In fact, I would say that Nelson Mandela (I am prepared to die), which he gave from the dock during the Rivonia Trial, Pretoria Supreme Court, 20 April 1964... is my favorite.

There is a very funny speech by S. Dali in one of the very few occasions he was honored. Dali comes to the front and says: "I shall be brief: Thank you", and steps back down.

@Carlos. Some people say that is the best academic speech ever

Please, take a look at this speech, who gave an 11-year-old girl. She speaks Spanish, but, if you don´t understand, just listen to her voice and look at her gestures! I think it´s wonderful!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_QR2ZmH7qM

Martin Luther King - I Have A Dream Speech - August 28, 1963

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs

Dear Dr Kamal

Here is the transcript of the speech by Martin Luther King Jr.

http://www.archives.gov/press/exhibits/dream-speech.pdf

Dear Jesús, Thank you very much for that lovely video.

For those who do not have a Spanish translation, this is video of a little Mexican indigenous girl with a strong sense of mankind. Her name is Natalia López, and she recalls the indigenous traditions and the impotence of culture as nurture and seeds for living well. Amazing this speech, from a little girl. Fantastic!

Now, as for M. Luther King, let's remember that his speech was improvised when he got lost the original speech he had prepared.

Dear Jesus,

I agree with Lewis Kausel, yes steve jobs is the best .Please take a look at his speech.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAs867sz9oE

I agree with Kamal and Nageswara. I have a dream is a wonderful speech.

Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood is very good as well.

On September 18, 2007, Carnegie Mellon professor and alumnus Randy Pausch delivered a one-of-a-kind last lecture that made the world stop and pay attention.

It became an internet sensation viewed by millions, an international media story, and a best-selling book that has been published in more than 35 languages

http://www.cmu.edu/randyslecture/

@Kamal.

I haven´t found any English translation of Natalie´s speech yet. Sorry

Dear C. Lewis and Rex.

I totally agree. I´ve watched Steve Jobs´speech so many times!

I don´t know if you know this one. Very different situation but a great speech as well

Mr Jobs knew how to adapt his speeches to his audience, definitely.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_m2F_ph_uU

@Behrouz.

Randy Pausch´s speech is very impressive! Not only in terms of public speaking skills, but also in terms of human nature.

Major Dragutin Gavrilovic, remembered in Serbian history books for his dramatic order to his troops issued on October 7, 1915, the first day of the defense of Belgrade against the Austro-Hungarian and German attack during the First World War! His words: "Soldiers, exactly at three o'clock, the enemy is to be crushed by your fierce charge, destroyed by your grenades and bayonets. The honor of Belgrade, our capital, must not be stained. Soldiers! Heroes! The supreme command has erased our regiment from its records. Our regiment has been sacrificed for the honor of Belgrade and the Fatherland. Therefore, you no longer need to worry about your lives: they no longer exist. So, forward to glory! For the King and the Fatherland! Long live the King, Long live Belgrade!"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragutin_Gavrilovi%C4%87

I do not have to choose just one! I Like all

@Demosthenes

@Martin Luther King

@John F. Kennedy (Inauguration address)

@Nelson Mandela (I am prepared to die),

@Jobs speach,

and lately Crimean speech of Vladimir Putin:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean_speech_of_Vladimir_Putin

Though I have heard the speeches of some of the above mentioned big personalities...

The YES WE CAN of Barack Obama during his first term election was scintillating....

The RICH DAD POOR DAD speech of Robert Kiyosaki, has jettisoned Multilevel Marketing....

The LAST LECTURE by Prof. Randy Pausch, counting days due to pancreatic cancer...

@ Cecilia

I have just watched Steve Jobs speech at Stanford University and I must say that it is indeed by far the best speech I have evern heard. It encompasses the best virtues of the humankind, it is full of sound advice, yet it simplicity reflects the clarity of mind that characterises Steve Jobs as certainly one of the greatest minds of the century.

Many thanks for your answers.

Now, I would like to take your attention to another great communicator, at least in my opinion. His name is Hans Rosling, and he´s Swedish.

He usually combines enormous quantities of public data with an effective use of visual materials and, of course, a very original style.

