An aphorism is nothing else but the slightest
QUOTES AND APHORISMS ON SPEAKERS
A speech should not just be a sharing of information, but a sharing of yourself.
Ralph Archbold (American speaker, entertainer, performer, "Portrays Ben Franklin")
What we say is important... for in most cases the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
Jim Beggs
It's not so much knowing when to speak, when to pause.
Jack Benny (1894-1974, American comedian)
I didn't say the things I said.
Yogi Berra (1925-, American baseball player)
I don't care how much a person talks if they only say it in a few words.
Josh Billings (1815-1885, American humorist, lecturer)
If you can't write your message in a sentence, you can't say it in an hour.
Dianna Booher (American author, speaker, trainer, consultant)
A man who has the courage of his platitudes is always a successful man. The instructed man is ashamed to pronounce in an orphic manner what everybody knows, and because he is silent people think he is making fun of them. They like a man who expresses their own superficial thoughts in a manner that appears to be profound. This enables them to feel that they are themselves profound.
Van Wyck Brooks
A man does not know what he is saying until he knows what he is not saying.
Gilbert K. Chesterton (1874-1936, British author)
If an eloquent speaker speak not the truth, is there a more horrid kind of object in creation?
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881, Scottish philosopher, author)
Only the prepared speaker deserves to be confident.
Dale Carnegie (1888-1955, American trainer, author, "How to Win Friends and Influence People")
Speakers who talk about what life has taught them never fail to keep the attention of their listeners.
Dale Carnegie (1888-1955, American trainer, author, "How to Win Friends and Influence People")
Tell the audience what you're going to say, say it; then tell them what you've said.
Dale Carnegie (1888-1955, American trainer, author, "How to Win Friends and Influence People")
Grasp the subject, the words will follow.
Cato The Elder (BC 234-149, Roman statesman, orator)
One good anecdote is worth a volume of biography.
William Ellery Channing (1780-1842, American Unitarian minister, author)
Most people have ears, but few have judgment; tickle those ears, and depend upon it, you will catch those judgments, such as they are.
Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield (1694-1773, British statesman, author)
He mouths a sentence as curs mouth a bone.
Charles Churchill (1731-1764, British poet, satirist)
If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use the pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time; a tremendous whack.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965, British statesman, Prime Minister)
Opening amenities are often opening inanities.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965, British statesman, Prime Minister)
Say what you have to say and first time you come to a sentence with a grammatical ending, sit down.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965, British statesman, Prime Minister)
A good orator is pointed and impassioned.
Marcus T. Cicero (c. 106-43 BC, Roman orator, politician)
Great is our admiration of the orator who speaks with fluency and discretion.
Marcus T. Cicero (c. 106-43 BC, Roman orator, politician)
Orators are most vehement when their cause is weak.
Marcus T. Cicero (c. 106-43 BC, Roman orator, politician)
Say not always what you know, but always know what you say.
Claudius (10 BC-AD 54, Roman emperor)
We should speak as the populace but think as the learned.
Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634, British jurist)
The more you are talked about the less powerful you are.
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881, British statesman, Prime Minister)
First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.
Epictetus (50-138, Phrygian philosopher)
All the great speakers were bad speakers at first.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882, American poet, essayist)
Condense some daily experience into a glowing symbol and an audience is electrified.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882, American poet, essayist)
He that speaks much, is much mistaken.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790, American scientist, publisher, diplomat)
You can speak well if your tongue can deliver the message of your heart.
John Ford (c.1586-c.1640, British playwright)
Half wits talk much, but say little.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790, American scientist, publisher, diplomat)
Once you get people laughing, they're listening and you can tell them almost anything.
Herbert Gardner
I do not speak of what I cannot praise.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832, German poet, dramatist, novelist)
It is delivery that makes the orators success.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832, German poet, dramatist, novelist)
Little said is soon amended. There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one.
Baltasar Gracian (1601-1658, Spanish philosopher, writer)
He rose without a friend and sat down without an enemy.
Henry Gratton
I never let my subject get in the way of what I want to talk about.
Mark Victor Hansen (American motivational speaker, author) Author's website: www.markvictorhansen.com
We talk little when we do not talk about ourselves.
William Hazlitt (1778-1830, British essayist)
Better never begin than never make an end.
