Quotes about speech

A collection of quotes on the topic of speech, people, use, can.

Total 1406 quotes, filter:

„There is no doubt a difference in the right hon. gentleman's demeanour as leader of the Opposition and as Minister of the Crown. But that's the old story; you must not contrast too strongly the hours of courtship with the years of possession. 'Tis very true that the right hon. gentleman's conduct is different. I remember him making his protection speeches. They were the best speeches I ever heard. It was a great thing to hear the right hon. gentleman say: "I would rather be the leader of the gentlemen of England than possess the confidence of Sovereigns". That was a grand thing. We don't hear much of "the gentlemen of England" now. But what of that? They have the pleasures of memory—the charms of reminiscence. They were his first love, and, though he may not kneel to them now as in the hour of passion, still they can recall the past; and nothing is more useless or unwise than these scenes of crimination and reproach, for we know that in all these cases, when the beloved object has ceased to charm, it is in vain to appeal to the feelings. You know that this is true. Every man almost has gone through it. My hon. gentleman does what he can to keep them quiet; he sometimes takes refuge in arrogant silence, and sometimes he treats them with haughty frigidity; and if they knew anything of human nature they would take the hint and shut their mouths. But they won't. And what then happens? What happens under all such circumstances? The right hon. gentleman, being compelled to interfere, sends down his valet, who says in the genteelest manner: "We can have no whining here". And that, sir, is exactly the case of the great agricultural interest—that beauty which everybody wooed and one deluded. There is a fatality in such charms, and we now seem to approach the catastrophe of her career. Protection appears to be in about the same condition that Protestantism was in 1828. The country will draw its moral. For my part, if we are to have free trade, I, who honour genius, prefer that such measures should be proposed by the hon. member for Stockport than by one who through skilful Parliamentary manoeuvres has tampered with the generous confidence of a great people and a great party. For myself, I care not what may be the result. Dissolve, if you please, the Parliament you have betrayed. For me there remains this at least—the opportunity of expressing thus publicly my belief that a Conservative Government is an organised hypocrisy.“

— Benjamin Disraeli British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister 1804 - 1881

Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1845/mar/17/agricultural-interest in the House of Commons (17 March 1845).
1840s

Love, People, Pleasure, Beauty

„I receive letters every day asking me to write a manifesto and make a speech; that I am the only man who could do so with effect; and all that. Why should I? I warned the country about Ireland before the General Election and told them to be vigilant, or there would be something happen there, "worse even than famine or pestilence". It has happened. And there have been elections since the Irish Revolution in England, Wales and Scotland, and they have supported the policy of imbecility and treason that has brought about all this disaster.“

— Benjamin Disraeli British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister 1804 - 1881

Letter to Lady Chesterfield (22 December 1880), quoted in the Marquis of Zetland (ed.), The Letters of Disraeli to Lady Bradford and Lady Chesterfield. Vol. II, 1876 to 1881 (London: Ernest Benn Limited, 1929), p. 305.
1880s

Support, Country

„If you're in favor of freedom of speech, that means you're in favor of freedom of speech precisely for views you despise.“

— Noam Chomsky american linguist, philosopher and activist 1928

Quotes 1990s, 1990-1994, Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, 1992
Context: If you believe in freedom of speech, you believe in freedom of speech for views you don't like. Goebbels was in favor of freedom of speech for views he liked. So was Stalin. If you're in favor of freedom of speech, that means you're in favor of freedom of speech precisely for views you despise.

Freedom

„A good speech should be like a woman's skirt; long enough to cover the subject and short enough to create interest.“

— Winston S. Churchill Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1874 - 1965

„Love all, trust a few,
Do wrong to none: be able for thine enemy
Rather in power than use; and keep thy friend
Under thy own life's key: be check'd for silence,
But never tax'd for speech.“

— William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well

Source: All's Well That Ends Well

Love, Life, Silence

„In a free state there should be freedom of speech and thought.“
In civitate libera linguam mentemque liberas esse debere (jactabat).

— Tiberius 2nd Emperor of Ancient Rome, member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty -42 - 37 BC

Variant translation: In a free state, both the tongue and the mind ought to be free.
From Suetonius, The Twelves Caesars, ch. 28

Freedom

„We speak still of "sunrise" and "sunset." We do so as if the Copernican model of the solar system had not replaced, ineradicably, the Ptolemaic. Vacant metaphors, eroded figures of speech, inhabit our vocabulary and grammar. They are caught, tenaciously, in the scaffolding and recesses of our common parlance. There they rattle about like old rags or ghosts in the attic.“

— George Steiner American writer 1929 - 2020

Source: Real Presences (1989), I: A Secondary City, Ch. 1 (p. 3).

„The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.“

— James Legge missionary in China 1815 - 1897

Bk. 14, Ch. 29 (p. 208)
Translations, The Confucian Analects

For Men

„"We (Muslims) are actually very strong. 1.3 billion people cannot be simply wiped out. The Europeans killed 6 million Jews out of 12 million. But today the Jews rule the world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them." - Oct. 16, 2003, in speech to a summit of 57 Islamic countries.“

— Mahathir bin Mohamad Prime Minister of Malaysia 1925

People, World, Strong, Fight

„Their buildings rise, their morality sinks. Their worldly goods increase, their values diminish. Their speeches multiply, their prayers grow scarce…. An edifice based on man may well rise, but it ends up crushing him.“

— Charbel Makhlouf Lebanese Maronite monk and saint 1828 - 1898

Love is a Radiant Light: The Life & Words of Saint Charbel (2019)

„Take the good speech from whoever said it even if his practice was not accordingly.“

— Muhammad al-Baqir fifth of the Twelve Shia Imams 677 - 733

Majlisi, Bihārul Anwār, vol.75, p. 170

„If you have ever seen the play Peter Pan you will remember how the pirate chief was always making his dying speech because he was afraid that possibly when the time came for him to die he might not have time to get it off his chest. It is much the same with me, and so, although I am not at this moment dying, I shall be doing so one of these days and I want to send you a parting word of goodbye.

