List of speeches

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Patrick Henry's Give me Liberty, or give me Death! speech at Saint John's Church in Richmond, Virginia.

This list of speeches includes those that have gained notability in English or in English translation. The earliest listings may be approximate dates.

Before the first century

  • c.570 BC : Gautama Buddha gives his first sermon at Sarnath
  • 431 BC: Funeral Oration by the Greek statesman Pericles, significant because it departed from the typical formula of Athenian funeral speeches and was a glorification of Athens' achievements, designed to stir the spirits of a nation at war.
  • 399 BC: The Apology of Socrates, Plato's version of the speech given by the philosopher Socrates, defending himself against charges of being a man "who corrupted the young, refused to worship the gods, and created new deities."
  • 330 BC: On the Crown by the Greek orator Demosthenes, which illustrated the last great phase of political life in Athens.
  • 63 BC: Catiline Orations, given by Marcus Tullius Cicero, the consul of Rome, exposing to the Roman Senate the plot of Lucius Sergius Catilina and his friends to overthrow the Roman government.

Pre 19th century

Nineteenth century

Otto von Bismarck in the North German Parliament.

Twentieth century

Pre-World War I & World War I

Inter-war years and World War II

1945 - 1991 Cold War years

Martin Luther King delivering his "I Have a Dream" speech at the 1963 Washington D.C. Civil Rights March.
File:Sheikh Mujib giving speech 7th March.jpg
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman delivering the historic speech on 7th March 1971 at Race Course

1992 - 2000 Post Cold War years

  • 1992: Culture War speech by U.S. conservative Presidential candidate Pat Buchanan, in which he described "a religious war going on in our country for the soul of America."
  • 1995: The concession speech of Quebec Premier Jacques Parizeau after the narrow defeat of the 1995 Quebec independence referendum, in which he blamed the loss on "money and ethnic votes," mistranslated into English as "money and the ethnic vote."
  • 1996: I Am an African by South African Vice-President Thabo Mbeki on the adoption of a new Constitution for the country.
  • 1999: Elie Wiesel's: "The Perils of Indifference" Speech, He gave in front of the President of the United States.

Twenty-first century

References

External links