Laurence Pevsner
Remarks by Laurence Pevsner
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A Few Words of My Own

Thank you. Thank you. Please, sit.

[Wait for applause. If none, proceed.]

For ten years, I wrote words that other people said. Six hundred and fifty speeches at the United Nations. A few lines at the White House. One joke on late-night television that I am not permitted to identify.

The trick was never to sound like the speaker. It was to think like them, and then to ask: what is something only this person can say?

[Pause. Look up.]

I got good at that question. I got so good at it that I forgot to ask it about myself.

So this is the record of the words I can claim, and a respectful silence about the ones I can’t.

[Gesture vaguely downward.]

Thank you, and God bless.

# # #

The record · some names withheld

  • UN Security Council · for Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield[Speech title to come]
  • The Late Show with Stephen ColbertA joke about a famous person
  • UN General Assembly · for Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield[Speech title to come]
  • The New York TimesAn op-ed by someone you have heard of
  • Commencement address · for Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield[Speech title to come]
  • Amherst College · in my own voiceSenior Assembly remarks to the Class of 2014The speech that started all the others.