Quotes About Speech

I keep telling myself to calm down, to take less of an interest in things and not to get so excited, but I still care a lot about liberty, freedom of speech and expression, and fairness in journalism.

Cynicism is intelectual dandyism, but graciousness in speech is an aphrodisiac. (Andy Spade)

The two most dangerous words in the English language are 'like' and 'as.' If you do not have something interesting to say after you write down those two words, cross them out, because you've entered into the country of cliché. Make sure you have something to say that is new or fresh or in a different way; otherwise, leave them alone.

I believe in prophetic speech . . . still. I believe in Cassandra, I believe in Electra and in the charming Antigone. . . . For me, they're more alive than the [Institute for] Intellectual Cooperation and its choice group of old men.

It was a fine speech from a putz.

I never met a word I didn't love

I think the most un-American thing you can say is "You can't say that."

The most un-American thing you can say is, 'You can't say that.

If a jerk burns the flag, America is not threatened, democracy is not under siege, freedom is not at risk.

Talk is only silence that ain't workin' well.

Good speech quells chaos and produces joy and life; bad speech produces chaos and leads to despair and death." (Dan Allender & Tremper Longman)

Political correctness, no matter how well intentioned, is still an attack on freedom of speech.

Poetry is one of the destinies of speech.

Poetry is one of the destinies of speech... One would say that the poetic image, in its newness, opens a future to language.

What is the source of our first suffering? It lies in the fact that we hesitated to speak....it was born in the moments when we accumulated silent things within us.

The sharpest sword is a word spoken in wrath.

When you speak to someone, your vocal cords start a compression wave in the air that spreads out from your mouth until those compressions and rarefactions reach the listener's ear. There, they vibrate the hair-like structures in the ear, producing the sensation of hearing. But the link between you and the listener is the longitudinal waves that pass through the air.

Say anything at all – I love the sound of your speech.

I've never subscribed to the "words can never hurt me" point of view. Because if words can't hurt, then neither can they help or heal or inspire. Yes, words can brutalize. They can shame and scar. But people must be free to say them anyway. We protect free speech not because words are harmless, but because they are powerful.

Take the risk that you'll end up regretting your speech, because it's better than regretting your silence.

Too many words cheapened the value of a man's speech.

Fill your mouth with marbles and make a speech. Every day reduce the number of marbles in your mouth and make a speech. You will soon become an accredited public speaker -- as soon as you have lost all your marbles.

Utterance is the evidence of foregone study.

Washington wanted to give the men some kind of inspirational speech before they boarded the boats, but knew that he was no orator. So, instead, he handed out copies of the latest patriotic essay by Tom Paine, The American Crisis.