Remember, it is the last you will ever hear from me, so think it over.

I have had a most happy life and I want each one of you to have as happy a life too.

I believe that God put us in this jolly world to be happy and enjoy life. Happiness doesn't come from being rich, nor merely from being successful in your career, nor by self-indulgence. One step towards happiness is to make yourself healthy and strong while you are a boy, so that you can be useful and so can enjoy life when you are a man.

Nature study will show you how full of beautiful and wonderful things God has made the world for you to enjoy. Be contented with what you have got and make the best of it. Look on the bright side of things instead of the gloomy one.

But the real way to get happiness is by giving out happiness to other people. Try and leave this world a little better than you found it and when your turn come to die, you can die happy in feeling that at any rate you have not wasted your time but have done your best. "Be Prepared" in this way, to live happy and to die happy - stick to your Scout promise always - even after you have ceased to be a boy - and God help you do it.“

— Robert Baden-Powell lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, founder and Chief Scout of the Scout Movement 1857 - 1941

Life, God, People, World

„I used publicly to take part in organized anti-caste dinners in which thousands of Hindus, Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, Chamars and Bhangis participated. We broke the caste rules and dined in the company of each other. I have read the speeches and writings of Ravana, Chanakiya, Dadabhai Naoroji, Vivekanand, Gokhale, Tilak, along with the books of ancient and modern history of India and some prominent countries like England, France, America and Russia. Moreover I studied the tenets of Socialism and Marxism. But above all I studied very closely whatever Veer Savarkar and Gandhiji had written and spoken, as to my mind these two ideologies have contributed more to the moulding of the thought and action of the Indian people during the last thirty years or so, than any other single factor has done.“

— Nathuram Godse Assassin of Mahatma Gandhi 1910 - 1949

Nathuram Godse: Why I Assassinated Gandhi (1993)

Study, Reading, History, Country

„There are two fundamentally different ways for the strong to bend down to the weak, for the rich to help the poor, for the more perfect life to help the “less perfect.” This action can be motivated by a powerful feeling of security, strength, and inner salvation, of the invincible fullness of one’s own life and existence. All this unites into the clear awareness that one is rich enough to share one’s being and possessions. Love, sacrifice, help, the descent to the small and the weak, here spring from a spontaneous overflow of force, accompanied by bliss and deep inner calm. Compared to this natural readiness for love and sacrifice, all specific “egoism,” the concern for oneself and one’s interest, and even the instinct of “self-preservation” are signs of a blocked and weakened life. Life is essentially expansion, development, growth in plenitude, and not “self-preservation,” as a false doctrine has it. Development, expansion, and growth are not epiphenomena of mere preservative forces and cannot be reduced to the preservation of the “better adapted.” … There is a form of sacrifice which is a free renunciation of one’s own vital abundance, a beautiful and natural overflow of one’s forces. Every living being has a natural instinct of sympathy for other living beings, which increases with their proximity and similarity to himself. Thus we sacrifice ourselves for beings with whom we feel united and solidary, in contrast to everything “dead.” This sacrificial impulse is by no means a later acquisition of life, derived from originally egoistic urges. It is an original component of life and precedes all those particular “aims” and “goals” which calculation, intelligence, and reflection impose upon it later. We have an urge to sacrifice before we ever know why, for what, and for whom! Jesus’ view of nature and life, which sometimes shines through his speeches and parables in fragments and hidden allusions, shows quite clearly that he understood this fact. When he tells us not to worry about eating and drinking, it is not because he is indifferent to life and its preservation, but because he sees also a vital weakness in all “worrying” about the next day, in all concentration on one’s own physical well-being. … all voluntary concentration on one’s own bodily wellbeing, all worry and anxiety, hampers rather than furthers the creative force which instinctively and beneficently governs all life. … This kind of indifference to the external means of life (food, clothing, etc.) is not a sign of indifference to life and its value, but rather of a profound and secret confidence in life’s own vigor and of an inner security from the mechanical accidents which may befall it. A gay, light, bold, knightly indifference to external circumstances, drawn from the depth of life itself—that is the feeling which inspires these words! Egoism and fear of death are signs of a declining, sick, and broken life. …
This attitude is completely different from that of recent modern realism in art and literature, the exposure of social misery, the description of little people, the wallowing in the morbid—a typical ressentiment phenomenon. Those people saw something bug-like in everything that lives, whereas Francis sees the holiness of “life” even in a bug.“

— Max Scheler German philosopher 1874 - 1928

Source: Das Ressentiment im Aufbau der Moralen (1912), L. Coser, trans. (1961), pp. 88-92

Love, Life, Death, People

„Without freedom of speech, there is no modern world, just a barbaric one.“

— Ai Weiwei Chinese concept artist 1957

2000-09, Ai Weiwei, Nursing Head Wound, Sharpens Criticism, 2009
Variant: Without freedom of speech, there is no modern world, just a barbaric one.

