries would most certainly face his own challenges leading Democrats if they were to gain the majority, splintered over many key issues.

But Jeffries and Johnson have both been in a cross-country sprint, raising money and enthusiasm for their own party candidates ahead of November — the Republican speaker trying to keep his job, the Democratic leader waiting to take it on.

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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