ROUND 1 IMPROMPTU: HISTORY AND HISTORY-MAKERS
SPEAKER 1
90 percent of my time is spent on 10 percent of the world. Colin Powell
The future has a way of arriving unannounced. George Will
Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. Confucius
SPEAKER 2
History is a tool used by politicians to justify their intentions. Ted Koppel
A pint of sweat, saves a gallon of blood. George S. Patton
A world without nuclear weapons would be less stable and more dangerous for all of us. Margaret Thatcher
SPEAKER 3
A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of
history. Mohandas Gandhi
Being president is like being a jackass in a hailstorm. There's nothing to do but to stand there and take it.
Lyndon B. Johnson
The past actually happened but history is only what someone wrote down. A. Whitney Brown
SPEAKER 4
Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit. Henry B. Adams
Civilization is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a harbor. Arnold J. Toynbee
I have noticed that nothing I never said ever did me any harm. Calvin Coolidge
SPEAKER 5
Difficulty is the excuse history never accepts. Edward R. Murrow
Failure is impossible. Susan B. Anthony
I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past. Thomas Jefferson
SPEAKER 6
It is the soothing thing about history that it does repeat itself. Gertrude Stein
Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done.
Louis D. Brandeis
Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. H. G. Wells
SPEAKER 7
Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever. Napoleon Bonaparte
History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies.
Honor is not the exclusive property of any political party. Herbert Hoover
Alexis de Tocqueville
ROUND 2 IMPROMPTU: ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
SPEAKER 1
A man paints with his brains and not with his hands. Michelangelo
Audiences like their blues singers to be miserable. Janis Joplin
An artist is somebody who produces things that people don't need to have.
Andy Warhol
SPEAKER 2
It is strange, but nobody is shocked when pop singers make a fortune in the space of two years.
Placido Domingo
Art doesn't transform. It just plain forms. Roy Lichtenstein
Most chick singers say 'if you hurt me, I'll die'... I say, 'if you hurt me, I'll kick your ass.' Pat Benatar
SPEAKER 3
Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known. Oscar Wilde
Art is the only way to run away without leaving home. Twyla Tharp
Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. Pablo Picasso
SPEAKER 4
The way I see it, all the popular singers are strippers. Juliana Hatfield
Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything.
You've got to separate the singer and the songs. Van Morrison
Gustave Flaubert
SPEAKER 5
I've never written a political song. Songs can't save the world. I've gone through all that. Bob Dylan
Drawing is like making an expressive gesture with the advantage of permanence. Henri Matisse
There are more love songs than anything else. If songs could make you do something we'd all love one
another. Frank Zappa
SPEAKER 6
Even a true artist does not always produce art. Carroll O'Connor
If there's not drama and negativity in my life, all my songs will be really wack and boring or something.
Eminem
Every artist was first an amateur. Ralph Waldo Emerson
SPEAKER 7
Strangely, some songs you really don't want to write. David Bowie
Every good painter paints what he is. Jackson Pollock
I must be careful not to get trapped in the past. That's why I tend to forget my songs.
Mick Jagger
ROUND 3 IMPROMPTU: The Power of Speech
SPEAKER 1
Free speech carries with it some freedom to listen. Warren E. Burger
A story is told as much by silence as by speech. Susan Griffin
It usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech. Mark Twain
SPEAKER 2
A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions. Confucius
Mind your speech a little lest you should mar your fortunes. William Shakespeare
Look wise, say nothing, and grunt. Speech was given to conceal thought. William Osler
SPEAKER 3
Silence remains, inescapably, a form of speech. Susan Sontag
All speech is vain and empty unless it be accompanied by action. Demosthenes
Speech is the mirror of the soul. Publilius Syrus
SPEAKER 4
Speech is civilization itself. Thomas Mann
Ignorant free speech often works against the speaker. That is one of several reasons why it must be given rein
instead of suppressed. Anna Quindlen
Eloquent speech is not from lip to ear, but rather from heart to heart. William Jennings Bryan
SPEAKER 5
It is easy to believe in freedom of speech for those with whom we agree. Leo McKern
The strangest thing that human speech and human writing can do is create a metaphor. That is an amazing
leap, is it not? Dennis Potter
Speeches are not magic and there is no great speech without great policy. Peggy Noonan
SPEAKER 6
Great wisdom is generous; petty wisdom is contentious. Great speech is impassioned, small speech
cantankerous. Zhuang Zi
Free speech means the right to shout 'theatre' in a crowded fire. Abbie Hoffman
Speak when you are angry - and you'll make the best speech you'll ever regret. Laurence J. Peter
SPEAKER 7
Much speech is one thing, well-timed speech is another. Sophocles
Laughter is, after speech, the chief thing that holds society together. Max Eastman
Without free speech no search for truth is possible... no discovery of truth is useful. Charles Bradlaugh