This is one of the most inspiring and powerful speeches ever written: The St. Crispin’s Day Speech in Shakespeare’s Henry V, spoken eloquently by the brilliant Kenneth Branagh. Listen to it here:
I watch this video every single day.
As I will show you, I think this speech can help us all put our lives in perspective. It inspires hope, courage, unity and most of all… it explores the meaning of life.
On 25th October 1415, on the day of the famous Battle of Agincourt in northern France, Henry V’s English soldiers were faced with a formidable enemy. The English forces were outnumbered 3:1 by the French army (36,000 French soldiers compared to 12,000 English soldiers).
Henry’s soldiers knew that to fight this battle meant almost certain death.
Yet Henry’s rousing speech before this battle inspires courage and hope in his soldiers, despite all the odds.
Henry does not try to “sugarcoat” the painful reality of the situation. There is no false hope. Either they were going to die with honour, or they will live to tell their story.
What I specially like about the St. Crispin’s Day speech is Henry’s “unifying” message. Even though he was the King of England, he identifies with his soldiers as his “brothers”:
“We band of brothers. For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.”
What a remarkable example of true leadership! To die today was to die with the King, for country and for honour.
As I said, I think this speech should make us think real hard about ourselves…
How many times in your life have you found yourself in a situation as serious and bleak as Henry V and his soldiers did on the eve of battle? To “know” that death was only a few hours away. And to “know” that there was no turning back – only to move forward, fight and die.
Very few of us can say that we have been in that situation.
However, every one of us are faced with our own individual challlenges and “battles” every day. Those battles can come in many forms: health, financial or relationships.
Ask yourself right now this question: how many of the personal battles you are fighting right now are worth the fight?
I would say most of our personal “battles” are not worth thinking about. We often tend to exaggerate the seriousness of a problem – where in fact there is no problem.
But many of your battles are worth fighting for: to win the respect and love of a great woman (or man), your own and your family’s financial freedom, to live your life with dignity and without fear, and achieve your life’s goals and dreams…
To win those battles, there will be pain. There is no turning back.
But once you have succeeded you’ll be able to remember and tell others the greatness of what you have achieved.
And if you already have succeeded, then be proud of your hard work. As King Henry says, you can show your “scars” and say:
“These wounds I had on Crispin’s Day…”
Let me know your own thoughts and feelings about the video and what I’ve said. What or who has inspired you the most to overcome challenges? I look forward to reading your comments below…
It’s really strange that I feel this video of Henry V speaks volumes to me. I can really empathise with the uncertainty that the Soldiers must have fealt and to rise above it, and to fight for the greater goal. Thanks for this video.
Great video. I loved it. Thank you for sharing this! It came at a really important time in my Life and it really helps. by the way, happy birthday.
Christian Bale at 2:26 of video. Happy birthday by the way.
A very rousing speech, yes.. Very inspirational – I can see that. Isn’t it a shame that until the present time, this kind of unity, mutual support and a coming together of minds usually only happens when we humans are ‘sure’ of our imminent ‘death’ (or some huge perceived ‘disaster’) as indeed, in this case.
Your words below the video are right on the mark Alessio. Let’s work on ourselves, realising that indeed, life’s ‘problems’ are really not important and that the battles you talk about which ARE worth fighting for, are the battles we actually have with ourselves 😉
The GREAT thing is, I feel we are now in the time where more and more of us are realising this and are making conscious efforts to change for the better! 🙂
Much love,
Lesley
Thanks Alessio, rousing and refreshing. Here’s a video that I watch sometimes when preparing for battle with the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0PrTkE5jG4
It’s edited version of a speech he gave at the University of Southern California in 2009.
I hope you like it, and happy birthday!
Reymond
Thank you Alessio for sharing this video and your thoughts about it. It’s full of meaning at different levels. It’s relevant for personal ‘battles’ with inner weaknesses – when mistakes are made. I’m trying to work with a group where I felt there must be shared values – about working with, not against or ‘over’, taking responsibility, justice and well-being, but have even come across dissonance there, so at present have some disheartened feelings to deal with. What an apt time to receive your message! Turning within, there is usually an explanation related to my own lack of internal understanding and consciousness. There are always lessons to learn and the inner ‘battle’ continues with varying success.
