Convention speeches are powerful tools to bend the curve of public opinion. George H. W. Bush’s 1988 convention speech is a great example. His son’s speech was also quite powerful.
I am not a speaker. The more you do it, the easier it becomes, but I always want to be prepared, and I always practice my speeches; I never do it off the cuff.
You give hundreds, probably thousands of speeches in this business, but you only get one chance to make an acceptance speech at the Hall of Fame. That’s pressure.
Would I be happy just practicing law? No. Would I be happy just doing TV and speeches? No. I want to do all of these things and be as active as I can… but my main goal is to have some degree of influence on the public discussion.
Commencement speeches were invented largely in the belief that outgoing college students should never be released into the world until they have been properly sedated.
Using rhetorical questions in speeches is a great way to keep the audience involved. Don’t you think those kinds of questions would keep your attention?
People always need to hear good motivational speeches.
When you make speeches you elicit expectations against which you will be held accountable.
Even though I grew up and I didn’t always like getting dragged to the meetings or the rallies or the speeches, I developed a very strong respect for participating in a democratic process.
I always had dreams as a kid. I definitely sat at home and watched the Oscars every year and got emotional every year at everyone’s speeches.
Magneto is classically known for being, like, a caricature of a supervillain who gives a lot of speeches, likes to fly up, teach people a lesson, make society look at themselves.
If leadership is about listening, the great political speeches would have been a little different.
I lived Tom Girardi’s legal life with him first 10 years of our relationship. I went to every legal organization, every event – all of those groups he belonged to and those speeches he gave.
Democracy is not about making speeches. It is about making committees work.
Sometimes I get a script that says, ‘Only you can play it.’ But I like roles in films with little moments – a hand movement in ‘Melancholia.’ I don’t like the big speeches – the ‘Oscar speech.’ I like to do unusual things on screen.
I’ve been doing these conventions for 20 years, and we used to at least have debates about issues. Nothing is happening basically at this convention, other than speeches.
There has been far too much hypocrisy in the field of civil rights. It is easy enough to give rousing speeches or call for legislation which has no possibility of passage.
I’m not one for those motivational speeches. I’ve always been more of an example guy.
As a vessel is known by the sound, whether it be cracked or not; so men are proved, by their speeches, whether they be wise or foolish.
My job in the Senate is not just to give speeches and do interviews, it’s to solve problems.
Since There are so many questions about what the president was doing over 30 years ago, what is it that he did after his honorable discharge from the National Guard? Did he make speeches alongside Jane Fonda denouncing America’s racist war in Vietnam?
When every high school graduate can spell the word, ‘inauguration,’ let’s put lampshades on our heads and listen to his speeches until Obama’s voice gives out.
Speeches? I don’t ever feel like I’m giving a speech. I don’t look at myself as a motivational speaker.
Biden’s first failed run for the presidency was ended by his dishonesty over his academic record and his plagiarism, including the biography and speeches of British Labor politician Neil Kinnock.
Donald Trump embraces his wealth. Hillary Clinton wants us to forget that she made $21.5 million on 92 speeches.
Graduation speeches force you to reflect. They are about consciousness. Nothing is better than consciousness.
My mom would watch me giving speeches on TV and she’d call and say, ‘I don’t know who this son is.’
I do still get extremely nervous before speeches. My biggest fear is that I’ll be standing there in front of hundreds of people and be incapable of talking. I’m afraid that I’ll make a complete fool of myself and be unable to go on.
I’m trying to learn the lessons of the past, but not to make speeches about the past.
Today’s public figures can no longer write their own speeches or books, and there is some evidence that they can’t read them either.
Being very, very honest, I’ve watched more Bill Clinton speeches than stand-up specials. Steve Jobs commencements. They’re just great orators. I love people who boldly share their point of view.
While teleprompter use is very common for politicians and others giving formal speeches, Biden is the first candidate to regularly use one outside of formal speeches, such as during press conferences.
I’ve found that festivals are a relatively painless way to meet people and make a few points that need making, without having to hit them over the head with too many speeches.
Everything Bernie Sanders says in his speeches is based on facts and is about empowering people, not making them angry.
I had always known that I couldn’t play Dr. King purely out of my own ability as an actor. When you look at him give those speeches, you can tell that he is taken up by something other than himself. He is flowing with an anointing that is directly from God.
My life was taken up by road shows, election rallies and campaign speeches. I was clocking four to five hours of sleep every day.
I have said consistently both in my papers and in my speeches – which you heard in the primary campaign – that I will continue to phase out the Capital Stock and Franchise tax.
It is unacceptable that disabled veterans in Illinois rank at the bottom of the list when it comes to disability pay. We owe our disabled veterans more than speeches, parades and monuments.
I find weddings really boring. They give speeches, your aunt kisses you on the cheek, and you’re at a boring table. But it’s different when it’s your own.
A potlatch is similar to a court case in that both are prohibitively expensive; both involve lengthy speeches and the vigorous examination and debate of the actions, rights and legal responsibilities of the participants. One has food, singing and spiritual rites; the other, not so much.
I’m not very good at speeches.
Models can be people, too. But the only way to do that is to kind of step up and keep doing new things that no one has thought of, from new websites to new blogs, a newscast, doing speeches, talking to kids. It kind of opens a new headline every time: ‘Oh, a model hasn’t done this before; a model hasn’t done that before.’
I’m very open and never write what I’m going to say. Speeches bore everybody else. I have to freestyle. Every time, from one program to another, everything changes and I improvise.
I had the Secret Service actually patrolling my block at some point. I didn’t sign up for that. I went to work to write speeches for Barack Obama!
There’s certain issues, as I say in my speeches, that I’m not going to compromise on; I’m not going to compromise on a woman’s right to choose and on marriage equality.
Madam Walker was a master marketer. But her brilliance was in taking it to another level by training women, by traveling, by making very motivational speeches and by providing independent income for women who otherwise would have to be maids and sharecroppers.
What I look for these days is that I don’t have long speeches, the characters gets to sit down a lot, I don’t have to learn any foreign languages, and it doesn’t shoot in Minneapolis in February. That’s mainly what I look for.
I really respect the work and speeches of Tony Benn. He was a powerful speaker with a huge heart.
If you want to be an actor, you must have total, ruthless commitment to your art. Don’t be ambitious for fame or TV or movies. Art is a jealous mistress and will brook no competitors. Study all the time. Never stop reading. Never stop learning speeches. It will fill you up – define and refine you.
I don’t know how many speeches I have given saying, ‘No child worse off.’
I have always felt like a fish in water with football, Fox, speeches, riding horses, and raising cattle.
When Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s government fell in May 1940, the nation turned to Churchill. At last, his unique qualities were brought to bear on a supreme challenge, and with his unshakable optimism, his heroic vision, and above all, his splendid speeches, Churchill roused the spirit of the British people.
I’d usually read the Bible a lot. Read little short Bible stories. And today, whenever I give speeches, I bring up a few of those Bible stories, because those are inspirations to me.
One child must never be set above another, even in casual conversation, not to mention in speeches that circle the globe.
Humans have changed little over time. We think we’ve invented the modern world but they were making better speeches 2,000 years ago and grappling with issues of empire and terrorism.
I’ve always written a little bit. I mean, I’ve written screenplays, and I’ve doctored my dialogue for years, and I’ve written speeches – I was a speechwriter on ‘The West Wing,’ so I like that kind of thing. But I never really thought I’d write a book.