World, Freedom

„Banning books gives us silence when we need speech. It closes our ears when we need to listen. It makes us blind when we need sight.“

— Stephen Chbosky American writer 1970

Books, Silence

„Where there is official censorship it is a sign that speech is serious. Where there is none, it is pretty certain that the official spokesmen have all the loud-speakers.“

— Paul Goodman, book Growing Up Absurd

Source: Growing Up Absurd (1956), p. 40.

„A fool is known by his Speech; and a wise man by Silence.“

— Pythagoras ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher -585 - -495 BC

The Sayings of the Wise (1555)

Fools, Silence, Powerful

„I have not said anything about politics today. I don't propose to say anything about politics. You have a right to elect whom you please; vote for the man you think best, and I think, when that is done, that you and I are freemen. Do as you consider right and honest in electing men for office. I did not come here to make you a long speech, although invited to do so by you. I am not much of a speaker, and my business prevented me from preparing myself. I came to meet you as friends, and welcome you to the white people. I want you to come nearer to us. When I can serve you I will do so. We have but one flag, one country; let us stand together. We may differ in color, but not in sentiment. Use your best judgement in selecting men for office and vote as you think right.“

— Nathan Bedford Forrest Confederate Army general 1821 - 1877

1870s, Speech before the Pole-Bearers Association (1875)

Men, People, Color, Business

„When the native hears a speech about Western culture he pulls out his knife—or at least he makes sure it is within reach. The violence with which the supremacy of white values is affirmed and the aggressiveness which has permeated the victory of these values over the ways of life and of thought of the native mean that, in revenge, the native laughs in mockery when Western values are mentioned in front of him.“

— Frantz Fanon, book The Wretched of the Earth

Source: The Wretched of the Earth (1961), p. 43.

Life, Way, Revenge, Victory

„Our best and brightest should be encouraged to find new methods of expression; direct action in protest must not stifled. The dawning of the digital age should be seen as an opportunity to expand our knowledge, and to collectively enhance our communication. Government should have the greatest interest in promoting speech – especially unpopular speech. The government should never be used to suppress new and creative – not to mention, effective – methods of speech and expression“

— Jay Leiderman lawyer 1971

From an op-Ed in the Guardian newspaper by Jay Leiderman 22 January 2013 http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jan/22/paypal-wikileaks-protesters-ddos-free-speech
Variant: Our best and brightest should be encouraged to find new methods of expression; direct action in protest must not stifled. The dawning of the digital age should be seen as an opportunity to expand our knowledge, and to collectively enhance our communication. Government should have the greatest interest in promoting speech – especially unpopular speech. The government should never be used to suppress new and creative – not to mention, effective – methods of speech and expression

Age, Communication, Knowledge

„Speech has both an individual and a social side, and we cannot conceive of one without the other.“

— Ferdinand de Saussure, book Course in General Linguistics

Source: Cours de linguistique générale (1916), p. 9

„In anger we should refrain both from speech and action.“

— Pythagoras ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher -585 - -495 BC

As quoted in Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, "Pythagoras", Sect. 23–24, as translated in Dictionary of Quotations (1906) by Thomas Benfield Harbottle, p. 370
Original: (el) ἐν ὀργῇ μήτε τι λέγειν μήτε πράσσειν

Anger, Powerful

„Silence
is an ocean. Speech is a river.“

— Rumi Iranian poet 1207 - 1273

"The Three Fish" Ch. 18 : The Three Fish, p. 196
Variant translations or adaptations:
Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation.
As quoted in Teachers of Wisdom (2010) by Igor Kononenko, p. 134
Silence is an ocean. Speech is a river. Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation.
As quoted in "Rumi’s wisdom" (2 October 2015) http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2015/10/02/character-of-the-week-rumi/, by Paulo Coelho
The Essential Rumi (1995)
Context: Silence
is an ocean. Speech is a river.When the ocean is searching for you, don't walk
into the language-river. Listen to the ocean,
and bring your talky business to an end Traditional words are just babbling
in that presence, and babbling is a substitute
for sight.

Silence

„The recognition of the law of cause and effect, also known as karma, is a fundamental key to understand how you’ve created your world, with actions of your body, speech, and mind. When you truly understand karma, then you realize you are responsible for everything in your life. It is incredibly empowering to know that your future is in your hands.“

— Keanu Reeves Canadian actor, director, producer and musician 1964

Understanding, Law, Future, World

„Freedom is the nature of man; every person is self-controlling and himself responsible for his thoughts, his speech, his acts.“

— Rose Wilder Lane American journalist 1886 - 1968

Discovery of Freedom: Man's Struggle Against Authority (1943)

Nature, Freedom, Personality

„I define speech as any communicative activity. [Can it be nonverbal? ] Yes. [Can it be nonverbal and also not written? ] Yes. [Can it encompass physical actions? ] Yes. Watt [Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Watt, 703 F.2d 586 (1983)] was a case in which what was at issue was sleeping as communicative activity. What I said was that for purposes of the heightened protections that are accorded, sleeping could not be speech. That is to say, I did not say that one could prohibit sleeping merely for the purpose of eliminating the communicative aspect of sleeping, if there is any... [and] I did not say that the Government could seek to prohibit that communication without running afoul of the heightened standards of the first amendment. If they passed a law that allows all other sleeping but only prohibits sleeping where it is intended to communicate, then it would be invalidated. But what I did say was, where you have a general law that just applies to an activity which in itself is normally not communicative, such as sleeping, spitting, whatever you like; clenching your fist, for example; such a law would not be subject to the heightened standards of the first amendment. That is to say, if there is ordinary justification for it, it is fine. It does not have to meet the high need, the no other available alternative requirements of the first amendment. Whereas, when you are dealing with communicative activity, naturally communicative activity—writing, speech, and so forth— any law, even if it is general, across the board, has to meet those higher standards.“

