Quotes About Eloquence

Arguments are to be avoided: they are always vulgar and often convincing.

The trouble with her is that she lacks the power of conversation but not the power of speech.

I am a trial lawyer. ... Matilda says that at dinner on a good day I sound like an affidavit.

Talking turned out to be Louise's talent. If talking were a sport, Louise would've been a marathoner.

Well-timed silence is the most commanding expression.

I don't like being talked into things by ungraceful people.

Don't gobblefunk around with words.

I don't use big words to show off because it's ostentatious.

I'm much more than a writer – I'm someone who puts different words together in an interesting way.

I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.

The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit.

That man that hath a tongue, I say, is no man, if with his tongue he cannot win a woman.

There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love.

Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech.

Few of the Arabs could read, but beauty of speech was a virtue which all Arab parents desired for their children. A man's worth was largely assessed by his eloquence, and the crown of eloquence was poetry.

So, you see, what kept me from rushing in with an answer to you was not the difficulty of so doing, nor pressure of other work, nor the grandeur of your eloquence, nor fear of you, but simply disgust, disinclination, and distaste--which, if I may say so, express my judgment of your Diatribe.

A good preacher should have these properties and virtues: 1. Teach systematically 2. Have a ready wit 3. Be eloquent 4. Have a good voice 5. Have a good memory 6. Know when to make an end 7. Be sure of his doctrine 8. Venture and engage body and blood, wealth and honour, in the Word 9. Suffer himself to be mocked and jeered of every one

These are the three things, it is commonly said, that mark a good preacher; first, that he take his place; secondly, that he open his mouth and say something; thirdly, that he know when to stop.

Cicero's eloquence, even if only half understood, still informs the language of modern politics.

the brogue tripping from his tongue like a slashed wineskin.

All I knew that night was that I believed in something and couldn't express it, while your team believed in nothing but knew how to say it—in other men's words.

I have found that, in the African American oral tradition, if the words are enunciated eloquently enough, no one examines the meaning for definitive truth.

A great speaker creates memorable phrasing.

The kings of modern thought are dumb.