The Greatest Speeches of All Time (912 hits)
Category: Quotes & StoriesRating: 0.65 on 52 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Oly (View user info) at 2008-03-23 05:00:20 EDT
So I didn't go out tonight because of the hellish amount of work I have to complete before this next week starts, and so naturally I've spent my past four hours watching speeches on youtube. I started with the speech Barack Obama just gave, and I've been working forward from there.
And I got to thinking. What is the greatest speech I've ever heard? I came up with a top three for myself but they all are very personal to me in very different ways. Also they're all from movies so they mean fuck all in real life.
I want a more objective opinion. What's the greatest speech you've ever heard? Link to it, pick one from the exhaustive list below, whatever.
I'm sticking to clips I could find on the internet, so there is A LOT out there that I am missing; post it. +2 for you if you come up with something I wasn't aware of and it effects such inspiration in me that I get to doing my homework. I'll give you a -2 if you don't keep your fucking political bullshit off my post (at least beyond the discussion of Obama's speech)
My top three:
Al Pacino's "Inches" speech from Any Given Sunday - http://youtube.com/watch?v=9rFx6OFooCs
Robin Williams' monologue from Good Will Hunting - http://youtube.com/watch?v=EFof9AD2YlE
Terrence Mann's "People Will Come" speech, Field of Dreams - http://americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechfieldofdreams.html
The rest:
Barack Obama the other day - http://youtube.com/watch?v=zrp-v2tHaDo
Alec Baldwin's Glengarry Ross speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TROhlThs9qY&feature=related
Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State University football coach. This isn't scripted, it's just a rant. But I like it. http://youtube.com/watch?v=5VytIZZzee0
Braveheart - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjB1i3BjMwM
Independence Day, President Bill Pullman. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRGUqd_M6Mg
Deep Blue Sea, you know the one. I'm not linking to it because youtube doesn't have a respectable clip of the scene.
Jack Nicholson, A Few Good Men - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hGvQtumNAY&feature=related
Jim Kelly's Hall of Fame speech (the speech was great in full but again, youtube only has one shitty clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OdowdMXONM
Jon Stewart's first show after 9/11. And though I'm not going to post it, I'll never forget Dave Barry's first article after 9/11. http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=105095&title=september-11,-2001
Billy Bob Thornton (yeah, I know), Friday Night Lights http://americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechfridaynightlights2.html
My Cousin Vinny - http://americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechmycousinvinny3.html
Same movie - http://americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechmycousinvinny4.html
I'm spent. Good night, friends. Happy Easter.
Spring break pictures haven't arrived yet. Oh, don't be upset, you'll see them eventually.
User Reviews
Submitted by alabasterch (user info) at 2008-03-26 01:09:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TjyR_3mUsM&feature=related
Morgan Freeman is the best narrator ever, so this has to be in there.
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2008-03-26 00:22:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
american football is actually quite popular in quebec. in fact, since qc city (where i am now) lost its nhl franchise, football is the #1 sport in terms of media coverage. people even throw tailgate parties at the local university, just like you guys do. you don't seem to realize...this isn't europe. hell, my current coworkers follow fucking NASCAR results on the internet religiously and chat about the drama between drivers!
and yes, i've seen that movie more than i needed to. my parents had free (hacked) satellite pay-per-view so there are a number of semi-entertaining movies i've seen a hundred times while i living with them, lying on the couch 24/7. Any Given Sunday is one of those movies. so was porn.
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2008-03-25 15:57:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2008-03-25 13:32:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
"More perfect" gives me a bit of a cramp, though.
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me too, it was a little bit distracting. if you put that aside though, he makes a lot of salient points and he doesnt treat us like idiots when he does it.
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2008-03-25 15:56:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2008-03-25 11:58:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
p.s. you look like george st-pierre
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i think so too. the first time i saw him fight, my first thought was that he looked like a more jacked version of me.
And I agree with most of your other comments. I think the Pacino speech (especially if you've seen the movie, which I dont suspect you ever have because its about football) is among the most inspirational things ever written, honestly. It DOES give me goose bumps in a way no other speech or monologue ever has. Athletes love this speech because it puts into words the most basic essence of team competition.
All those other speeches/monologues are only cliched now because they've been repeated so often. thats what happens with classics. "YOU CANT HANDLE THE TRUTH!" "THEY CAN NEVER TAKE OUR FREEDOM!" The dicks, pussies, and assholes thing from team america. They're old and tired now but once upon a time they were young and spry.