— Antonin Scalia former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States 1936 - 2016

Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings, (8/5/1986), transcript https://web.archive.org/web/20060213232846/http://a255.g.akamaitech.net/7/255/2422/22sep20051120/www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/senate/judiciary/sh99-1064/31-110.pdf at pp. 51-52).
1980s

Law, Communication, Nature, Sleep

„No one will be able to speak suitably and clearly about anything unless he has shaped his speech by some art, by imitation of the best.“

— Philip Melanchthon German reformer 1497 - 1560

Source: Praise of Eloquence (1523), p. 62

Art

„From that time forth he believed that the wise man is one who never sets himself apart from other living things, whether they have speech or not, and in later years he strove long to learn what can be learned, in silence, from the eyes of animals, the flight of birds, the great slow gestures of trees.“

— Ursula K. Le Guin American writer 1929 - 2018

Source: Earthsea Books, A Wizard of Earthsea (1968), Chapter 5

Bird, Tree, Silence, Learning

„Most importantly, to all the amazing kids that watch our show and the kids that our show celebrates, who are constantly told ‘no’ by the people in their environments, by bullies at school that they can’t be who they are or have what they want because of who they are. Well, screw that, kids. Globes Speech.“

— Chris Colfer actor, singer, book author 1990

Interview Quotes, 68th Golden Globes Speech (2011)

People, School

„If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.“

— George Washington first President of the United States 1732 - 1799

Freedom

„Not by speeches and votes of the majority are the great questions of the time decided — that was the error of 1848 and 1849 — but by iron and blood.“

— Otto von Bismarck German statesman, Chancellor of Germany 1815 - 1898

Nicht durch Reden und Majoritätsbeschlüsse werden die großen Fragen der Zeit entschieden — daß ist der große Fehler von 1848 und 1849 gewesen — sondern durch Eisen und Blut.
Variant translations :
: It is not by speeches and majority vote that the great questions of our time will be decided — as that was error of 1848 and 1849 — but rather by iron and blood.
The great questions of the time are not decided by speeches and majority decisions — that was the error of 1848 and 1849 — but by iron and blood.
The great issues of the day are not decided through speeches and majority resolutions — that was the great error of 1848 and 1849 — but through blood and iron.
The great questions of the day will not be decided by speeches and the resolutions of majorities — that was the great mistake from 1848 to 1849 — but by blood and iron.
The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority decisions … but by iron and blood.
Speech to the Budget Commission of the Prussian Diet (30 September 1862), published in Fürst Bismarck als Redner, Vol. 2 (after 1881), edited by Wilhelm Böhm, p. 12 http://books.google.de/books?id=3WsIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA12); after some objections to his initial speech Bismarck returned to the podium and declared:
::Auswärtige Conflicte zu suchen, um über innere Schwierigkeiten hinwegzukommen, dagegen müsse er sich verwahren; das würde frivol sein; er wolle nicht Händel suchen ; er spreche von Conflicten, denen wir nicht entgehen würden, ohne daß wir sie suchten.
:: I must protest that I would never seek foreign conflicts just to go over domestic difficulties; that would be frivolous. I was speaking of conflicts that we could not avoid, even though we do not seek them.
::* Die Reden des Ministerpräsidenten von Bismarck-Schönhausen im Preußischen Landtage 1862-1865 (1903) edited by Horst Kohl, p. 31
1860s

Error, Question, Time

„Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say.“

— Edward Snowden American whistleblower and former National Security Agency contractor 1983

Reddit, May 21, 2015 https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/36ru89/just_days_left_to_kill_mass_surveillance_under/crglgh2
2015

„Every time they say that what's happening in the country is... Stalin's fault. It's the moral of every speech: Stalin's guilty, it was Stalin, Stalin, Stalin, everyone against him. But Stalin died 35 years ago! 35 years! What does that have to do with today's troubles?“

— Lazar Kaganovich Soviet politician 1893 - 1991

Interview (5 October 1990) as quoted in La Repubblica https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/1990/10/05/parla-kaganovich-non-siamo-dei-mostri.html

Time, Country

„Everyone is in favour of free speech. Hardly a day passes without its being extolled, but some people's idea of it is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone says anything back, that is an outrage“

— Winston S. Churchill, book The Second World War

"The Coalmining Situation", Speech to the House of Commons (October 13, 1943)
The Second World War (1939–1945)
Source: Google books link https://books.google.com/books?id=hc8pAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT373&lpg=PT373&dq=%22if+anyone+says+anything+back+that+is+an+outrage%22&source=bl&ots=vQG7eKCVNO&sig=FgGJGUVc7MSNY3-hyQrYpC8tiOY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CFEQ6AEwDWoVChMI-J-rpoiWyQIVF9tjCh2cLAel#v=onepage&q=%22if%20anyone%20says%20anything%20back%20that%20is%20an%20outrage%22&f=false

People, Idea

„I found the speech, after listening to it in context, vile in manner, repugnant, malicious, mean-spirited and spoken in mockery of individuals and people, which is against the spirit of Islam. While I stand by the truths that he spoke, I must condemn in the strongest terms the manner in which those truths were represented.“

