speech

1.

Do not fight verbosity with words: speech is given to all, intelligence to few.

- Moralia

2.

Vague forms of speech have so long passed for mysteries of science; and hard words mistaken for deep learning, that it will not be easy to persuade either those who speak or those who hear them, that they are but a hindrance to true knowledge.

- John Locke

3.

LORD, n. In American society, an English tourist above the state of a costermonger, as, lord'Aberdasher, Lord Hartisan and so forth. The traveling Briton of lesser degree is addressed as "Sir," as, Sir'Arry Donkiboi, or'Amstead'Eath. The word "Lord" is sometimes used, also, as a title of the Supreme Being; but this is thought to be rather flattery than true reverence. Miss Sallie Ann Splurge, of her own accord, Wedded a wandering English lord -- Wedded and took him to dwell with her "paw," A parent who throve by the practice of Draw. Lord Cadde I don't hesitate to declare Unworthy the father-in-legal care Of that elderly sport, notwithstanding the truth That Cadde had renounced all the follies of youth; For, sad to relate, he'd arrived at the stage Of existence that's marked by the vices of age. Among them, cupidity caused him to urge Repeated demands on the pocket of Splurge, Till, wrecked in his fortune, that gentleman saw Inadequate aid in the practice of Draw, And took, as a means of augmenting his pelf, To the business of being a lord himself. His neat-fitting garments he wilfully shed And sacked himself strangely in checks instead; Denuded his chin, but retained at each ear A whisker that looked like a blasted career. He painted his neck an incarnadine hue Each morning and varnished it all that he knew. The moony monocular set in his eye Appeared to be scanning the Sweet Bye-and-Bye. His head was enroofed with a billycock hat, And his low-necked shoes were aduncous and flat. In speech he eschewed his American ways, Denying his nose to the use of his A's And dulling their edge till the delicate sense Of a babe at their temper could take no offence. His H's --'twas most inexpressibly sweet, The patter they made as they fell at his feet! Re-outfitted thus, Mr. Splurge without fear Began as Lord Splurge his recouping career. Alas, the Divinity shaping his end Entertained other views and decided to send His lordship in horror, despair and dismay From the land of the nobleman's natural prey. For, smit with his Old World ways, Lady Cadde Fell -- suffering Caesar! -- in love with her dad! G.J.

- Ambrose Bierce

4.

Literature transforms and intensifies ordinary language, deviates systematically from everyday speech. If you approach me at a bus stop and murmur Thou still unravished bride of quietness, then I am instantly aware that I am in the presence of the literary.

- Eagleton, Terry

5.

Freedom of speech and freedom of action are meaningless without freedom to think. And there is no freedom of thought without doubt.

- Bergen Evans

6.

I sometimes marvel at the extraordinary docility with which Americans submit to speeches.

- Stevenson, Adlai E.

7.

For none of us can ever express the exact measure of his needs or his thoughts or his sorrows; and human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars.

- Gustave Flaubert

8.

Speech is the gift of all, but the thought of few.

- Cato The Elder

9.

Speech is power: speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel. It is to bring another out of his bad sense into your good sense.

- Emerson, Ralph Waldo

10.

We hear about constitutional rights, free speech and the free press. Every time I hear those words I say to myself, That man is a Red, that man is a Communist. You never heard a real American talk in that manner.

- Hague, Frank

11.

Grief that is dazed and speechless is out of fashion: the modern woman mourns her husband loudly and tells you the whole story of his death, which distresses her so much that she forgets not the slightest detail about it.

- Bruyere, Jean De La

12.

Tears at times have all the weight of speech.

- Ovid

13.

It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.

- Mark Twain

14.

ORATORY, n. A conspiracy between speech and action to cheat the understanding. A tyranny tempered by stenography.

- Ambrose Bierce

15.

In anger we should refrain both from speech and action.

- Pythagoras

16.

Is sloppiness in speech caused by ignorance or apathy? I don't know and I don't care.

- William Safire

17.

If English is spoken in heaven. God undoubtedly employs Cranmer as his speechwriter. The angels of the lesser ministries probably use the language of the New English Bible and the Alternative Service Book for internal memos.

- Charles, Prince Of Wales

18.

Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech.

- Martin Fraquhar Tupper

19.

The pursuit of Fashion is the attempt of the middle class to co-opt tragedy. In adopting the clothing, speech, and personal habits of those in straitened, dangerous, or pitiful circumstances, the middle class seeks to have what it feels to be the exigent and nonequivocal experiences had by those it emulates.

- Mamet, David

20.

Speech and silence. We feel safer with a madman who talks than with one who cannot open his mouth.

- Cioran, E. M.