Also, I disagree that people who find motivation in movies are stupid rednecks. The implicit messages in text or speech trigger certain unconscious responses in the person experiencing the text. If you drop a bunch of innocuous (I bet I spelled that wrong) words in conversation like fun, exciting, jubilant, happy, childlike, etc, the person you're talking to is likely to have a great day because those words will have triggered an emotional state that corresponds with those words. a movie that deals with those concepts is likely to inspire in the same way. That's why movies like Jerry Maguire and Field of Dreams became and have been so popular. they make you FEEL good.
But I mostly agree with you. People who depend on movies like that to be happy are generally the type of people you described.
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2008-03-25 13:32:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
"More perfect" gives me a bit of a cramp, though.
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2008-03-25 13:31:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWe7wTVbLUU
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I just read the whole speech...
Impressive.
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2008-03-25 12:16:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
you will find that usually, grown men who are inspired by cheesy movie speeches tend to play like children, with songs like this in the background http://stuff.ubersite.com/1185457645333419091/1/T2.wav
alone in their bedroom, their testosterone jacked up after having jerked off three times on the internet, strutting around as if they were riding a horse as commander of a mediaval army defending against an enemy superior in number
"HOLD! HOLD! HOLD! ... MEN! ARIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISE! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"
then with their delusions satisfied, they go back to the comp and jerk off to repeat the cycle.
it's no wonder LARPing is growing so much in popularity. seriously, the amount of people who fight with duct taped swords is scary.
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2008-03-25 11:58:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
p.s. you look like george st-pierre
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2008-03-25 11:56:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
The "Inches" speech was too intense, in a cheesy way. Plus Pacino's loud character is way overdone and tired.
Jon Stewart looks like your typical histrionical pussy in that video. Americans like to exhibit their emotions for attention.
President Bill Pullman's speech might inspire a 4 years old, personally I thought it was funny. Sounding like Il Duce: "We will not go quietly into the night!" with a handful of rednecks for an audience...lol
...
Anyway, most of these speeches are tacky and I wouldn't be suprised you get goose bumps (or an erection) when Mel Gibson yells out clichés with his trademark 'virile' scream we've seen since he started replacing his dislocated shoulder in Lethal Weapon. "eeeuuuuuuughaaaarghaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrghraaaaaaaaaaaaaarrraaaaaaaaaaaaah"
On a related note, I watched No Country For Old Men and it was pretty good. :-)
Submitted by EmissionImpossible (user info) at 2008-03-25 08:16:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
dull
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2008-03-24 22:06:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
ok, then fuck yourself. thanks.
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2008-03-24 19:33:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
no
Submitted by Unabonger (user info) at 2008-03-24 18:01:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Jon Stewart's speech always chokes me up but this is the most moving speech I've ever heard:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2008-03-24 17:04:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This is it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxurS0G4N5A
It is, by far and away, the best monologue by any measure.
Submitted by SgtHartman (user info) at 2008-03-24 12:01:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2008-03-24 07:52:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I don't know if it's been linked but Ed Norton in the '25th Hour' where he goes on a racial tear.
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single greatest rant ever
fuck the uptown brothas
Submitted by PepsiCoke (user info) at 2008-03-24 11:46:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Get off the stage
Submitted by Jeanneee (user info) at 2008-03-24 10:52:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Al Pacino's entire performance in Any Given Sunday is a baroque masterpiece. That's a great fucking movie.
Submitted by CaptainThorns (user info) at 2008-03-24 10:26:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
How about the one that the pastor at Obama's church did recently about the "US of the KKK A"?
I laughed my ass off for five minutes after I heard THAT sad racist excuse for a speech.
Submitted by MudWhistle (user info) at 2008-03-24 08:20:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojPVOhHhwnk
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2008-03-24 07:52:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I don't know if it's been linked but Ed Norton in the '25th Hour' where he goes on a racial tear.
Submitted by netimportant (user info) at 2008-03-24 07:26:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Apollo's just jealous of your normal-sized head.
What's up, cutie? ;)
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2008-03-24 07:08:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
apollo: refer to my earlier response to the same comment somebody else made. i covered those bases.
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2008-03-23 22:48:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
and by 'speeches' you mean mostly monologues from movies?
to me a speech is winston churchill, abe lincoln, jfk.
not al fucking pacino.
vapid much?
