Great Speeches

29 speeches, listed by speaker: Historic · Modern classics · TED talks

Historic 3

• Abraham Lincoln, “The Gettysburg Address”1863
• Abraham Lincoln, “Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address”1865
• Theodore Roosevelt, “The Man in the Arena”1910

Modern classics 18

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.

• Apple, “Here’s to the Crazy Ones”1997
• Jeff Bezos, “We Are What We Choose”2010
• John C. Bogle, “Enough”2007
• Neil Gaiman, “Make Good Art”2012
• John W. Gardner, “Personal Renewal”1990
• Bill Gurley, “Runnin’ Down a Dream”2018
• Steve Jobs, “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”2005
• Martin Luther King, Jr., “The Drum Major Instinct”1968
• Stephen King, “Put Your Desk in the Corner”2000
• Admiral William H. McRaven, “Make Your Bed”2014
• Charlie Munger, “USC Law Commencement”2007
• Randy Pausch, “The Last Lecture”2007
• Randy Pausch, “Time Management”2007
• Fred Rogers, “Mister Rogers Goes to Washington”1969
• J.K. Rowling, “The Fringe Benefits of Failure”2008
• George Saunders, “Failures of Kindness”2013
• Derek Sivers, “Uncommon Sense”2015
• Bill Watterson, “Some Thoughts on the Real World by One Who Glimpsed It and Fled”1990

TED talks 8

Full transcripts of my favorite TED talks, shared under TED’s Creative Commons license, each with the video.

• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, “The Danger of a Single Story”TEDGlobal 2009
• Brené Brown, “The Power of Vulnerability”TEDxHouston 2010
• Elizabeth Gilbert, “Your Elusive Creative Genius”TED 2009
• Sir Ken Robinson, “Do Schools Kill Creativity?”TED 2006
• Sir Ken Robinson, “Bring On the Learning Revolution!”TED 2010
• Barry Schwartz, “The Paradox of Choice”TEDGlobal 2005
• Simon Sinek, “How Great Leaders Inspire Action”TEDxPugetSound 2009
• Robert Waldinger, “What Makes a Good Life?”TEDxBeaconStreet 2015

Also in the library: great letters · my favorite TED talks · interviews · my master’s thesis