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The Earth
by Prince Charles (King Charles III) from BBC documentary Earth in Balance
This is the earth. This is where we lived. We haven’t been here long. It took most of our time here to discover it was round. We fought for it, conquered and exploited it as if there were no limits to what we could do to this place.
The world shook to our achievements. It took us more time to realise that the thing we were all struggling to get a bigger piece of was more fragile than we thought.
But now, at the eleventh hour, we know. We know that the Earth is our home and that sometimes unwittingly we’ve been inflicting terrible damage to it. To the air we breathe, to the water we drink, to the soils which give us food. Unless we alter our approach I believe that we shall, sooner rather than later, face a reckoning.
This is one of the last wildernesses left in Europe. It is the edge of the flow country, right up in the north of Scotland. It is a strange, evocative area which has a wild, desolate beauty of its own.
The English World
I.M. Maguidova, S.V. Decheva
part I
The English world is the world that English men and women have created and lived in through centuries of history. The achievements and failures of those centuries have molded the institutions, the art, the religion, the economy, the landscape and the people of the island nation.
What were those achievements and failures? What was the character of the country and the people that have experienced them? What is the English spirit that runs through the history of England recognized if not always understood by the non-Englishmen?
part II
To answer these questions let us look more closely at the English landscape. A green and pleasant land that still retains much rural charm despite the Industrial Revolution. England’s coastline has helped to shape both the history of the English nation and the psychology of the English character. The knowledge unconsciously assimilated since childhood that there was a wide stretch of water that separated Englishmen and foreigners encouraged the sense of security that could easily slide into one of superiority.
The long centuries during which the land was free from invaders meant that there could be a continuity of tradition impossible on the war torn continent. Englishmen have always been conscious of the history that surrounds them and from traditional royal and parliamentary ceremonies to Tudor style villas in the suburbs have thought at every level to revive and remind themselves of that history.
Prelude Pathetique
From Lady Gaga's music video Marry the Night
When I look back on my life it’s not that I don’t want to see things exactly as they happened. It’s just that I prefer to remember them in an artistic way, and truthfully the lie of it all is much more honest because I invented it.
Clinical psychology tells us arguably that trauma is the ultimate killer. Memories are not recycled like atoms and particles in quantum physics. They can be lost forever. It’s sort of like my past is an unfinished painting and as the artist of that painting I must fill in all the ugly holes and make it beautiful again. It’s not that I’ve been dishonest, it’s just that I loathe reality.
For example, those nurses, they’re wearing next season Calvin Klein, and so am I. And the shoes, custom Giuseppe Zanotti. I tipped their gauze caps to the side like Parisian berets because I think it’s romantic, and I also believe that mint will be very big in fashion next Spring. Check out this nurse on the right, she’s got a great ass. Bam.
Governor's Island Speech on Religious Tolerance
Michael Bloomberg, 2010
It is, by my watch, one minute before noon, but I will still say, good afternoon.
We’ve come here to Governors Island to stand where the earliest settlers first set foot in New Amsterdam, and where the seeds of religious tolerance were first planted. We’ve come here to see the inspiring symbol of liberty that, more than 250 years later, would greet millions of immigrants in this harbor, and we come here to state as strongly as ever: This is the freest City in the world. That’s what makes New York special and different and strong.
Our doors are open to everyone everyone with a dream and a willingness to work hard and play by the rules. New York City was built by immigrants, and it’s sustained by immigrants by people from more than a hundred different countries speaking more than two hundred different languages and professing every faith. And whether your parents were born here, or you came here yesterday, you are a New Yorker.
We may not always agree with every one of our neighbors. That’s life and it’s part of living in such a diverse and dense city. But we also recognize that part of being a New Yorker is living with your neighbors in mutual respect and tolerance.
It was exactly that spirit of openness and acceptance that was attacked on 9/11, 2001. On that day, 3,000 people were killed because some murderous fanatics didn’t want us to enjoy the freedoms to profess our own faiths, to speak our own minds, to follow our own dreams, and to live our own lives.
Harvard Commencment Speech
Oprah Winfrey, 2013
part I
What could I possibly say to Harvard graduates, some of the most successful graduates in the world in the very moment when I had stopped succeeding? So I got off the phone with President Faust and I went to the shower.It was either that or a bag of Oreos. So I chose the shower.