Submitted by HotWillie (user info) at 2008-03-23 22:35:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
google motherfucker do you speak it?
you also have obama ears
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2008-03-23 21:24:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
who the fuck is opie? people always say that, and i dont get the reference.
anyway, this wasnt homework. my homework was poetry. im still working on it. thanks for looking out.
Submitted by HotWillie (user info) at 2008-03-23 20:18:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
do your own homework opie
Submitted by Phallic_Cymbals (user info) at 2008-03-23 20:07:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Urgh.
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2008-03-23 18:57:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by TechnoRatty (user info) at 2008-03-23 18:12:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Captain Koons:
The way your dad looked at it, this watch was your birthright. He'd be damned if any of the slopes were gonna get their greasy yellow hands on his boy's birthright. So he hid it in the one place he knew he could hide something: his ass. Five long years, he wore this watch up his ass. Then when he died of dysentery, he gave me the watch. I hid this uncomfortable piece of metal up my ass for two years. Then, after seven years, I was sent home to my family. And now, little man, I give the watch to you.
( so many to choose from)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RKuDYbnXBJQ
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2008-03-23 18:48:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
i also left christopher walken out of this thing. fuck me.
reading of the raven: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLSmhpwLdEQ
poolhall junkies: http://youtube.com/watch?v=f7QKgapudDc
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2008-03-23 18:35:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
steve jobs stanford commencement speech 2005
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-jKKp3NA
Submitted by Dexter-Brown (user info) at 2008-03-23 18:33:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
George C Scott's Patton speech was a work of art
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDecLiA_Qbw
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2008-03-23 18:12:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
oh, good call on animal house, by the way scourge
Submitted by TechnoRatty (user info) at 2008-03-23 18:12:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Captain Koons:
The way your dad looked at it, this watch was your birthright. He'd be damned if any of the slopes were gonna get their greasy yellow hands on his boy's birthright. So he hid it in the one place he knew he could hide something: his ass. Five long years, he wore this watch up his ass. Then when he died of dysentery, he gave me the watch. I hid this uncomfortable piece of metal up my ass for two years. Then, after seven years, I was sent home to my family. And now, little man, I give the watch to you.
( so many to choose from)
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2008-03-23 18:10:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Doodles (user info) at 2008-03-23 18:05:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Also greatest speech of our lives http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHmvkRoEowc
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hahaha, i heard about this but i aint never seened it befo
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2008-03-23 18:05:22 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
ahhhh...the gehrig clip got me hooked. now i'm gonna be watching baseball clips on youtube the rest of the goddamn day.
baseball is starting so soon. in japan, sure, but fuck it. i'm stoked.
Submitted by Doodles (user info) at 2008-03-23 18:05:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Also greatest speech of our lives http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHmvkRoEowc
Submitted by Doodles (user info) at 2008-03-23 18:00:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2008-03-23 17:47:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Jorge_Burrito (user info) at 2008-03-23 13:42:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
You ask for the greatest speeches of all times, and you have a bunch of crap listed from movies. Movies are fictional, sure they may relate to the real world around us, but ultimately they do not have the same impact. These are not speeches, they are monologues. Here are some actual great speeches, find your own damn links:
I have a Dream, Marting Luther King
Inaugural Address, John F Kennedy
Never Surrender, Winston Churchill
Liberty or Death, Patrick Henry
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hey fuckface, read the goddamn post. specifically the part where i say, "i know i left a bunch out because im only using videos i could find online, SO POST THE OTHER, MORE SIGNIFICANT FUCKING SPEECHES." I wrote that the speeches I listed, most of them at least, mean fuck all in real life. The Jim Kelly one has some significant value. So does, I think, the Obama speech and the Jon Stewart monologue. (speaking of which, we are on my post, so if i say a monologue is a speech, it fucking is.)
And if you're going to play this card, how about the fucking Gettysburg Address? That one was pretty important, cocksucker. How about Washington's inaugural address? How about Frederick Douglass or Malcolm X or Muhammad Ali? Stretching the limits, why not the Bill of Rights, or the Preamble, or the Declaration of Independence? Were those significant?
I didn't post them because nobody would fucking read them anyway, dipshit. This is ubersite. If you want to post the text of a speech, go right ahead, and I would thank you. But you didn't. You left a smug little review that amounted to *gasp* less than the original post.
And beyond that, sometimes movie speeches are pretty fucking inspirational. Try to feel uninspired after listening to People Will Come, or Peace by Inches. Go ahead, try it. You can't. You're fucking inspired.
You're a faggot.
