Oratory Quotes

“Very good orators, when they are out, they will spit; and for lovers, lacking--God warn us!--matter, the cleanliest shift is to kiss.”

“The orator is thereby an orator that keeps his feet ever on a fact.”

“There is no true orator who is not a hero.”

“There is nothing like oratory, it is a skill that can turn a commoner into a king.”

“Some of the greatest and most lasting effects of genuine oratory have gone forth from secluded lecture desks into the hearts of quiet groups of students.”

“The greatest and truest models for all oratorsis Demosthenes. One who has not studied deeply and constantly all the great speeches of the great Athenian, is not prepared to speak in public. Only as the constant companion of Demosthenes, Burke, Fox, Canning and Webster, can we hope to become orators.”

“Of all the talents bestowed upon men, none is so precious as the gift of oratory !!”

“Of all the talents bestowed upon men, none is so precious as the gift of oratory. He who enjoys it wields a power more durable than that of a great king. He is an independent force in the world.”

“Amplification is the vice of modern oratory. It is an insult to an assembly of reasonable men, disgusting and revolting instead ofpersuading. Speeches measured by the hour, die by the hour.”

“You could be the World's greatest orator and if you don't say anything while orating, they are going to walk out on you after a while.”

“Amplification is the vice of modern oratory.”

“If it is naturally in you to be a good orator, a notable orator you will be when you have acquired knowledge and practice.”

“An alliterative prefix served as an ornament of oratory.”

“The orators and the despots have the least power in their cities ... since they do nothing that they wish to do, practically speaking, though they do whatever they think to be best.”

“He is an eloquent man who can treat humble subjects with delicacy, lofty things impressively, and moderate things temperately.”

“Yield, ye arms, to the toga; to civic praise, ye laurels.”

“The aim of forensic oratory is to teach, to delight, to move.”

“There is nothing in the world like a persuasive speech to fuddle the mental apparatus and upset the convictions and debauch the emotions of an audience not practiced in the tricks and delusions of oratory”

“Brevity is the best recommendation of speech, whether in a senator or an orator.”

“Orators are most vehement when they have the weakest cause, as men get on horseback when they cannot walk.”

“Nothing is so difficult to believe that oratory cannot make it acceptable, nothing so rough and uncultured as not to gain brilliance and refinement from eloquence.”

“Nothing in oratory is more important than to win for the orator the favour of his hearer, and to have the latter so affected as to be swayed by something resembling an impulse of the spirit impetu quodam animi or emotion perturbatione, rather than by judgment or deliberation. For men decide far more problems by hate, or love, or lust, or rage, or sorrow, or joy, or hope, or fear, or illusion, or some other inward emotion aliqua permotione mentis, than by reality or authority, or any legal standard, or judicial precedent or statute.”

“Let arms yield to the toga, let the [victor's] laurel yield to the [orator's] tongue.”

“They are eloquent who can speak low things acutely, and of great things with dignity, and of moderate things with temper.”

“If the oarsmen of a fast-moving ship suddenly cease to row, the suspension of the driving force of the oars doesn't prevent the vessel from continuing to move on its course. And with a speech it is much the same. After he has finished reciting the document, the speaker will still be able to maintain the same tone without a break, borrowing its momentum and impulse from the passage he has just read out.”