Here you can find two of his most famous presentations:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTznEIZRkLg

@Jesus, Hans Rosling is very impressive! Good example! What do You think about this "The 35 Greatest Speeches in History"!

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/08/01/the-35-greatest-speeches-in-history/

"This is Charlie Chaplin's final speech in The Great Dictator, and is unarguably the greatest speech ever given. Please consider these dear words and their relevance to our current state of affairs. This speech is a must see!" Read More: http://www.knowledgeoftoday.org/2013/09/the-greatest-speech-ever-made.html

@Ljubomir. Of course, Chaplin´s final sppech in that film is also very impressive and it´s one of my favourites.

And, yes, I know that webpage. All of them are great speeches, definitely. But I miss some speeches which have been given in a more recent years, specially the one by Steve Jobs which some of us have mentioned before.

Will this contribution be well enough, Steve Jobs speech at Stanford University!?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFi4zNJ7AxQ

Thanks, Ljubomir.

I think that Steve Jobs speech at Stanford University is arguably one of the 10 best speeches ever.

Excellent suggestions Dear Ljubomir. Jobs's speech is definitely one of the best. He was a great leader in every aspect.

@Shafig.

All of them are very good speeches.

I specially like Socrates - Apology.

Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln.

"government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm

I agree dear Kamal, and that is our fate.

It's not "real", but how about this speech? :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FMNFvKEy4c

@Nermin, @Ljubomic mentioned it before. A very good speech! Absolutely

Dear All,

It is "easy" to be a good speaker using one's native language...

Lajos Kossuth a Hungarian lawyer, journalist, politician and Regent-President of the Kingdom of Hungary during the revolution of 1848–49 was a famous public speaker not only in his native Hungarian but also in English.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lajos_Kossuth#US

He was deeply honoured during his lifetime, including in the United Kingdom and the United States, as a freedom fighter and a representative of European democracy.

He visited in 1851 the United Kingdom and at each place he spoke eloquently in English for the Hungarian cause.

Having learned English during an earlier political imprisonment with the aid of a volume of Shakespeare, his spoken English was 'wonderfully archaic' and theatrical.

The Times, generally cool towards the revolutionaries of 1848 in general and Kossuth in particular, nevertheless reported that his speeches were 'clear' and that a three-hour talk was not unusual for him; and also, that if he was occasionally overcome by emotion when describing the defeat of Hungarian aspirations, 'it did not at all reduce his effectiveness'.

At Southampton, he was greeted by a crowd of thousands outside the Lord Mayor's balcony, who presented him with a flag of the Hungarian Republic. The City of London Corporation accompanied him in procession through the City, and the way to the Guildhall was lined by thousands of cheering people. He went thereafter to Winchester, Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham; at Birmingham the crowd that gathered to see him ride under the triumphal arches erected for his visit was described, even by his severest critics, as 75,000 individuals.

Back in London he addressed the Trades Unions at Copenhagen Fields in Islington. Some twelve thousand 'respectable artisans' formed a parade at Russell Square and marched out to meet him. At the Fields themselves, the crowd was enormous; the Times estimated it conservatively at 25,000, while the Morning Chronicle described it as 50,000, and the demonstrators themselves 100,000.

@András.It is a very impressive story!

@Kamal, those are very good examples, specially the second one

What about this one?

Do you knoe Nick Vujicic? It is also very impressive to me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zeb-k-XzaI

I have met Nik Vujicic! I have attended his lecture, the show! I have read his book! His origin is from my country!

http://books.google.rs/books/about/Unstoppable.html?id=bTHYqpZ3GvYC&redir_esc=y

I completely agree with you, Cecilia.

It sounds totally genuine to me.

@Ljubomir, I suppose you enjoyed the show! What a great experience!

Dear Jesus, I could not describe to You. It has to bee watched! Nick travels all over the world and gives his lecture! I do hope that You will have a chance to watch it and listen alive! He spreads hope all over the world. In a meantime, here is link to his web page!

http://www.nickvujicic.com/

Dear All,

An excerpt of the last speech of Lajos Kossuth at the age of 90

A világ birája, a történelem fog e kérdésre felelni.