And I was in the shower a long time and as I was in the shower the words of an old hymn came to me. You may not know it. It’s “By and by, when the morning comes.”
And I started thinking about when the morning might come because at the time I thought I was stuck in a hole. And the words came to me “Trouble don’t last always” from that hymn, “this too shall pass.”
And I thought as I got out of the shower I am going to turn this thing around and I will be better for it. And when I do, I’m going to go to Harvard and I’m going to speak the truth of it!
So I’m here today to tell you I have turned that network around!
part II
And when you’re down in the hole, when that moment comes, it’s really okay to feel bad for a little while.
Give yourself time to mourn what you think you may have lost but then here’s the key, learn from every mistake because every experience, encounter, and particularly your mistakes are there to teach you and force you into being more who you are.
And then figure out what is the next right move. And the key to life is to develop an internal moral, emotional G.P.S. that can tell you which way to go.
Because now and forever more when you Google yourself your search results will read “Harvard, 2013”.
And in a very competitive world that really is a calling card because I can tell you as one who employs a lot of people when I see “Harvard” I sit up a little straighter and say, “Where is he or she? Bring them in.”
It’s an impressive calling card that can lead to even more impressive bullets in the years ahead: lawyer, senator, C.E.O., scientist, physicist, winners of Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes or late night talk show host.
But the challenge of life I have found is to build a résumé that doesn’t simply tell a story about what you want to be but it’s a story about who you want to be.
It’s a résumé that doesn’t just tell a story about what you want to accomplish but why.
A story that’s not just a collection of titles and positions but a story that’s really about your purpose. Because when you inevitably stumble and find yourself stuck in a hole that is the story that will get you out.
What is your true calling? What is your dharma? What is your purpose?
part III
From time to time you may stumble, fall, you will for sure, count on this, no doubt, you will have questions and you will have doubts about your path. But I know this, if you’re willing to listen to, be guided by, that still small voice that is the G.P.S. within yourself, to find out what makes you come alive, you will be more than okay. You will be happy, you will be successful, and you will make a difference in the world. Congratulations Class of 2013. Congratulations to your family and friends. Good luck, and thank you for listening. Was that okay?
On Winning the Nobel Prize
Barack Obama, 2009
Well, this is not how I expected to wake up this morning. After I received the news, Malia walked in and said, “Daddy, you won the Nobel Peace Prize, and it is Bo’s birthday!” And then Sasha added, “Plus, we have a three-day weekend coming up.” So it’s good to have kids to keep things in perspective.
I am both surprised and deeply humbled by the decision of the Nobel Committee. Let me be clear: I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations.
To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who’ve been honored by this prize — men and women who’ve inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace.
But I also know that this prize reflects the kind of world that those men and women, and all Americans, want to build — a world that gives life to the promise of our founding documents. And I know that throughout history, the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievement; it’s also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes.
And that is why I will accept this award as a call to action — a call for all nations to confront the common challenges of the 21st century.
Marc Antony's Speech
From William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, performed by Marlon Brando, 1953
Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral.
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
Joys of Swearing
Stephen Fry, 2007
Swearing is a really important part of one’s life. It would be impossible to imagine going through life without swearing and without enjoying swearing.
There used to be mad, silly, prissy people who used to say swearing was a sign of a poor vocabulary. It’s such utter nonsense. The people I know who swear the most tend to have the widest vocabularies, and the kind of person who says swearing is a sign of a poor vocabulary usually have a pretty poor vocabulary themselves.
The sort of twee person who thinks swearing is in any way a sign of a lack of education or of a lack of verbal interest is just fucking lunatic.
I haven’t met anybody who’s truly shocked at swearing. Really. They’re only shocked on behalf of other people. Well, you know, that’s preposterous.
…or they say: “it’s not necessary,” as if that should stop one doing it. It’s not necessary to have colored socks! It’s not necessary for this cushion to be here, but is anyone going to write in and say:
“I was shocked to see that cushion there, it really wasn’t necessary?” No. Things not being necessary is what makes life interesting – the little extras in life.
Speech to Tory Youth
Margaret Thatcher, 1983
That’s marvellous, but there is quite a lot to come yet and I don’t want you to have sore throats before the end. That’s the sort of reception we want at the end. You’ve already demonstrated that there’s an excitement and an enthusiasm which is the envy of all other parties.