— Khalid Abdul Muhammad American activist 1948 - 2001

Louis Farrakhan, dismissing Khalid from his Nation of Islam post. See New York Times (4 February 1994) "Farrakhan Repudiates Speech For Tone, Not Anti-Semitism"
About Khalid

Truth, People

„Does the painter imitate the body correctly if he guides his brush without any method, and if his hand is moved at random and the lines are not drawn with art? In the same way you will not put the sentiment of your mind in front of the others’ eyes unless you use appropriate and distinct words, a fitting arrangement of words and the right order of sentences. For, just as we represent bodies by colours, we represent the sentiment of our mind by speech.“

— Philip Melanchthon German reformer 1497 - 1560

Source: Praise of Eloquence (1523), p. 63

Art, Way

„Silence is most powerful. Speech is always less powerful than silence.“

— Ramana Maharshi Indian religious leader 1879 - 1950

Abide as the Self

Silence

„The real problem in speech is not precise language. The problem is clear language.“

— Richard Feynman American theoretical physicist 1918 - 1988

" New Textbooks for the "New" Mathematics http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/2362/1/feynman.pdf", Engineering and Science volume 28, number 6 (March 1965) p. 9-15 at p. 14
Paraphrased as "Precise language is not the problem. Clear language is the problem."
Context: The real problem in speech is not precise language. The problem is clear language. The desire is to have the idea clearly communicated to the other person. It is only necessary to be precise when there is some doubt as to the meaning of a phrase, and then the precision should be put in the place where the doubt exists. It is really quite impossible to say anything with absolute precision, unless that thing is so abstracted from the real world as to not represent any real thing.Pure mathematics is just such an abstraction from the real world, and pure mathematics does have a special precise language for dealing with its own special and technical subjects. But this precise language is not precise in any sense if you deal with real objects of the world, and it is only pedantic and quite confusing to use it unless there are some special subtleties which have to be carefully distinguished.

Problem

„One disgust, then another — to the point of losing the use of speech and even of the mind…The greatest exploit of my life is to be still alive.“

— Emil M. Cioran Romanian philosopher and essayist 1911 - 1995

Drawn and Quartered (1983)

Life

„Idiot, n. A member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in human affairs has always been dominant and controlling. The Idiot's activity is not confined to any special field of thought or action, but "pervades and regulates the whole." He has the last word in everything; his decision is unappealable. He sets the fashions and opinion of taste, dictates the limitations of speech and circumscribes conduct with a dead-line.“

— Ambrose Bierce, book The Devil's Dictionary

The Devil's Dictionary (1911)

Fashion, Decision, Dead

„Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.“

— Ambrose Bierce American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist 1842 - 1914

„The Ogre does what ogres can,
Deeds quite impossible for Man,
But one prize is beyond his reach,
The Ogre cannot master Speech:
About a subjugated plain,
Among its desperate and slain,
The Ogre stalks with hands on hips,
While drivel gushes from his lips.“

— W. H. Auden Anglo-American poet 1907 - 1973

"August 1968"

„The Doctor does have some long speeches and he talks very quickly. Learning all his babble can take a while, but it's very well written babble so I don't mind and you do get quicker. When I filmed Recovery during the break in Doctor Who I would sit down at the weekend and learn the script in an hour and I was like 'Hang on??“

— David Tennant Scottish actor 1971

You do get used to it though.
Davidtennant.com exclusive interview (February 2007) http://www.team-tennant.com/article/id154.html

Learning

„Making others happy, through kindness of speech and sincerity of right advice, is a sign of true greatness. To hurt another soul by sarcastic words, looks, or suggestions, is despicable.“

— Paramahansa Yogananda Yogi, a guru of Kriya Yoga and founder of Self-Realization Fellowship 1893 - 1952

Source: Where There is Light: Insight and Inspiration for Meeting Life's Challenges

Soul, Hurt, Sincerity, Happiness

„Free speech is the right to shout "Theater!" in a crowded fire.“

— Abbie Hoffman American political and social activist 1936 - 1989

Source: Soon to be a Major Motion Picture (1980), p. 214.

„Writing is a lonely job. Having someone who believes in you makes a lot if difference. They don't have to makes speeches. Just believing is usually enough.“

— Stephen King American author 1947

Source: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

„Speak when you are angry, and you'll make the best speech you'll ever regret.“

— Laurence J. Peter Canadian eductor 1919 - 1990

„I was also going to give a graduation speech in Arizona this weekend. But with my accent, I was afraid they would try to deport me.“

— Arnold Schwarzenegger actor, businessman and politician of Austrian-American heritage 1947

„Monks, these two extremes ought not to be practiced by one who has gone forth from the household life. (What are the two?) There is addiction to indulgence of sense-pleasures, which is low, coarse, the way of ordinary people, unworthy, and unprofitable; and there is addiction to self-mortification, which is painful, unworthy, and unprofitable. Avoiding both these extremes, the Tathagata (the Perfect One) has realized the Middle Path; it gives vision, gives knowledge, and leads to calm, to insight, to enlightenment and to Nibbana. And what is that Middle Path realized by the Tathagata? … It is the Noble Eightfold Path, and nothing else, namely: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.“

— Gautama Buddha philosopher, reformer and the founder of Buddhism -563 - -483 BC

Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn56/sn56.011.piya.html, as translated by Piyadassi Maha Thera (1999)
Unclassified

