11 Quotes That Changed the World

“The pen is mightier than the sword” — so wrote the novelist and playwright Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839, coining an adage that still holds true today. The phrase speaks to the power of words, whether written or spoken, and their effectiveness as a means for bringing about social or political change.

The efficacy of words has been proven time and time again throughout history, in rousing speeches and passionate addresses that have inspired deeds both heroic and horrific. Verbal declarations have also marked pivotal moments in human history, be it walking on the moon or the testing of the first atomic bomb. Words have reinforced our optimism in times of light and have helped us comprehend the incomprehensible in times of darkness.

Here are several quotes that have inspired or accompanied truly world-changing events, from famous figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Martin Luther King Jr.

In 1588, with England under threat of imminent invasion by the Spanish Armada, Queen Elizabeth I rode out in silver armor and delivered a rousing speech to her troops at Tilbury. A defining moment in British history, this helped Elizabeth turn the small island nation into a major global power — which would eventually forge the biggest empire in human history, largely due to rampant colonialism.

Despite being a mere 272 words long, Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address remains one of the most important speeches in American history. Delivered in 1863 during the brutal American Civil War, it spoke to the past, present, and future of a nation not yet 100 years old. The speech has had an enduring impact not only on the U.S., but on a number of democracies around the world.

In 1913, Emmeline Pankhurst, the leader of the British suffragette movement, delivered her famous “Freedom or Death” speech in Hartford, Connecticut, stressing the need for radical action and perseverance. It was a powerful and inspiring moment in the fight for women’s right to vote, which was eventually granted in the U.S. (1920) and in Britain (1928).

With France about to fall to Nazi Germany and a potential invasion of Britain on the horizon, Winston Churchill delivered arguably the most important speech of World War II. He entered the House of Commons on June 4, 1940, and delivered a rousing address to his people, galvanizing the national will to fight on until the very end, while also capturing the attention of the U.S., which at the time was reluctant to enter the war.

On July 16, 1945, J. Robert Oppenheimer, known as the “father of the atomic bomb,” witnessed the terrible destructive power that he and the other members of the Manhattan Project had brought into the world. After watching the world's first nuclear explosion, he quoted a verse from the ancient Hindu text “Bhagavad Gita.”

Though not his own, the words have become synonymous with the usage of nuclear weapons, which introduced a catastrophic new dimension to global conflict.

In September 1948, Eleanor Roosevelt delivered a speech at the Sorbonne in Paris regarding a milestone document drawn up by the newly formed United Nations: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

This document and the rights defined within it were controversial at the time, but Roosevelt’s passionate endorsement (she called it her “most important task” while at the U.N.) helped push through the comprehensive declaration that, for the first time, defined the fundamental human rights that merit universal protection.

Ronald Reagan delivered his famous speech at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin on June 12, 1987. Despite senior advisers cautioning him against using the phrase, Reagan nonetheless urged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down” the infamous Berlin Wall in what would become one of the U.S. President’s most famous speeches. Removal of the wall, which had encircled West Berlin since 1961, began in 1990.

The original “moonshot” effort began in earnest on September 12, 1962, when President Kennedy gave a speech at Rice University in Houston, Texas. His passionate address was designed to bolster public support for his proposal to land a man on the moon before 1970. The mission was completed ahead of schedule when, on July 16, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the lunar surface.

On August 28, 1963, during the March on Washington, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. A defining moment of the civil rights movement, it’s best remembered for the iconic refrain “I have a dream” — a part of the speech that was actually improvised.

Caught up in the spirit of the moment, King began riffing, which prompted his speechwriter, Clarence B. Jones, to tell the person next to him, “These people out there today don’t know it yet, but they’re about to go to church.”

Nelson Mandela began his defense in the 1964 Rivonia Trial with a speech from the defendant’s dock that lasted three hours. As a Black man in a white man’s court — accused of sabotage, communism, and aiding foreign powers — he bravely critiqued apartheid and injustice, famously declaring his willingness to die for his cause. He was found guilty and served 27 years of his sentence before being released and elected president of South Africa.

On August 6, 1991, English computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee invited the public to collaborate with him on his World Wide Web project, which, at the time, was hosted on his NeXT computer. It was a truly revolutionary moment that reshaped the future of society, forever changing the way we access information, communicate with each other, and share photos of grumpy cats.

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