And this great hall, filled to capacity with young people who want to live your own lives, in the way you choose, with a style which is on your own within the law. Young people want to stay free.
Could Labour have managed a rally like this?
Well, in the old days perhaps. But not now. For they are the party of yesterday. And tomorrow is ours.
Accused of Lecturing
Margaret Thatcher, 1980
They are not the friends of the unemployed or the small business. They are asking us to do again the very thing that caused the problems in the first place. We have made this point repeatedly.
I am accused of lecturing or preaching about this. I suppose it is a critic’s way of saying “Well, we know it is true, but we have to carp at something.” I do not care about that. But I do care about the future of free enterprise, the jobs and exports it provides and the independence it brings to our people. Independence? Yes, but let us be clear what we mean by that. Independence does not mean contracting out of all relationships with others. A nation can be free but it will not stay free for long if it has no friends and no alliances. Above all, it will not stay free if it cannot pay its own way in the world. By the same token, an individual needs to be part of a community and to feel that he is part of it. There is more to this than the chance to earn a living for himself and his family, essential though that is.
Our Vision
Margaret Thatcher, 1980
Of course, our vision and our aims go far beyond the complex arguments of economics, but unless we get the economy right we shall deny our people the opportunity to share that vision and to see beyond the narrow horizons of economic necessity. Without a healthy economy we cannot have a healthy society. Without a healthy society the economy will not stay healthy for long.
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.
The Lady's Not for Turning
Margaret Thatcher, 1980
If our people feel that they are part of a great nation and they are prepared to will the means to keep it great, a great nation we shall be, and shall remain. So, what can stop us from achieving this? What then stands in our way? The prospect of another winter of discontent? I suppose it might.
But I prefer to believe that certain lessons have been learnt from experience, that we are coming, slowly, painfully, to an autumn of understanding. And I hope that it will be followed by a winter of common sense. If it is not, we shall not be—diverted from our course.
To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catchphrase, the “U” turn, I have only one thing to say. “You turn if you want to. The lady’s not for turning.” I say that not only to you but to our friends overseas and also to those who are not our friends.
Sense and Sensibility, the Oscars Acceptance Speech
Emma Thompson, 1996
Anthony Hopkins: And the Oscar for Best Screenplay Adaption is awarded to … Emma Thompson… for “Sense and Sensibility”.
Emma Thompson: I don’t really know how to thank the Academy for this. And if I try we’ll be here till Christmas, so I better get on. Before I came I went to visit Jane Austen’s grave in Winchester Cathedral to pay my respects, you know, and to tell her about the grosses. And I don’t know how she would react to an evening like this but I do hope, I do hope she knows how big she is in Uruguay. Profound thanks to Columbia Pictures and the lovely forms of Lisa Henson, Gareth Wigan, and Mark Canton for hiring a first-time writer. To James Schamus, for his rare intelligence. And to Sydney Pollack, for asking all the right questions like, why couldn’t these women go out and get a job? Why, indeed! And to the cast and crew, for being impeccable. To my friend and my teacher, Lindsay Doran, for being the single, most frustrating reason why I can’t claim all the credit for myself. And finally I would like, with your permission, to dedicate this Oscar to our director Ang Lee. Ang, wherever you are, this is for you.
Don't Mind the Language
Stephen Fry, 2008
part I
For me, it is a cause of some upset that more Anglophones don’t enjoy language. Music is enjoyable it seems, so are dance and other, athletic forms of movement. People seem to be able to find sensual and sensuous pleasure in almost anything but words these days. Words, it seems belong to other people, anyone who expresses themselves with originality, delight and verbal freshness is more likely to be mocked, distrusted or disliked than welcomed. The free and happy use of words appears to be considered elitist or pretentious.
part II
Sadly, desperately sadly, the only people who seem to bother with language in public today bother with it in quite the wrong way. They write letters to broadcasters and newspapers in which they are rude and haughty about other people’s usage and in which they show off their own superior ‘knowledge’ of how language should be. I hate that, and I particularly hate the fact that so many of these pedants assume that I’m on their side. When asked to join in a “let’s persuade this supermarket chain to get rid of their ‘five items or less’ sign” I never join in. Yes, I am aware of the technical distinction between ‘less’ and ‘fewer’, and between ‘uninterested’ and ‘disinterested’ and ‘infer’ and ‘imply’, but none of these are of importance to me. ‘None of these are of importance,’ I wrote there, you’ll notice – the old pedantic me would have insisted on “none of them is of importance”. Well I’m glad to say I’ve outgrown that silly approach to language.