Life, Pain, People, Pleasure

„If for a while the harder you try, the harder it gets, take heart. So it has been with the best people who ever lived. (The Inconvenient Messiah, BYU Speeches, Feb 15, 1982)“

— Jeffrey R. Holland Mormon leader 1940

People, Heart

„Conservative pundits have a remarkable amount of free speech.“

— Michael Parenti American academic 1933

1 POLITICS AND ISSUES, Free Speech-At A Price, p. 83
Dirty truths (1996), first edition

„We are informed by our judges that we at no time stand Speech to Parliament on parliamentary privilege (March/April 1542), as quoted in Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland Volume III (1808), by Raphael Holinshed, p. 824.“

— Henry VIII of England King of England from 1509 until 1547 1491 - 1547

Quotes, Time

„This is a second act for me, and you give me that. I wanna thank you for this. I'm so grateful and proud. I just wanna to dedicated this (the award) to anyone else out there, who is trying to get a second act, because you can do. (Speech after receiving the British Academy Film Awards for the Best Director)“

— Ben Affleck American film actor, director and screenwriter 1972

(from the video Ben Affleck wins Best Director at BAFTAs 2013, channel "Sony Pix", February 09, 2013.

„Enlighten the dark blood of your ancestors, shape their cries into speech, purify their will, widen their narrow, unmerciful brows.“

— Nikos Kazantzakis, book The Saviors of God

The Saviors of God (1923)
Context: Enlighten the dark blood of your ancestors, shape their cries into speech, purify their will, widen their narrow, unmerciful brows. This is your second duty.
For you are not only a slave. As soon as you were born, a new possibility was born with you, a free heartbeat stormed through the great sunless heart of your race.

„The most significant attribute and personality trait someone can possess is constant renewal; the continual process of renewing our wisdom in our personal life and in the workplace."

The above quote is an excerpt from the speech I gave the Broward County, City and County Managers Association in 1994. The theme of the presentation was how to identify higher-quality applicants and employees currently working in the organization. The concept is simple; some constantly learn what’s new and keep up to date on innovations and technology, while most only learn and are diffused by the renewal group.“

— RJ Intindola (Gandolfo)

2000

Personality, Learning, Life, Wisdom

„About the only power you have is the power to discriminate. Living in a culture like this, you have to make choices and search out what has the most authentic content or substance. In the 1960s, while on LSD, I realized that my mind was a garbage receptacle of mass media images and input. I spent my whole childhood absorbing so much crap that my personality and mind are saturated with it. God only knows if that affects you physically! As a kid I became increasingly interested in earlier periods of culture. I turned into a little nostalgia boy, and I became steeped in the Our Gang fantasy from watching them on TV. So much so, that my speech patterns were affected. The style of those Our Gang comedies was so charming that I started acting and talking like Jackie Cooper and Alfalfa. They had these cute kids, artificial mannerisms. It must have been embarrassing for people to hear me talk like that.“

— Robert Crumb American cartoonist 1943

The R. Crumb Handbook by Robert Crumb and Peter Poplaski (2005), p. 60

God, People, Search, Boy

„When a man sought knowledge, it would not be long before it could be seen in his humbleness, his sight, upon his tongue and his hands, in his prayer, in his speech and in his disinterest (zuhd) in worldly allurements. And a man would acquire a portion of knowledge and put it into practice, and it would be better for him than the world and all it contains – if he owned it he would give it in exchange for the hereafter.“

— Hasan al-Basri Iranian Sufi Saint 642 - 728

Quoted in Ibn Al-Mubârak, Al-Zuhd wa Al-Raqâ`iq Vol.1 p. 156.

World, Knowledge

„Without speech, thoughts plough on like a train without tracks, buckling, crashing, ripping everything apart.“

— Edward St. Aubyn British writer 1960

At Last, Chapter 13

Training

„Speech without word and
Word of no speech
Grace to the Mother
For the Garden
Where all love ends.“

— T.S. Eliot 20th century English author 1888 - 1965

Ash-Wednesday (1930)
Context: Lady of silences
Calm and distressed
Torn and most whole
Rose of memory
Rose of forgetfulness
Exhausted and life-giving
Worried reposeful
The single Rose
Is now the Garden
Where all loves end
Terminate torment
Of love unsatisfied
The greater torment
Of love satisfied
End of the endless
Journey to no end
Conclusion of all that
Is inconclusible
Speech without word and
Word of no speech
Grace to the Mother
For the Garden
Where all love ends.

Love

„The objective of these barbaric acts is to terrorise, to paralyse through fear, to subjugate or to censor. Undisputedly after this act that traumatised the whole nation, fear is there. It is my responsibility to say that this fear must be overcome. And to say that this attack must continue to prompt free speech in the face of Islamic fundamentalism. We must not stay silent. And we must say what happened. We must not be scared of words: this is a terrorist act committed in the name of radical Islamism. Denial and hypocrisy are no longer an option. The absolute refusal of Islamic fundamentalism must be proclaimed high and loud by whomever. Life and liberty are among the most precious values.“

— Marine Le Pen French lawyer and politician 1968

"Le Pen: Radical Islam behind Charlie Hebdo attack", ITV News (8 January 2015) http://www.itv.com/news/update/2015-01-08/le-pen-radical-islam-behind-charlie-hebdo-attack/

Life, Fear

„In a covenant…among proprietor and community tenants for the purpose of protecting their private property, no such thing as a right to free (unlimited) speech exists, not even to unlimited speech on one’s own tenant-property. One may say innumerable things and promote almost any idea under the sun, but naturally no one is permitted to advocate ideas contrary to the very covenant of preserving and protecting private property, such as democracy and communism. There can be no tolerance toward democrats and communists in a libertarian social order. They will have to be physically separated and removed from society.“

— Hans-Hermann Hoppe, book Democracy: The God That Failed

Source: Democracy: The God That Failed (2001), P. 218.

