Če je politik nadarjen in pameten, lahko na teden sestavi le en govor, če je bolj povprečen morda dva, če je cepec, pa tudi deset, je menda* britanski liberalni politik (in večkratni premier) druge polovice 19. stoletja William Gladstone nekoč odgovoril na vprašanje, koliko govorov lahko sestavi politik na teden. V pričakovanju današnjega govora ameriškega predsedniškega kandidata Baracka Obame v Berlinu, je Londonski Telegraph sestavil svojo lestvico petindvajsetih najbolj znamenitih govorov 20. stoletja, od Adolfa Hitlerja in Enocha Powella do Winstona Churchila in Martina Luthra Kinga. Med njimi je nekaj morda večkrat uporabnih misli in besednih zvez, skratka ‘predlog’ za tiste, ki jih Gladstone verjetno ne bi uvrstil v prvo skupino.

Self-confidence is not pride. Just the contrary: only a person or a nation that is self-confident, in the best sense of the word, is capable of listening to others, accepting them as equals, forgiving its enemies and regretting its own guilt. Let us try to introduce this kind of self-confidence into the life of our community and, as nations, into our behavior on the international stage. Only thus can we restore our self-respect and our respect for one another as well as the respect of other nations.
Vaclav Havel, New Year’s Address to the Nation, 1990

But it is not the State that creates a healthy society. When the State grows too powerful people feel that they count for less and less. The State drains society, not only of its wealth but of initiative, of energy, the will to improve and innovate as well as to preserve what is best. Our aim is to let people feel that they count for more and more. If we cannot trust the deepest instincts of our people we should not be in politics at all. Some aspects of our present society really do offend those instincts.
Margaret Thatcher, Speech to Conservative Party Conference, 1980

Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men. Recognition of the falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be valued only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit; and there must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing. Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, on unselfish performance; without them it cannot live.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address, 1933

My conscience tells me clearly and certainly that I cannot prolong the bad dreams that continue to reopen a chapter that is closed. My conscience tells me that only I, as President, have the constitutional power to firmly shut and seal this book. My conscience tells me it is my duty, not merely to proclaim domestic tranquility but to use every means that I have to insure it. I do believe that the buck stops here, that I cannot rely upon public opinion polls to tell me what is right. I do believe that right makes might and that if I am wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference. I do believe, with all my heart and mind and spirit, that I, not as President but as a humble servant of God, will receive justice without mercy if I fail to show mercy.
Gerald R. Ford, Pardoning Richard M. Nixon, 1974

* _{Tako piše v nekem starem srednješolskem učbeniku, v spletu navedka ali anekdote nisem našel.}

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