Buffy's 10 Greatest Speeches

I recently wrote a three part series for FangirlBlog, 10 Times Buffy's Strength Came From Her Words. The most excellent editor, Tricia Barr, found a way to frame the series via the Hero's Journey.

As a companion piece, I gathered all the speeches I cited here in one place. They are from YouTube, so some of them are slightly sped up or slowed down. I think that's a fair price to pay considering most of the videos I could find on the topic were those annoying listicles where a snarky narrator talks over all the good parts.

I just want the speeches. Pure, unadulterated clips.

So here, in chronological order and my humble opinion, are Buffy's 10 Greatest Speeches. You'll notice the moments become more potent as the series progresses. That's no coincidence. Buffy grew stronger and more self-assured with each episode, so it's natural the dialogue followed suit.

(8, 9, and 10 are my personal favorites.)




1. "You have fruit punch mouth."

2. While the famous bazooka scene is undoubtedly the most memorable, Buffy's biggest power moment was her admission that she wasn't ready to kill Angel yet, but she would be someday.

3. And then she was. When Angel had Buffy cornered at the end of season two, he spoke, “So that’s everything, huh? No weapons. No friends. No hope. Take all that away, and what’s left?”

Buffy replied with one simple word, “Me.” 

4. “She really came through in the end. She had a lot to deal with, but she did it. She got it behind her."

5. Cheating a little, I'm subbing this speech from "Earshot" in for the moment I chose from Hush.

"My life happens to, on occasion, suck beyond the telling of it. Sometimes more than I can handle. It's not just mine. Every single person down there is ignoring your pain because they're too busy with their own. The beautiful ones. The popular ones. The guys who pick on you. Everyone. If you could hear what they were feeling, the loneliness, the confusion...it looks quiet down there. It's not. It's deafening."

6. "See, I’ve had a lot of people talking at me in the last few days. Everyone just lining up to tell me how unimportant I am and I’ve finally figured out why. Power. I have it. They don’t. This bothers them."

7. “You have to take care of each other. You have to be strong. Dawn, the hardest thing in this world is to live in it. Be brave. Live.”

8. "I’m standing on the mouth of hell and it is gonna swallow me whole. And it’ll choke on me. We’re not ready? They’re not ready. They think we’re gonna wait for the end to come like we always do. I’m done waiting. They want an apocalypse? Oh, we’ll give ‘em one."

9. "I don’t know what’s coming next, but I do know it’s gonna be just like this. Hard. Painful. And in the end it’s gonna be us, if we all do our parts. Believe it. We’ll be the ones left standing. Here endeth the lesson."

10. "From now on, every girl in the world who might be a slayer…will be a slayer. Every girl who could have the power…will have the power…can stand up, will stand up. …every one of us.

Make your choice. Are you ready to be strong?"