The Gettysburg Address
Two hundred and seventy-two words that redefined a nation.
Read the speech → Abraham Lincoln · 1865Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address
“With malice toward none, with charity for all” — mercy at the end of a war.
Read the speech → Theodore Roosevelt · 1910The Man in the Arena
The case for daring greatly — and against the cheap seats.
Read the speech →Modern classics
Still under copyright. Most run in full, as first published by the school or institution where they were given, with the source linked on each page; a few hold excerpts and the story of the speech.
Steve Jobs · 2005Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish
Three stories, one commencement, and the most-watched graduation speech ever given. The full text and video.
Watch & read → Bill Watterson · 1990Some Thoughts on the Real World by One Who Glimpsed It and Fled
The Calvin and Hobbes creator on playfulness, real jobs, and inventing your own meaning — the full text, from Kenyon’s own typescript.
Read the speech → Stephen King · 2000Put Your Desk in the Corner
Not a speech — a passage from On Writing that reads like one. Two desks, one lesson: life isn’t a support-system for art.
Read the passage → Martin Luther King, Jr. · 1968The Drum Major Instinct
“Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.” The sermon behind the line, two months before Memphis.
Read & listen → Fred Rogers · 1969Mister Rogers Goes to Washington
Six quiet minutes before the Senate that saved public television — a masterclass in changing a mind without raising your voice.
Watch & read → Randy Pausch · 2007The Last Lecture
Really achieving your childhood dreams, from a professor with months to live. Full video included.
Watch & read → Apple · 1997Here’s to the Crazy Ones
Not a speech — sixty seconds of ad copy that reads like one. The whole text, and the story behind it.
Watch & read → Derek Sivers · 2015Uncommon Sense
How a musician’s bedroom hobby became CD Baby — and why small, human choices beat big, polished ones. Full video included.
Watch & read → John C. Bogle · 2007Enough
The Vanguard founder tells Georgetown’s MBAs that the great game of life isn’t about money — and asks how much is enough.
Read the speech → J.K. Rowling · 2008The Fringe Benefits of Failure
Rock bottom as a solid foundation, and imagination as the power to feel for people whose lives you’ve never lived. The full text and video.
Watch & read → George Saunders · 2013Failures of Kindness
“What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness” — a short, funny, wise case for hurrying up and getting kinder. The full text and video.
Watch & read → Admiral William H. McRaven · 2014Make Your Bed
Ten lessons from Navy SEAL training on changing the world, starting with the smallest one. The full text and video.
Watch & read → John W. Gardner · 1990Personal Renewal
At 78, Gardner on why some people go to seed while others keep growing — learn all your life, stay interested, and build meaning into your days.
Read the speech → Jeff Bezos · 2010We Are What We Choose
Cleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice — Bezos at Princeton on the difference between gifts and choices. The full text and video.
Watch & read → Charlie Munger · 2007USC Law Commencement
Lessons from a long life: deserve what you want, keep learning, invert, and build a seamless web of deserved trust.
Read the speech → Bill Gurley · 2018Runnin’ Down a Dream
How to succeed and thrive in a career you love — lessons from Bobby Knight, Bob Dylan and Danny Meyer. Excerpts and video.
Watch & read → Randy Pausch · 2007Time Management
Pausch’s practical hour on goals, to-do lists and procrastination: “Time is all we have.” Excerpts, the video, and a link to the full transcript.
Watch & read →TED talks
Full transcripts of my favorite TED talks, shared under TED’s Creative Commons license, each with the video.
Elizabeth Gilbert · TED 2009Your Elusive Creative Genius
Fear, creativity, and the old idea that genius visits you rather than being something you are.
Watch & read → Brené Brown · TEDxHouston 2010The Power of Vulnerability
A researcher’s data on connection, and why the courage to be imperfect is where it starts.
Watch & read → Sir Ken Robinson · TED 2006Do Schools Kill Creativity?
The case that creativity matters as much as literacy — the most-watched TED talk ever.
Watch & read → Sir Ken Robinson · TED 2010Bring On the Learning Revolution!
The sequel: education needs transforming, not reforming.
Watch & read → Robert Waldinger · TEDxBeaconStreet 2015What Makes a Good Life?
Seventy-five years of the Harvard Study of Adult Development: good relationships keep us happier and healthier.
Watch & read → Simon Sinek · TEDxPugetSound 2009How Great Leaders Inspire Action
The golden circle: people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.
Watch & read → Barry Schwartz · TEDGlobal 2005The Paradox of Choice
Why more choice can leave us more paralyzed and less satisfied.
Watch & read → Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie · TEDGlobal 2009The Danger of a Single Story
How hearing only one story about a person or a place leads to critical misunderstanding.
Watch & read →Also in the library: great letters · my favorite TED talks · interviews · my master’s thesis
One short essay on optimism, purpose, and enough — every Saturday morning.
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