Customer Reviews

The World's Great Speeches: Fourth Enlarged (1999) Edition

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This enlarged, revised edition gathers almost three hundred great speeches from nearly every historical era and nation from ancient to modern times, and makes for an outstanding volume. This edition adds fourteen important speeches delivered between 1974-97 and makes for an exciting display of messages.

Preparing an important speech requires an enormous amount of work. Such a speech must in a very short time convince people of what you are trying to communicate. That is why good speeches are so fascinating to read. You will find speeches of almost 250 people on 920 pages. A treasure chest! You can look for different things. For example. There is not a single speech that claims that people should just aim to become rich or can become happy that way. Many speeches refer to happiness linked to virtue and happiness, For example: "There is an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness, between duty and advantage"; "Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue?" One negative statement on virtue with good intentions: "Punish my sons if they appear to care for riches before virtue". On for example the subject of heart: "The salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human humbleness and in human responsibility"; "Reasoning will lead to acting well, justice in mind becomes justice in the heart"; "Let us then , fellow citizens, unite with one heart and one mind". There is one warning though: "Beware, love of power, and proness to abuse it, can come to dominate the human heart".
You can also find a few frightening speeches from Adolf Hitler and Mussolini. But the vast majority are inspiring to read. You can also learn something about what a good speech should be like.

Uri Pilichowski
Uri Pilichowski says that in order to be a great speaker one has to learn from other masters, and there is no better way, than becoming familiar with other greats' works.

Uri Pilichowski

The speeches are divided in times and places, it would be easier I think if they where just by speaker.