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For this.
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2008-03-23 17:58:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
thank you, thank you
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2008-03-23 17:54:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
considering my grandma just died of ALS, I can not believe I forgot this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LFprYLW3_U&feature=related
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2008-03-23 17:53:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
great speech below
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2008-03-23 17:47:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Jorge_Burrito (user info) at 2008-03-23 13:42:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
You ask for the greatest speeches of all times, and you have a bunch of crap listed from movies. Movies are fictional, sure they may relate to the real world around us, but ultimately they do not have the same impact. These are not speeches, they are monologues. Here are some actual great speeches, find your own damn links:
I have a Dream, Marting Luther King
Inaugural Address, John F Kennedy
Never Surrender, Winston Churchill
Liberty or Death, Patrick Henry
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hey fuckface, read the goddamn post. specifically the part where i say, "i know i left a bunch out because im only using videos i could find online, SO POST THE OTHER, MORE SIGNIFICANT FUCKING SPEECHES." I wrote that the speeches I listed, most of them at least, mean fuck all in real life. The Jim Kelly one has some significant value. So does, I think, the Obama speech and the Jon Stewart monologue. (speaking of which, we are on my post, so if i say a monologue is a speech, it fucking is.)
And if you're going to play this card, how about the fucking Gettysburg Address? That one was pretty important, cocksucker. How about Washington's inaugural address? How about Frederick Douglass or Malcolm X or Muhammad Ali? Stretching the limits, why not the Bill of Rights, or the Preamble, or the Declaration of Independence? Were those significant?
I didn't post them because nobody would fucking read them anyway, dipshit. This is ubersite. If you want to post the text of a speech, go right ahead, and I would thank you. But you didn't. You left a smug little review that amounted to *gasp* less than the original post.
And beyond that, sometimes movie speeches are pretty fucking inspirational. Try to feel uninspired after listening to People Will Come, or Peace by Inches. Go ahead, try it. You can't. You're fucking inspired.
You're a faggot.
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2008-03-23 17:26:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
you totally forgot this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf74T5t-f3k
(best one i could find, ignore the links splashed across the fromt of it)
"...i think this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on someone's part."
"...and we're just the guys to do it."
lmao
i think you'll find that shlongy will agree with me on this. while calling me a dipshit of course.
Submitted by redskieslookfake (user info) at 2008-03-23 16:49:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
that one from True Romance. Dennis Hopper's one about Sicilians.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-03-23 16:37:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/douglasmacarthurfarewelladdress.htm
Submitted by Doodles (user info) at 2008-03-23 15:49:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
retard below
Submitted by EmissionImpossible (user info) at 2008-03-23 15:42:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
you forgot my speech
where i go....
boooooooooo000000000000000000!!
Submitted by Doodles (user info) at 2008-03-23 15:39:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
I see no hitler speeches. This saddens me.
Submitted by Jorge_Burrito (user info) at 2008-03-23 13:42:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
You ask for the greatest speeches of all times, and you have a bunch of crap listed from movies. Movies are fictional, sure they may relate to the real world around us, but ultimately they do not have the same impact. These are not speeches, they are monologues. Here are some actual great speeches, find your own damn links:
I have a Dream, Marting Luther King
Inaugural Address, John F Kennedy
Never Surrender, Winston Churchill
Liberty or Death, Patrick Henry
Submitted by rodyarask (user info) at 2008-03-23 11:07:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2008-03-23 05:27:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
From films, I guess 'Gone With The Wind', 'The Third Man', 'To Kill A Mocking Bird', and 'Citizen Kane' have a few. Looking at your list, you re too young for those films hehe so mine would be any narration from 'Shawshank Redemption', the 'just a girl' speech in 'Notting Hill' (well, I am a girl!) and this
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JW9YutYlUHo&feature=related
from 'Sleep With Me'.
____
Fantabulous!
Submitted by Banjo (user info) at 2008-03-23 06:44:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1zGjiqV5cE
"Sound of like you've got a pair!"
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2008-03-23 05:34:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
woooooo
hammered
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2008-03-23 05:27:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
From films, I guess 'Gone With The Wind', 'The Third Man', 'To Kill A Mocking Bird', and 'Citizen Kane' have a few. Looking at your list, you re too young for those films hehe so mine would be any narration from 'Shawshank Redemption', the 'just a girl' speech in 'Notting Hill' (well, I am a girl!) and this
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JW9YutYlUHo&feature=related
from 'Sleep With Me'.