Volume I

Speeches They Never Gave

By Figures from History & Literature

History's greatest minds, back at the podium one last time. The speeches they never gave — imagined, and written in their own voices.

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Compiled by Richard Chemel

Cover of Speeches They Never Gave, Volume One, compiled by Richard Chemel: a riverboat at dusk framed by the names of fifty figures from history and literature

What if they had one more thing to say?

Lincoln, Einstein, Twain, Tesla, Churchill… their words echo through the centuries. But what about the speeches they never delivered?

Richard Chemel imagines what they might have said — every speech short, thoughtful, and just a little mischievous, written to sound exactly the way you always pictured them.

Bonus Speech — Free to Read

She was on the original cover. Look at this one closely — she isn't on it anymore.

I

Fifty Voices

Inventors, presidents, philosophers and explorers — plus the great characters of fiction.

II

Short & Riveting

Every speech is a quick read, made to be savored and shared.

III

Food for Thought

Imagined words with real weight — the best wisdom never said.

Now Taking the Stage

The Speakers

Leonardo da Vinci Mark Twain Abraham Lincoln Nikola Tesla Albert Einstein George Washington Benjamin Franklin Henry Ford Winston Churchill Theodore Roosevelt Thomas Jefferson Charles Darwin Marie Curie Galileo Galilei Isaac Newton Socrates Plato Aristotle Confucius William Shakespeare Jane Austen Charles Dickens Julius Caesar Cleopatra Amelia Earhart Christopher Columbus Ernest Shackleton Marco Polo Moses King Solomon Jesus of Nazareth St. Paul Florence Nightingale Alexander Graham Bell George Eastman P.T. Barnum Harry Houdini

— and from the pages of literature —

Sherlock Holmes Ebenezer Scrooge Frankenstein's Monster Alice Huckleberry Finn Don Quixote Dr. Jekyll Jay Gatsby Captain Ahab Dorothy Gale Robin Hood Dracula Dorian Gray

Advance Praise

Richard takes us into the minds of history's most fascinating figures and imagines the speeches they might have given but never did — thoughtful, imaginative, and just a little mischievous.

Bob CircostaAmerica's Original Home Shopping Host

I didn't understand the book concept initially… I still don't understand it. But that's Richard.

Helene Chemel

Here we go. Historical figures, AI, and Richard. What a trifecta!

Maury PovichTV Guy

Richard wrote my quote as he anticipated something brilliant from me.

Fooled him.

Peter NooneHerman's Hermits

A very clever idea, Richard! Short, interesting — they somehow “read” like my perception of what these figures would talk like.

William RossEmmy Award–Winning Conductor

Fantastic conversations I'd love to have with some of my favorite historical figures. Extremely entertaining — thought provoking? Yes! I want more!

Joe CerisanoSinger-Songwriter, Founding Member, Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Richard's idea here is brilliant, and his use of technology to bring these geniuses back to life is entirely appropriate and fascinating. Riveting — Bravo, Richard!

Jeff GelbAuthor & Editor

Some of the best nuggets of wisdom never said… until now. Richard Chemel has given the past permission to say what it was thinking, and rightfully taken his place beside Steve Allen (Meeting of Minds), Shakespeare (Julius Caesar), and Thucydides (The Peloponnesian War).

David S. Sherman, Ph.D.Author & Psychotherapist

I love this concept! So imaginative. You can quote me on that.

George Kappas, MA, LMFTDirector, HMI

Volume I

Take a Seat. The Speeches Are About to Begin.

Speeches They Never Gave, compiled by Richard Chemel, is the perfect gift for history buffs, big thinkers, and anyone who has ever wished they could hear one more word from the greats. Order it on Amazon, or for signed editions and bulk orders, write to hellospeeches@gmail.com.

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Get in Touch

Questions, Bookings, Bulk Orders

Interviews, speaking engagements, bulk and signed copies, or just a word about the book — write to Richard directly.

A Bonus Speech from Speeches They Never Gave

Joan of Arc

On Hearing Voices

Address to Social Media Influencers

(She steps up in plain armor, hair cropped short, and waits until the phones come down.)

Before I begin, a complaint.

I was on the cover of Monsieur Chemel's book. The original cover. Front and center, banner raised, looking magnificent. And now? I am nowhere to be found. Not on the cover. Not in the table of contents. Not on a single page.

Lincoln is in there. Scrooge is in there. A monster made of spare parts is in there. Joan of Arc has been quietly removed, like a mistake nobody wants to talk about.

I am used to this. In 1429 they put me at the front of the army. When they wrote the history, they left me out of the room. So I have come to give my speech here instead.

(She turns to the audience.)

I was a farm girl who couldn't read. At thirteen I began to hear voices. Three of them, saints, and they told me to save France. At seventeen I led its army.

You hear voices too. Millions of them, all day, out of the little glass in your hands. “Buy this. Look like this. Be angry at this. Say it louder.”

I had three voices, and they got me burned. You have a million. I am worried for you.

So here is what I learned.

A true voice asks something hard of you. Mine never told me I was beautiful. They told me to cut my hair, put on armor, and go tell a king what to do. If a voice only tells you what you want to hear, it isn't a voice. It's an echo.

A true voice doesn't change with the crowd. The court laughed at me, then cheered me, then accused me. My voices said the same thing through all of it.

Followers are not friends. I lifted the siege of Orléans in nine days and stood beside the king at his crowning. A year later I was captured, and the king I crowned wouldn't pay a single coin to save me.

The crowd is not the cause. The same crowd that cheered me at Orléans came to watch me burn at Rouen. Only the show had changed.

They put me on trial at nineteen and spent days arguing about my trousers. Five hundred years later, they made me a saint. So I know how long it takes the crowd to change its mind.

Choose your voices carefully. And make sure one of them is your own.

(She picks up her banner.)

As for you, Monsieur Chemel: Volume 2. I expect a chapter. And this time, I expect to stay on the cover.

An imagined speech. Joan of Arc never gave it, but we like to think she would have.

From Speeches They Never Gave by Richard Chemel · hellospeeches.com

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