George Herbert (1593-1632, British metaphysical poet)
Talk is cheap, except when Congress does it.
Cullen Hightower
Persuasive speech, and more persuasive sighs, Silence that spoke and eloquence of eyes.
Homer (c. 850 -? BC, Greek epic poet)
Be ever on your guard what you say of anybody and to whom.
Horace (BC 65-8, Italian poet)
Every time you have to speak, you are auditioning for leadership.
James Humes (American lawyer, speaker, author)
I don't like jokes in speeches; I do like wit and humor. A joke is to humor what pornography is to erotic language in a good novel.
James Humes (American lawyer, speaker, author)
Most speakers speak ten minutes too long.
James Humes (American lawyer, speaker, author)
To speak and to speak well are two things. A fool may talk, but a wise man speaks.
Ben Jonson (1573-1637, British dramatist, poet)
A man would rather say evil of himself than say nothing.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680, French classical writer)
If it requires great tact to speak to the purpose, it requires no less to know when to be silent.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680, French classical writer)
Passions are the only orators to always convince us.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680, French classical writer)
The people only understand what they can feel; the only orators that can affect them are those who move them.
Alphonse De Lamartine (1790-1869, French poet, statesman, historian)
The trouble with talking too fast is you may say something you haven't thought of yet.
Ann Landers (1918-, American advice columnist)
Adlai Stevenson has a genius for saying the right thing, at the right time, to the wrong people.
Joe E. Lewis (American writer)
With all his timid boasts, he's like the swordfish, who only wears his weapon in his mouth.
John Madden (1936-, American football coach)
What is uttered is finished and done with.
Thomas Mann (1875-1955, German author, critic)
Before you speak ask yourself if what you are going to say is true, is kind, is necessary, is helpful. If the answer is no, maybe what you are about to say should be left unsaid.
Bernard Meltzer (1914-, American law professor)
Before a man speaks, it is always safe to assume that he is a fool. After he speaks it is seldom necessary to assume.
H. L. Mencken (1880-1956, American editor, author, critic, humorist)
The best way to conquer stage fright is to know what you're talking about.
Micheal Mescon
Find out what's keeping them up nights and offer hope. Your theme must be an answer to their fears.
Gerald C. Meyers
I know you will guess all I leave unsaid.
Gabriel Riqueti Mirabeau (1749-1791, French revolutionary politician, orator)
What orators lack in depth, they make up to you in length.
Charles De Montesquieu (1689-1755, French jurist, political philosopher)
Most of the time in married life is taken up by talk.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900, German philosopher)
When at a loss how to go on, cough.
Greek Proverb (Sayings of Greek origin)
Once I have heard the story or joke used twice by other speakers or entertainer, I avoid it.
Tom Ogden
Every speaker has a mouth; An arrangement rather neat. Sometimes it's filled with wisdom. Sometimes it's filled with feet.
Robert Orben (1927-, American editor, writer, humorist)
Look wise say nothing and grunt, speech was given to conceal thought.
Sir William Osler (1849-1919, Canadian physician)
Do you wish people to think well of you? Don't speak well of yourself.
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662, French scientist, religious philosopher)
Be interesting, be enthusiastic... and don't talk to much.
Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993, American Christian reformed pastor, speaker, author)
There is danger when a man throws his tongue into high gear before he gets his brain a-going.
C. C. Phelps
Oratory is the art of making deep noises form the chest sound like important massages from the brain.
H. L. Phillips
Before the tongue can speak, it must have lost the power to wound.
Peace Pilgrim (1908-1981, American peace activist)
One way of looking at speech is to say it is a constant stratagem to cover nakedness.
Harold Pinter (1930-, British playwright, director)
The first evil those who are prone to talk suffer, is that they hear nothing.
Plutarch (46-120, Greek essayist, biographer)
They talk most who have the least to say.
Matthew Prior (1664-1721, British diplomat, poet)
The words of tongue should have three gate keepers.
Arabian Proverb (Sayings of Arabian origin)
To climb a tree to catch a fish is talking much and doing nothing.
Chinese Proverb (Sayings of Chinese origin)
A closed mouth catches no flies.
French Proverb (Sayings of French origin)
He who comes from afar may lie without fear of contradiction as he is sure to be listened to with the utmost attention.
French Proverb (Sayings of French origin)
The meaning is best known to the speaker.