Democracy, Communication, Idea, Nature

„If fine speech-making, appeals to reason, or pleas for compassion had the power to move them, the terrorists would long ago have abandoned the field.“

— Dick Cheney American politician and businessman 1941

Speech at the American Enterprise Institute http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/05/21/cheney_obama_keeping_america_safe_96615.html (21 May, 2009)
2000s, 2009

„I certify to Your Highnesses that in the world I believe that there are no better people nor better land. They love their neighbors as themselves, and have a speech that is sweetest in the world, and mild and always laughing.“

— Cristoforo Colombo Explorer, navigator, and colonizer 1451 - 1506

25 December 1492
Journal of the First Voyage

Love, People, World

„I am bound to accord you, in the name of free speech, the full right to shout, lie and write to your heart’s content. But you are bound to grant me, in the name of freedom of association, the right to enter into, or withdraw from, association with people advocating this or that view.“

— Vladimir Lenin Russian politician, led the October Revolution 1870 - 1924

.
1900s
Context: Everyone is free to write and say whatever he likes, without any restrictions. But every voluntary association (including the party) is also free to expel members who use the name of the party to advocate anti-party views. Freedom of speech and the press must be complete. But then freedom of association must be complete too. I am bound to accord you, in the name of free speech, the full right to shout, lie and write to your heart’s content. But you are bound to grant me, in the name of freedom of association, the right to enter into, or withdraw from, association with people advocating this or that view. The party is a voluntary association, which would inevitably break up, first ideologically and then physically, if it did not cleanse itself of people advocating anti-party views.

People, Lie, Freedom, Heart

„Her lips touched his brain as they touched his lips, as though they were a vehicle of some vague speech and between them he felt an unknown and timid preasure, darker than the swoon of sin, softer than sound or odor.“

— James Joyce, book A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Source: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

„Mr. Greer timed all our speeches with an oven timer. Things were nothing at Tribeca Alternative, considered one of Manhattan's finest prep schools, if not high tech.“

— Meg Cabot, book Being Nikki

Source: Being Nikki

School, Time

„Of lovers whose bodies smell of each other
Who think the same thoughts without need of speech“

— T.S. Eliot 20th century English author 1888 - 1965

Lovers, Thinking

„It was one of the dullest speeches I ever heard. The Agee woman told us for three quarters of an hour how she came to write her beastly book, when a simple apology was all that was required.“

— P.G. Wodehouse, book The Girl in Blue

Source: The Girl in Blue (1970)

Books

„The source of all unhappiness is other people. As soon as you learn to
think of other people as noisy furniture, the sooner you will be happy.
- Wally's Keynote Speech“

— Scott Adams cartoonist, writer 1957

People, Thinking, Learning, Happiness

„Silence is deep as Eternity, speech is shallow as Time.“

— Thomas Carlyle Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher 1795 - 1881

Silence, Time, Deep

„When Kino had finished, Juana came back to the fire and ate her breakfast. They had spoken once, but there is not need for speech if it is only a habit anyway. Kino sighed with satisfaction - and that was conversation.“

— John Steinbeck, book The Pearl

Source: The Pearl

„Darkness promotes speech.“

— Alberto Manguel writer 1948

Source: The Library at Night

„It was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down, as if each speech is an arrangement of notes that will never be played again.“

— F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Source: The Great Gatsby

„Due to attachment, anger, and foolishness, I have committed numberless mistakes in speech, deed and thought. I bow my head and repent. I vow from today to begin anew, to live day and night in mindfulness, and not to repeat my previous mistakes.“

— Thich Nhat Hanh Religious leader and peace activist 1926

Anger, Night

„Rude am I in my speech, And little blessed with the soft phrase of peace.“

— William Shakespeare, Othello

Source: Othello

Peace

„Nobody is capable of of free speech unless he knows how to use language, and such knowledge is not a gift: it has to learned and worked at. [p.93]“

— Northrop Frye Canadian literary critic and literary theorist 1912 - 1991

Source: "Quotes", The Educated Imagination (1963), Talk 6: The Vocation of Eloquence
Context: Freedom has nothing to do with lack of training; it can only be the product of training. You're not free to move unless you've learned to walk, and not free to play the piano unless you practise. Nobody is capable of free speech unless he knows how to use the language, and such knowledge is not a gift: it has to be learned and worked at.