Oscar Wilde, and there have been few greater and more complete lords of language in the past thousand years, once included with a manuscript he was delivering to his publishers a compliment slip in which he had scribbled the injunction: “I’ll leave you to tidy up the woulds and shoulds, wills and shalls, thats and whiches &c.” Which gives us all encouragement to feel less guilty, don’t you think?
part III
There are all kinds of pedants around with more time to read and imitate Lynne Truss and John Humphrys than to write poems, love-letters, novels and stories it seems. They whip out their Sharpies and take away and add apostrophes from public signs, shake their heads at prepositions which end sentences and mutter at split infinitives and misspellings, but do they bubble and froth and slobber and cream with joy at language? Do they ever let the tripping of the tips of their tongues against the tops of their teeth transport them to giddy euphoric bliss? Do they ever yoke impossible words together for the sound-sex of it? Do they use language to seduce, charm, excite, please, affirm and tickle those they talk to? Do they? I doubt it. They’re too farting busy sneering at a greengrocer’s less than perfect use of the apostrophe. Well sod them to Hades. They think they’re guardians of language. They’re no more guardians of language than the Kennel Club is the guardian of dogkind.
Make My Money Matter (Oblivia Coalmine)
Olivia Colman, 2023
Hello, my name is Oblivia Coalmine. And on behalf of the fossil fuel industries, I would like to say a huge thank you for all your support this bumper year. People like you have pumped billions of your hard earned pounds into our gas and oil businesses.
The cash from your pensions has helped us dig, drill, and destroy more of the planet than ever before. We’ve even managed to build few little wind turbines to keep Greta and her chums happy. Cute. You see, every little drop from your precious nest egg adds up.
So while the global temperature may go up a teensy, weensy degree or two, our profits are literally soaring. And that’s all thanks to you. So to guarantee us all a warmer, snugglier future, please keep sending your pensions our way. You know the drill.
Oh fracking hell!
OK, start. again. Start again.
– Yes.
The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination
JK Rowling, 2008
part I
The first thing I would like to say is ‘thank you.’ Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I have endured at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight. A win-win situation! Now all I have to do is take deep breaths, squint at the red banners and convince myself that I am at the world’s largest Gryffindor reunion.
Delivering a commencement address is a great responsibility; or so I thought until I cast my mind back to my own graduation. The commencement speaker that day was the distinguished British philosopher Baroness Mary Warnock. Reflecting on her speech has helped me enormously in writing this one, because it turns out that I can’t remember a single word she said. This liberating discovery enables me to proceed without any fear that I might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising careers in business, the law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard.
You see? If all you remember in years to come is the ‘gay wizard’ joke, I’ve come out ahead of Baroness Mary Warnock. Achievable goals: the first step to self improvement.
part II
Actually, I have wracked my mind and heart for what I ought to say to you today. I have asked myself what I wish I had known at my own graduation, and what important lessons I have learned in the 21 years that have expired between that day and this.
I have come up with two answers. On this wonderful day when we are gathered together to celebrate your academic success, I have decided to talk to you about the benefits of failure. And as you stand on the threshold of what is sometimes called ‘real life’, I want to extol the crucial importance of imagination.
These may seem quixotic or paradoxical choices, but please bear with me.
part III
I am nearly finished. I have one last hope for you, which is something that I already had at 21. The friends with whom I sat on graduation day have been my friends for life. They are my children’s godparents, the people to whom I’ve been able to turn in times of trouble, people who have been kind enough not to sue me when I took their names for Death Eaters. At our graduation we were bound by enormous affection, by our shared experience of a time that could never come again, and, of course, by the knowledge that we held certain photographic evidence that would be exceptionally valuable if any of us ran for Prime Minister.
So today, I wish you nothing better than similar friendships. And tomorrow, I hope that even if you remember not a single word of mine, you remember those of Seneca, another of those old Romans I met when I fled down the Classics corridor, in retreat from career ladders, in search of ancient wisdom:
As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.
I wish you all very good lives.
Thank-you very much.
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