Susan B. Anthony's suffrage speech: 1 of the Top 10 greatest speeches

Posted on 06-18-2015 by Tracie Morris
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History has given us countless memorable speeches (and no I’m not talking about the speech from ‘Independence Day’). From Fredrick Douglas to Abraham Lincoln these speeches have served as benchmarks of history. According to Time here are the top 10 greatest speeches and their most memorable line:

1. Socrates ‘Apology’- 4th century B.C.

Best Line : "The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways — I to die, and you to live. Which is better God only knows." Full Speech >>

 

2. Patrick Henry ‘Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death’ – 1775

Best Line: "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! — I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" Full Speech >>

 

3. Fredrick Douglas ‘The Hypocrisy of American Slavery’-1852

Best Line: "Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future."
Full Speech>>

 

4. Abraham Lincoln ‘Gettysburg Address’- 1863

Best Line: "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." Full Speech >>

 

5. Susan B. Anthony ‘Women's Rights to the Suffrage’- 1873

Best Line: "It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union. And we formed it, not to give the blessings of liberty, but to secure them; not to the half of ourselves and the half of our posterity, but to the whole people — women as well as men." Full Speech >>

 

6. Winston Churchill ‘Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat’- 1940

Best Line: "You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy." Full Speech >>

 

7. John F. Kennedy ‘Inaugural Address’ -1961

Best Line: "My fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country." Full Speech >>

 

8. Martin Luther King Jr. ‘I Have a Dream’-1963

Best Line: "We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy." Full Speech >>

 

9. Lyndon B. Johnson ‘The American Promise’-1965

Best Line: "There is no moral issue. It is wrong — deadly wrong — to deny any of your fellow Americans the right to vote in this country. There is no issue of States rights or national rights. There is only the struggle for human rights. I have not the slightest doubt what will be your answer." Full Speech >>

 

10. Ronald Reagan ‘Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate’-1987

Best Line: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" Full Speech >>