7 Speeches That Will Make You Cry (A Lot)

From Oscar acceptance speeches to TED talks to some potent movie scenes, we’ve gone through hundreds of boxes of Kleenex and monogrammed handkerchiefs to bring to you the very best of the saddest.

1. Halle Berry’s Best Actress Oscar Speech

This historical moment marked the first time a black woman has won the coveted Best Actress award, and is reflected in the minute or so where Halle Berry composes herself. She does so wonderfully, and utters the now-famous words: “this moment is so much bigger than me.”

2. Carl Sagan’s “The Frontier is Everywhere”

Sometimes we feel like crying “in a good way,” which is exactly what Carl Sagan’s speech about the future of humanity could look like does for us.

3. Harvey Milk’s “Give Them Hope”

“Without hope, the “us’s” give up. I know that you cannot live on hope alone. But without it, life is not worth living.” At just over two minutes, this speech beautifully expresses Harvey Milk’s vision as the first openly gay person elected in office. It still resonates powerfully with us today, 30-plus years later.

4. Sherwin Nuland’s TED Talk: “How Electroshock Therapy Changed Me”

There are so many examples of beautiful, personal TED talks. But there is no better example of this than Sherwin Nuland’s vivid talk about his struggle with depression and his experience with second chances.

5. Morgan Freeman in “The Shawshank Redemption”

While this entire movie has the power to make us cry, Morgan Freeman was hand-picked to kill our emotions with this perfect final speech.

6. Amy Poehler’s Speech at “The Power of Women”

“Who are we to be in this room, and live in this life, without helping them?” Comedian Amy Poehler shows a personal, heartfelt side to herself in this speech about caring for our world orphans.

7. Al Pacino’s Speech in “Any Given Sunday”

“Either we heal as a team or crumble.” This wouldn’t be a serious list without including at least one potent coach pep-talk. No one does it better than the high-energy, maybe-a-little-crazy Al Pacino.

If you’re looking for anyone from the Ethos3 team, we’ll be locked in the bathroom loudly weeping.

Question: What’s the last speech you saw that made you cry?





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