Stories are one of the most important, insightful, and inspiring means of getting your point across in a speech. People relate to and remember stories. A story can be about you, a famous person, someone known or even unknown to the audience. With even fewer words, the right quote can tell a story. They are the shortest of short stories.

Quotes are brief, proverbial, and often come with a narrative context. Some professional speakers recommend quotes to make a point; they are memorable. Quotes don’t always need to be your own, and although some are worn out, trite, and overused, many will make your point while set in the context of a good story.

Facing Adversity

Suppose your speech is trying to motivate your audience to persevere through adversity. You could say, “When you’re going through hell, keep going.” At first glance that may not sound like the best advice, and unless you have a personal record of staring down adversity and conquering it, people may reject your advice.

However, if you inform your audience that this is a quote from Winston Churchill, the story of his struggle to lead England through the hell of WWII suddenly comes to mind. If you save that revelation to the end of your point, the audience will be surprised that this quote really does make sense.

Freedom of Speech

“Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one’s thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist.” In today’s climate freedom of speech has become a hot topic, especially when many college campuses limit it. At first glance, this statement could pigeonhole you as someone on a certain side of the political spectrum.

As with the previous example, however, there is a surprise waiting for the listener along with an entirely different context than they might be expecting. Delaying the originator of that quote by revealing the entire quote will build the tension even further. “That, of all rights, is the dread of tyrants. It is the right which they first of all strike down.” After a bit more discussion about the importance of free speech, now it is time to reveal your source: none other than Frederick Douglass, abolitionist and former slave. His personal story to keep exposing the evils of slavery needs no explanation.

Facts over Emotion

For this next quote, take a slightly different approach. Begin by telling a story of the Boston Massacre without naming the incident or the people involved. Tell it in such a way that it sounds like a case today in which people find someone guilty in the court of public opinion because the person is disliked or is on the wrong side of public sentiment.

The lawyer defending the accused appealed to the jury by asserting, “Facts are stubborn things.” Here is the rest of the quote, “and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictums of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” He was addressing the very problem of allowing emotions to cloud our judgment. Emotions often cloud people’s thinking. People want what they want sometimes despite what plainly stares them in the face.

So, what is the story behind this quote? John Adams was a lawyer as well as an American supporter of the Revolutionary War. Despite negative feelings running high against the British, and despite the unpopularity of the case, Adams defended the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre.

He knew that public opinion had convicted those soldiers, but his appeal for the jury to transcend their feelings and consider the facts of the case won an acquittal for all but one of the soldiers, and he received only a minor punishment. “Facts are stubborn things” tells quite a story.

Conclusion

Quotes can be even more inspiring when the story behind them is revealed. As always, people will remember and recognize not only the story, but the quote itself. Gather some good ones for your next speech.

© 2025 Robert Weber, Words Done Right LLC