Knowledge, Learning

„If we assume man has been corrupted by an artificial civilization, what is the natural state? the state of nature from which he has been removed? imagine, wandering up and down the forest without industry, without speech, and without home.“

— Jean Jacques Rousseau Genevan philosopher 1712 - 1778

Home, Imagination, Nature

„I wait. I compose myself. My self is a thing I must now compose, as one composes a speech. What I must present is a made thing, not something born“

— Margaret Atwood, book The Handmaid's Tale

Source: The Handmaid's Tale

Waiting

„It was mortifying to find how strong the habit of idle speech may become in one’s self. One need not always be saying something in this noisy world.“

— Sarah Orne Jewett American novelist, short story writer and poet 1849 - 1909

Source: The Country of the Pointed Firs and Other Stories

World, Strong

„My life - my personality, my habits, even my speech - is a combination of the books I choose to read, the people I choose to listen to, and the thoughts I choose to tolerate in my mind“

— Andy Andrews author and corporate speaker 1959

Life, People, Books, Reading

„Between hell now, and hell later, Sassenach," he said, his speech measured and precise, "I will take later, every time.“

— Diana Gabaldon, book Dragonfly in Amber

Source: Dragonfly in Amber

Hell, Time

„I will have you know I practiced that speech. In front of a mirror before you got here."
"So what do you think it meant?"
"I'm not sure," Jace admitted, "but I know I look damn good delivering it.“

— Cassandra Clare, The City of Lost Souls

Source: City of Lost Souls

Thinking

„O, with what freshness, what solemnity and beauty, is each new day born; as if to say to insensate man, "Behold! thou hast one more chance! Strive for immortal glory!" There is no speech nor language where this voice is not heard; but the bold, bad man heard it not. He woke with an oath and a curse. What to him was the gold and purple, the daily miracle of morning!“

— Harriet Beecher Stowe, book Uncle Tom's Cabin

Ch 36 Emmeline and Cassy
Source: Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852)

Beauty, Chance

„His ear heard more than is said to him, and his slow speech had overtones not of thought, but of understanding beyond thought.“

— John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men

Source: Of Mice and Men (1937), Ch. 2, p. 36

Understanding

„Today's public figures can no longer write their own speeches or books, and there is some evidence that they can't read them either.“

— Gore Vidal American writer 1925 - 2012

Books, Reading

„It was one of those dangerous moments when speech is at once sincere and deceptive - when feeling, rising high above its average depth, leaves flood-marks which are never reached again.“

— George Eliot, book The Mill on the Floss

Source: The Mill on the Floss

Feeling, Sincerity

„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, Madame Bovary

Source: Madame Bovary

Music, Star, Dance

„Sometimes you meet yourself on the road before you have a chance to learn the appropriate greeting. Faced with your own possibilities, the hard part is knowing a speech is not required. All you have to say is yes.“

— Pearl Cleage, What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day

Source: What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day

Learning, Chance, Parting

„APOLLO'S DAILY MOTIVATIONAL SPEECH

"You are gorgeous and people love you!“

— Rick Riordan, book The Hidden Oracle

Source: The Hidden Oracle

Love, People, Motivation

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

— George Bernard Shaw Irish playwright 1856 - 1950

Widely attributed to Shaw, this quotation is actually of unknown origin.
Misattributed
Variant: She had lost the art of conversation, but not, unfortunately, the power of speech.

„from Bill Clinton speech-
People are more impressed by the power of our example rather than the example of our power…“

— Bill Clinton 42nd President of the United States 1946

2000s
Variant: The world has always been more impressed by the power of our [America's] example than by the example of our power.
Context: Former U. S. president Bill Clinton has urged newspaper editors to focus more attention on the depletion of the world's oil reserves. In a June 17 speech to the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies convention in Little Rock, Arkansas, Clinton said a "significant number of petroleum geologists" have warned that the world could be nearing the peak in oil production. Clinton suggested that at current consumption rates (now more than 30 billion barrels per year, according to the International Energy Agency), the world could be out of "recoverable oil" in 35 to 50 years, elevating the risk of "And then finally, and I think most important of all, more important than the deficit, more important then healthcare, more important than anything, is we have got to do something about our energy strategy because if we permit the climate to continue to warm at an unsustainable rate, and if we keep on doing what we're doing 'til we're out of oil and we haven't made the transition, then it's inconceivable to me that our children and grandchildren will be able to maintain the American way of life and that the world won't be much fuller of resource-based wars of all kinds.”

People

„A good speech is like a woman's skirt: short enough to hold your attention, long enough to cover the subject“

— Jonathan Tropper American writer 1970

Source: This is Where I Leave You

„No speech is ever considered, but only the speaker. It's so much easier to pass judgement on a man than on an idea.“

— Ayn Rand, book The Fountainhead

Source: The Fountainhead

Idea

„People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.“

— Sören Kierkegaard Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism 1813 - 1855

People, Freedom

„My father always said that too many words cheapened the value of a man's speech.“

— Patricia Briggs American writer 1965

Source: Raven's Shadow

„Metaphor is one of a group of problem-solving medicines known as figures of speech which are normally used to treat literal thinking and other diseases.“

— Grant Morrison, book The Filth

Source: The Filth

Disease, Problem, Thinking

„To accomplish great things we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.

(From an introductory speech at a session of the Académie Française, December 24, 1896)“

— Anatole France French writer 1844 - 1924

Source: Works of Anatole France

Dreams

„People hardly ever make use of the freedom which they have, for example, freedom of thought; instead they demand freedom of speech as compensation.“

— Sören Kierkegaard Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism 1813 - 1855

Source: The Living Thoughts Of Kierkegaard

People, Freedom

„One way of looking at speech is to say that it is a constant stratagem to cover nakedness.“

— Harold Pinter playwright from England 1930 - 2008

Writing for the Theatre (1962)
Source: Various Voices: Prose, Poetry, Politics
Context: The speech we hear is an indication of that which we don't hear. It is a necessary avoidance, a violent, sly, and anguished or mocking smoke screen which keeps the other in its true place. When true silence falls we are left with echo but are nearer nakedness. One way of looking at speech is to say that it is a constant stratagem to cover nakedness. (14)

Way