Legyenek a szentemlékű vértanúk megáldottak poraikban, szellemeikben a hon szabadság Istenének legjobb áldásaival az örökké valóságon keresztűl; engem, ki nem borúlhatok le a magyar Golgota porába, engem October 6ka térdeimre borúlva fog hontalanságom remete lakában látni a mint az engem kitagadott Haza felé nyujtva agg karjaimat a hála hő érzelmével áldom a vértanúk szent emlékét hűségükért a Haza iránt, 's a magasztos példáért, melyet az utódóknak adtanak; 's buzgó imával kérem a magyarok Istenét hogy tegye diadalmassá a velőkig ható szózatot, mely Hungária ajkairol a magyar nemzethez zeng. Úgy legyen. Amen!

Turin September 20 1890.

My English translation of this passage:

The judge of the world, the history will answer this question. The martyrs of sacred memory should be blessed in their dusts and spirits with the best blessings of the fatherland’s freedom through the eternity. The 6th October will see me fallen on my knees in the hermitage of my statelessness as I stretch out my aged arms with fervent feelings of gratitude towards the fatherland which disinherited me, and I bless the sacred memory of martyrs for their fidelity towards the fatherland and for the example of high ideals given to the descendants, and I ask the God of Hungarians with eager prayer to make triumphant the blood-curdling appeal resounding from the lips of Hungaria to the Hungarian nation. To be like that. Amen!

Torino September 20 1890.

Notes:

The question asked former in the speech: Are Hungarians able to hear and listen to the permanent question on independence and freedom?

Hungaria: 1. An imaginary stone statue representing Hungary and the Hungarian nation after the Revolution of 1848-49; 2. Hungary in Latin.

Hungarian Revolution of 1848 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_Revolution_of_1848

martyrs: The Thirteen Martyrs of Arad but practically all Hungarians died for the Hungarian independence during the revolution.

6th October: The Thirteen Martyrs of Arad were the thirteen Hungarian rebel generals who were executed by the Austrian Empire on 6 October 1849 in the city of Arad, then a part of Hungary, after the Hungarian Revolution (1848–1849). The execution was ordered by the Austrian general Julius Jacob von Haynau.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_13_Martyrs_of_Arad

hermitage of my statelessness: Lajos Kossuth lived in exile in Italy during his lifetime.

the recording of the speech in 1890

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_SBwVB83WU

The Thirteen Martyrs of Arad

@András, that´s great!

Now, let me know what you think about some great speeches from TV shows.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcBCh9KC2mY

Regards

Steve Jobs , THE MAN who understand the opposite mind .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO6cFMRqXqU

@Rex, many thanks.

Somebody mentioned that speech before.

It´s a really great speech.

Regards

The best speech ever, was from a nightingale I heard an early morning!

@Costas, you should have recorded it and post it on youtube!

@Costas, could you please give us more details about the speech?

Dear Jesus,

You have to experience such an event! No details are sufficient.

The best speech for me is on that has a lasting message: Billy Graham the Cross!

   For me, The greatest sppech(es) that we have known is that of Abraham Lincoln's Gettyburg Address, since it decribes the American Democratic Ideal with very approachable words. The other would be Winston's Churchill's "Never Surrender" speech to the British populace in the face of almost certain invasion by the Nazi's. Nothing quite captures the absolute resolve of a people to fight and die in defense of their beliefs quite this way 

C.N.Annadurai speech in Parliament

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNKYJlrpXrc

Ronald Reagan's " Tear down this wall " in Berlin, Germany .

Here is the fact: we surely have Great Speeches by Great Speakers; the very greatest however, depends on the relevance of the message to world and time of the person who answers the question of what the Greatest Speech ever should be. I suppose it would only be fair to these great minds [the speakers] not to over-compare unnecessarily as they lived at various times, faced different challenges and addressed different situations.

One of my favorites (perhaps lesser known) is from Jim Valvano, former coach of the North Carolina State University Men's Basketball Program.  It is called "Cutting Down the Nets."  Most people know of his ESPN ESPY's Speech that started the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research, but this one came first before his cancer diagnosis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXwimBa1s8k

I am an African " by the former President of South Africa - Mr Thabo Mbeki