History's greatest orators

[LordElrond]

The greatest kiss of all time

 

[jw5]

The greatest kiss of all time
View attachment 149765

Only one party seems interested.

 

[jw5]

Socrates (469–399 BCE)​

Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, Socrates was nonetheless seen as a threat by the Athenians. Eventually the great Greek philosopher was arrested and put on trial for moral corruption and not believing in the gods. His celebrated "Apology" speech is Socrates' answer to these charges. However, the name of the dialogue derives from the Greek apologia, which translates as a defense, or a speech made in defense. Thus rather than expressing regret, Socrates attempted to defend himself and his conduct, which led to his eventual execution.

 

[jw5]

Demosthenes (384–322 BCE)​

Demosthenes, a Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens, delivered his first speech at age 20, overcoming an inarticulate and stammering pronunciation by speaking with pebbles in his mouth. One of his most famous oratories, probably made in 351 BCE, warns against Philip II—the Macedonian king and father of Alexander the Great—as he sets out to conquer Greece. It was Demosthenes' first philippic denouncing the imperialist ambitions of the king. The term is still used today to describe a fiery, damning speech, or tirade.

 

[jw5]

Alexander the Great (356–323 BCE)​

Alexander the Great made many oratories and declarations during his astonishing and unprecedented military campaign through Western Asia and Northeastern Africa. In one speech, delivered near the Hydaspes River in India sometime in 326 BCE, Alexander was forced to motivate his tired, reluctant, and homesick men by declaring, "I will make those who stay the envy of those who return." Pictured is Alexander the Great defeating the forces of the Persian king Darius III as depicted on a Roman mosaic discovered at Pompeii.

 

[jw5]

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BCE)​

Statesman, lawyer, and scholar, Marcus Tullius Cicero is considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists. In 63 BCE, he made what's known as the "First Oration Against Catiline," effectively a devastating and very public denouncement of Lucius Sergius Catilina (Catiline to his friends), whom he accused of conspiring to overthrow his own (Cicero's) consulship and attempting to overthrow the Roman Republic.

 

[jw5]

Jesus Christ (c. 4 BCE–30/33 CE)​

The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sayings and teachings attributed to Jesus Christ, which emphasizes his moral teaching found in the Gospel of Matthew. No speech has been more pondered, more influential, or more quoted, and it includes the widely recited Lord's Prayer.

 

[jw5]

George Washington (1732–1799)​

General George Washington's resignation as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army towards the end of the Revolutionary War was announced as part of a speech he made in front of the Continental Congress on December 23, 1784. Rejecting the temptation to make a grab for supreme power, Washington trembled as he made his decision, reading from notes written on parchment. He later served as the first President of the United States from 1789 to 1797.

 

[jw5]

William Wilberforce (1759–1833)​

William Wilberfoce was a British politician instrumental in abolishing the slave trade. His famous abolition speech delivered to parliament on May 12, 1789 effectively called for an end to Great Britain's participation in the transatlantic slave trade. He subsequently headed the parliamentary campaign against the British slave trade for nearly 20 years until the passage of the Slave Trade Act of 1807.

 

[jw5]

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895)​

"What to the slave is the Fourth of July?" asked social reformer, abolitionist, writer, and statesman Frederick Douglass during a speech in Rochester, New York, on July 5, 1852. His audience gasped in shock, but when Douglass finished speaking, the crowd erupted into applause.

 

[Balls2U]

 

[jw5]

He speaks quite well.

 

[jw5]

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)​

Abraham Lincoln, who served as the 16th President of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865, made one of the greatest speeches in history when he delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863. Just three minutes long and fewer than 275 words, it was made at the official dedication ceremony for the National Cemetery of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, on the site of one of the bloodiest and most decisive battles of the Civil War. Lincoln's words rallied a nation and invoked the principles of human equality contained in the Declaration of Independence.

 

[jw5]

Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899)​

A well-known and controversial lawyer, writer, and orator during America's mid-19th-century Golden Age of Free Thought, Robert G. Ingersoll campaigned tirelessly in defense of agnosticism. Nicknamed "the great agnostic," he popularized the higher criticism of the Bible, as well as a humanistic philosophy and a scientific rationalism. A celebrity of sorts who commanded a huge fee for a single evening's performance, Ingersoll was acknowledged for his witty oratory, which he used to expose the orthodox superstitions of the times.

 

[jw5]

Chief Joseph (1840–1904)​

Few will have heard of Chief Joseph, leader of the Nez Perce indigenous peoples. After being forcibly removed from their ancestral lands by the US government and trying to make their way to Canada, he surrendered himself and his tribe to the military on October 5, 1877. Chief Joseph knew he was the last of a dying breed, and the moment of capitulation was heartbreaking. His speech in part reads: "The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food... I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever."

 

[jw5]

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919)​

Theodore Roosevelt's "Duties of American Citizenship" speech delivered on January 26, 1883 was made while the future president of the United States was serving as a New York assemblyman. He's regarded today as one of the most influential of all White House incumbents, and that particular speech has been analyzed by the Speakers Institute for Roosevelt's speaking techniques and the way he was able to engage with his audience.

 

[jw5]

Booker T. Washington (1856–1915)​

Educator, author, and adviser to two US presidents, Booker T. Washington was an accomplished orator. On September 18, 1895, he was selected to give a speech that would open the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia. The speech, which is often referred to as the "Atlanta Compromise," was the first speech given by an African American to a racially-mixed audience in the South.

 

[Hypocrite-The]

View attachment 150698

Booker T. Washington (1856–1915)​

Educator, author, and adviser to two US presidents, Booker T. Washington was an accomplished orator. On September 18, 1895, he was selected to give a speech that would open the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia. The speech, which is often referred to as the "Atlanta Compromise," was the first speech given by an African American to a racially-mixed audience in the South.

 

[jw5]

He is an interesting person.

 

[ginfreely]

. I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever."

One day I will be like him.