French Proverb (Sayings of French origin)
A good speaker makes a good liar.
German Proverb (Sayings of German origin)
Speaking comes by nature, silence by understanding.
German Proverb (Sayings of German origin)
He who knows little knows enough if he knows how to hold his tongue.
Italian Proverb (Sayings of Italian origin)
Spend words as efficiently as money.
Japanese Proverb (Sayings of Japanese origin)
Two great talkers will not travel far together.
Spanish Proverb (Sayings of Spanish origin)
Our public men are speaking every day on something, but they ain't saying anything.
Will Rogers (1879-1935, American humorist, actor)
Be sincere, be brief; be seated.
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945, American President (32nd))
People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778, Swiss political philosopher, educationist, essayist)
He suffered from a rush of words to the head.
Herbert Samuel (1870-1963, British statesman, philosophical writer)
Most people have to talk so they won't hear.
May Sarton (1912-1995, American poet, novelist)
It is terrible to speak well and be wrong.
Sophocles (495-406 BC, Greek tragic poet)
When ever the speech is corrupted so is the mind.
Marcus Annaeus Seneca (BC 3-65 AD, Roman philosopher, dramatist, statesman)
When I think over what I have said, I envy dumb people.
Marcus Annaeus Seneca (BC 3-65 AD, Roman philosopher, dramatist, statesman)
Men govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues, and can moderate their desires more than their words.
Baruch Benedict de Spinoza (1632-1677, Dutch philosopher and theologian)
I sometimes marvel at the extraordinary docility with which Americans submit to speeches.
Adlai E. Stevenson (1900-1965, American lawyer, politician)
I would rather be guilty of talking over a person's head than behind his back.
Adlai E. Stevenson (1900-1965, American lawyer, politician)
Some people approach every problem with an open mouth.
Adlai E. Stevenson (1900-1965, American lawyer, politician)
Some people approach every problem with an open mouth.
Adlai E. Stevenson (1900-1965, American lawyer, politician)
The relationship of the toastmaster to the speaker should be the same as that of the fan to the fan dancer. It should call attention to the subject without making any particular effort to cover it.
Adlai E. Stevenson (1900-1965, American lawyer, politician)
Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
The Holy Bible (Sacred scriptures of Christians and Judaism)
We speak that we do know and testify to that which we have seen.
The Holy Bible (Sacred scriptures of Christians and Judaism)
We are more anxious to speak than to be heard.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862, American essayist, poet, naturalist)
If you have nothing to say, say nothing.
Mark Twain (1835-1910, American humorist, writer)
There is nothing in the world like a persuasive speech to fuddle the mental apparatus.
Mark Twain (1835-1910, American humorist, writer)
A smart person knows what to say, a wise person knows whether or not to say it.
Author Unknown
An orator who is disposed to evil subverts the law.
Author Unknown
He who does not say too much has too much to say.
Author Unknown
It always takes a person much longer to tell you what he thinks than what he knows.
Author Unknown
Speak and the man shall be shown.
Author Unknown
Speak little and to the purpose.
Author Unknown
Speak when you are spoken to.
Author Unknown
Talking without thinking is like shooting without taking aim.
Author Unknown
Never rise to speak till you have something to say; and when you have said it, cease.
John Witherspoon
The less people think the more they talk.
Author Unknown
There are three things to aim at in public speaking: first to get into your subject, then to get your subject into yourself, and lastly, to get your subject into your hearers.
Author Unknown
There are two kinds of people who don't say much; those who are quiet and those who talk a lot.
Author Unknown
Too many of us speak twice before we think.
Author Unknown
What you are doing rings so loudly in my ears that I can't hear what you're saying.
Author Unknown
The secret of successful speakers? Passion and compassion with a purpose.
Lily Walters
Talk low, talk slow, and don't say too much.
John Wayne
Unconsciousness is one of the most important conditions of good style in speaking and writing.
R. S. White
A good speaker is a good listener who hears what lesser speakers fail to.
Somers White (American banker, speaker)
Lots of people act well, but few people talk well. This shows that talking is the more difficult of the two.
Oscar Wilde (1856-1900, British author, wit)
Talk to a woman as if you loved her, and to a man as if he bored you.
Oscar Wilde (1856-1900, British author, wit)
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