American Rhetoric: Movie Speech

"Chariots of Fire" (1981)

Master of Caius: Exhortation to the 1919 Cambridge University Freshman Class

Audio mp3 delivered by Lindsay Anderson

 

Master of Caius:

I take the war list and I run down it,

name after name, which I cannot read,

and which we, who are older than you,

cannot hear without emotion;

 

names which will be only names to you, the new College,

but which to us summon up face after face,

full of honesty and goodness,

zeal and vigor,

and intellectual promise;

the flower of a generation,

the glory of England;

and they died for England

and all that England stands for.

 

And now by tragic necessity

their dreams have become yours.

Let me exhort you: examine yourselves.

Let each of you discover

where your true chance of greatness lies.

For their sakes,

for the sake of your College and your country,

seize this chance,

rejoice in it,

and let no power or persuasion

deter you in your task.