It was an ordinary day. Reading stories, quotes, and just plain words that are capable of changing the course of history. Words can impart comforting knowledge in the face of adversity as well as inspire others to great feats and discoveries. Follow along with me and see how many of the following you may remember from the past....
A. I know I have the body but of a weak, feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm. Queen Elizabeth I
In 1588, while awaiting an expected invasion by the Spanish Armada, Queen Elizabeth I addressed her troops gathered at Tilbury, England. Elizabeth, dressed in a white velvet dress and wearing a breastplate, rode among her troops upon a gray horse, cutting an almost mythical figure. While her rousing speech didn’t directly affect the outcome of the failed Armada, the English had a newfound faith in their queen, which would help make the small nation a world power.
B. That from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. Abraham Lincoln
On November 19, 1863 — a little over four months after Union armies defeated the Confederacy at the decisive Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War — President Lincoln delivered a short speech in honor of those who died in defense of freedom. The total speech was only about 272 words long (the precise wording is disputed), but the Gettysburg Address remains one of the most important speeches in U.S. history and a turning point in the Civil War.
C. We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard. John F. Kennedy
President John F. Kennedy’s speech at Rice University in 1962 made NASA’s fledgling Apollo program a national priority. In doing so, he paved the way for one of humankind’s greatest achievements: stepping onto the lunar surface in 1969. The speech had far-reaching consequences, not only for the space race but for space exploration for decades to come.
D. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. Martin Luther King Jr.
On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered what would become a defining moment of the civil rights movement — and one of the most iconic speeches in U.S. history. King addressed the crowd of some 250,000 civil rights supporters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, calling for an end to racism in the United States, and civil and economic rights for all citizens.
It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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