Wednesday 20 June 2012

A Great Speech for Humanity's Sake



The wonderful speech from The movie "The Great Dictator" featuring Charlie Chaplin.


I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an Emperor - that's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone, if possible -- Jew, gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another; human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there's room for everyone and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone.

The way of life can be free and beautiful.

But we have lost the way.

Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.

The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women, and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.

To those who can hear me I say, "Do not despair." The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass and dictators die; and the power they took from the people will return to the people and so long as men die, liberty will never perish.

Soldiers: Don't give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you, enslave you, who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel; who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men, machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don't hate; only the unloved hate, the unloved and the unnatural.

Soldiers: Don't fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written, "the kingdom of God is within man" -- not one man, nor a group of men, but in all men, in you, you the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.

Then, in the name of democracy, let us use that power! Let us all unite!! Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give you the future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie! They do not fulfill their promise; they never will. Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people!! Now, let us fight to fulfill that promise!! Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness.

Soldiers: In the name of democracy, let us all unite!!!

15 comments:

  1. The last line is highly needed in India now!

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  2. A very strong message. I sincerely wish it reaches everyone!

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  3. Awesome speech. So much to learn and re-learn from this message.Some 50 yrs later we will still need this message, still need to read and ooh and aah about it and do nothing...:(

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  4. Yes.. that is an eye-opener even in todays times. We are overwhelmed in feelings of greed, anger and lust and unless we learn to live in simplicity, appreciating the beauty that is life - we are creating our own doom!

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  5. This is an epic and makes Chaplin what he was.

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  6. Nice Post!
    Keep it Up!
    Thank You!

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  7. Thanks for sharing. Indeed a great message for humanity

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  8. Great post..:-)
    Award waiting for you..:-)
    http://ahomemakersutopia.blogspot.in/2012/06/awards-galore.html

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  9. The problem is, it was a little preachy and didn't fit in the context of the film. This is where Chaplin got fed up of being a comedian. Personally, I think he could have given more thought to it, and tried to integrate the message into his work better. Noble sentiments, though, no doubt. And beautifully written. Just that it's someone else.

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come on! scribble down whats in your heart!