Very best wishes to you and Happy Birthday!
Alessio,
Happy Birthday!
Thanks for all of your work for us.
Thank you for sharing something so inspirational, and Happy Birthday !-) Although you are 710km from where I am sitting, in Denmark, welcome to the neighbourhood ! Enjoy your trip, there is something magic about a City of islands !-)Talar du svenska nu ?
Thank you Alessio for that reminder; it brings back memories.
For our GCE English exam’ we studied Shakespear’s Henry V and the local schools arranged a screening of the Olivier version at a local cinema. This version is more “stagey”, whereas Branagh’s is realistic and more like it would have been at that date.
My memory is of a different part of the battle but I have forgotten the words I learned!
I listen to this one a lot alessio not sure if you have seen it? happy earthday! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FMNFvKEy4c
That’s a great speech. I’ll keep that one.
“All things are ready if our minds be so” speaks a lot. Great message, thanks for sending this.
Happy birthday!!! Blessings to you and your family !!!! Enjoy your holiday!!!!
Good encouraging video…I’m financially dead. Lost all my retirement fund in trading. How do I get back up again?
Alessio,
Nice example of true leadership indeed! Often so called “business leaders” of today are not prepared to get wet and this shows that they should in order to claim the title of leader in the real sense of the word.
THX and have a nice birthday!!
Jef
Nice clip. I think a similar moment will be coming to America soon.
PS Happy Birthday 🙂
First, happy birthday Alessio. Hope you like your stay in Stockholm, Sweeden. Pst. If you like, you could visit the ABBA museum, and try yourselves as an artist on stage together with ABBA. A halogram thing I believe. Ok. Thanks for sharing your video. I want to share my video also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z5OookwOoY
Yes, the life is an battle, more or less. But sometimes its ok to let something go also. If you fight to much, you will use lots of energy. I try to listen to my inner voice, and most of the times it get to an higher benefit. I have use this metode in tradning. In life I try to stay on my believes and my goal. I believe in an better world, and are interested in new technology. Yesterday I was on cinema and looked at “Transcendence”. I highly recomend this video, because we have much of this technology. To reach this target, you have to use the speech from Rocky, in the link above.
Ok, have an unforgetabel day further Alessio.
Greatings from Oslo, Norway 🙂
too bad it is a king. A pedofilic being claiming ‘divine rights’ that are greater than given to their ‘slaves’ aka subjects. Yes, good words coming from the mouths of foul faced human haters who, today, still claim the ‘divine right’ to kill, rape, and maim with impunity. Prince chuckie just reasserted that claim with more foul letters saying he has the ‘absolute right’ to all minerals under the entire province of Cornwall…..hmmmm…yea, good speech. Right. Rather give me ossymandius….or others of Percy Bysse Shelly….a real humanitarian and not a ‘royal’. Sorry to rain on your parade, but romanticism dies in the face of the reality of what the ‘royals’ have wrought. AND shakespeare was their apologist. Decent wordsmith though.
Happy birthday. Thanks for the video :). Jesus gives me hope, and strength, and everything, including life 🙂 He is the best 🙂
Very inspirational. And I like what you wrote also, for we must remember to be mindful of our bigger battles not our small problems. And as someone else commented, our bigger battles are with ourselves. Happy Birthday, Alessio! Thank you for sharing this video.
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Very inspirational video, thanks for sharing it.
super ….good.
I live in North East Thailand and was talking to a lad of about 14 years old (he wanted to practise his English) He was fanatical about the long bow and was talking to me about the Battle of Agincourt, shaming me by giving me the date. Although it is unlikely that the speech would have inspired him (far too heavy for a Thai school boy), the battle clearly did.
Alessio,
Happy Birthday.
Keep flowing these nuggets that you keep sending. You are very different from all the other Trading mentors out there and I am very grateful to receive these notes and directions from you.
Best wishes
Wishing you a wonderful “Birthday”. Alessio, I’m twice your age and I’ve had my share of major ups and downs in my life and each time, I cherish it as a learning experience. I say to myself “is there ever going to be a time that we don’t learn a new experience”? The answer is “NO”. They come out of left field when you least expect it and it’s then you’re put to the test of the past and the knowledge of what you’ve learned, but most of all to know and see a difference and that my friend, it gives you a sense of freedom. I have this posted at my desk and each day before I turn on my computer I read…” A leader has the vision and conviction that a dream can be achieved. She inspires the power and energy to get it done.” by Ralph Nader. You are a bright young man, you keep that fire burning and I know from what I see, You are going to have a very “BRIGHT” future.
With Much Love and Respect….Joyce from Florida USA
Happy Birthday, Alessio! So nice to see that your devotion to quality also extends to the wonderful classics that inspire!
Being a bit older, I have to say that I am partial to the Laurence Olivier version. His version of the play, of course, was produced during WWII as an inspirational piece for England as it struggled so mightily against the Nazi terror. The extra layer of urgency behind that production is tangible; it has such great meaning for the time.
Branagh has tried to continue bringing the classic to the masses and for that I honor him.
But, in my heart of hearts, Olivier as an actor and one who participated in the war effort both in film and service, seems to be especially touching to this post-war baby.
Thanks so much for this post, Alessio!!
And no matter who delivers this speech, the words carry the day on their own!!
It seems to be a stirring speech. Too bad King Henry delivered it in a foreign language. I never could understand the King’s English. 🙂
Happy Birthday, and great speech, hell of a battle cry to prepare you for the day ahead, but I can see why you use that edit, that last sentence.
Happy Birthday Alessio! Great video, thanks for sharing.
Here is my daily motivational video entitled: Why do we fall?
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mgmVOuLgFB0
Happy Bday Alessio,,Cheers !! Thanks for sharing the video.
I want to share my video also-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhzNSPiqO0M
Eloquently Spoken! Loved It.
Wishing you a Very Happy Birthday Alessio.
“Happy Birthday” Alessio,..thanks for all you do! Good video, great speech.what inspires me is Martin Luther King Jr, speech. ” I have a dream”.. All the best,.. Ray
hi alessio yep great speach another great was nelson mandela he never gave up happy birthday x
Good one big Al. I get inspiration from a deep level and there’s not many people who can get me thinking as deeply as Carl can. This is the clip I watch on a regular basis to make me appreciate life and everything.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wupToqz1e2g
Fill the gaps in the walls with our courpses…!!!!!!!!!!!
Happy birthday Alessio. May your wish come true as always and forever.
Thank you for sharing I found it inspiring but I need too hear it once more 🙂
All the best
/Siham
This speech is inspiring me to success http://m.youtube.com/?#/watch?v=EyhOmBPtGNM
I should be listnening to it more often though.
Best Regards/ siham
The context of this speech is that Henry was leading an invading army and the French were defending their country against foreign attack. Henry took this action simply to consolidate his grounds for succession to the English throne, because there was some clause or other that said his lineage also entitled him to a slice of France.
The odds against the English were not as overwhelming as is often stated – they had the advantage of the newly invented long-bow, which proved decisive in the battle. Also, the death toll on the French side is sugar-coated for non-French consumption – most of the French deaths occurred AFTER the surrender. It was cold-blooded mass murder.
Sorry to piss all over one of English literature’s most celebrated and inspiring speeches, but Agincourt was an immoral, genocidal campaign, and Henry V was a complete turd.
Alessio Happy birthday 🙂
Thank you for sharing this wonderfull video.. …i wanna share with you https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZiE3G1fpO8 something similar from rich Serbian history.
Yes you are right we need to much pain to overcome everything bad and reach everything good..But I think someone die in history die for us,we have unfair adventage.HOW WE CAN QUIT SOMETHING…Why 95% of people are puss— :):):) I share your thougt..Always stay positive….!!
i like and i will watch this video 10000 times..Thank you for helping us :):):)