When Caroline Kennedy managed to say ‚you know‘ more than 200 times in an interview with the New York ‚Daily News,‘ and on 130 occasions while talking to ‚The New York Times‘ during her uninspired attempt to become a hereditary senator, she proved, among other things, that she was (a) middle-aged and (b) middle class.

I really think that there was a great advantage in many ways to being a woman. I think we are a lot better at personal relationships, and then have the capability obviously of telling it like it is when it’s necessary.

I realised a little bit to my astonishment that I can give a lecture for a thousand people, and there will be this tumultuous applause, so, you know, I have the feeling well, it can’t be all that bad.

When angry count to ten before you speak. If very angry, count to one hundred.

The long, dull, monotonous years of middle-aged prosperity or middle-aged adversity are excellent campaigning weather for the devil.

When you meet with someone and you try to assess whether they’re telling you the truth or not, there’s several things you can do. You judge demeanor and credibility. You look at corroboration.

If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time – a tremendous whack.

I love it when people say things to me in public and want to meet me, because I want to meet them! Early on, my manager told me, ‚If you want to sell 500,000 records, then go out there and meet 500,000 people.‘

Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

I think that if I would talk on a political subject, if I talk about it, it would divide the audience on that issue. That’s not my issue.

In oratory the will must predominate.

It could be if I fight in front of one person or one million people. It’s still the same emotions.

I know why we’re strong. I know why we have held together; I know why we are united: it’s because there’s always been a growing middle class.

You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.

The most important thing for a director is being able to communicate.

If one could only teach the English how to talk, and the Irish how to listen, society here would be quite civilized.

In December, I agreed to extend the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans because it was the only way I could prevent a tax hike on middle-class Americans. But we cannot afford $1 trillion worth of tax cuts for every millionaire and billionaire in our society. We can’t afford it. And I refuse to renew them again.

How can a president not be an actor?

It is to the middle-class we must look for the safety of England.

Speakers who talk about what life has taught them never fail to keep the attention of their listeners.

You can disagree without being disagreeable.

Probably because I’m from a middle class family, I have that nature in me that I don’t get too excited with big things.

I just didn’t want to get out there anymore; I didn’t want to get back into what I call ‚the swamp.‘ And the other reason why is I don’t think it’s good for the presidency for a former president to be opining about his successor. President Obama’s got plenty of critics – and I’m just not gonna be one.

The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.

Tell the audience what you’re going to say, say it; then tell them what you’ve said.

I still get very scared when I step in front of a live audience.

You’re looking at a middle-class guy. I am who I am.

Read my lips: no new taxes.

I stand here before you not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people.

It’s really fun to be on stage in front of people.

If somebody’s dumb enough to ask me to go to a political convention and say something, they’re going to have to take what they get.

I can move any crowd.

You know, you can make a small mistake in language or etiquette in Britain, or you could when I was younger, and really be made to feel it, and it’s the flick of a lash, but it would sting, and especially at school where there’s not much privacy, and so on. You could, yes, undoubtedly be made to feel crushed.

The mark of a true politician is that he is never at a loss for words because he is always half-expecting to be asked to make a speech.

Wherever I go meeting the public… spreading a message of human values, spreading a message of harmony, is the most important thing.

Eventually you get to this point where you understand what you want to do and get across and sound like.

I’m a warrior for the middle class.

I’ve been thinking of humorous things since I was… I can’t remember when. All the way through elementary school, all the way through junior high, all the way through high school, through college and after college, I was thinking of the same kinds of things that I say in front of an audience now.

Unions did in fact build the middle class. And here’s what that did. That built the United States of America as we know it.

‚Obama and Biden want to raise taxes by a trillion dollars.‘ Guess what? Yes, we do in one regard: We want to let that trillion dollar tax cut expire so the middle class doesn’t have to bear the burden of all that money going to the super-wealthy. That’s not a tax raise. That’s called fairness where I come from.

No matter how much you rehearse on that stage, once you add 30,000 screaming people with flashing cameras into the equation, it’s pretty intense.

When I talked to him on the phone yesterday. I called him George rather than Mr. Vice President. But, in public, it’s Mr. Vice President, because that is who he is.

Great is our admiration of the orator who speaks with fluency and discretion.

I could never give relationship advice to anybody!

People make suggestions on what to say all the time. I’ll give you an example; I don’t read what’s handed to me. People say, ‚Here, here’s your speech, or here’s an idea for a speech.‘ They’re changed. Trust me.

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

Transforming yourself into a deep listener will not only prove more amusing as you open your mind to their mind, but you will gain the most invaluable lessons about human psychology.

When you make as many speeches and you talk as much as I do and you get away from the text, it’s always a possibility to get a few words tangled here and there.

Doing nothing while the middle class is hurting. That’s not leadership. Loose regulations and lax enforcement. That’s not leadership. That’s abandoning our middle class.

So when I speak in front of thousands, tens of thousands of people, I don’t really get nervous because I know what I want to say and I know what message I want to give.

I don’t think there is a single social issue I haven’t spoken on.

I liked school, but I used to dread those moments when the teacher would call me up to give an oral report. I forced myself to deal with it and not dwell on the class in front of me – to keep a straight face, give the report and concentrate on getting it right. That’s normally how I perform. That’s how I am.

The most successful politician is he who says what the people are thinking most often in the loudest voice.

At first, I wasn’t really keen on the idea of me being on stage having to sing in front of people.

When I was younger and did a stand-up gig, it would take me two weeks to recover. Sometimes I’d get so panicked that I would stutter.

I’ve been known to preach.

I was always taught not to answer no questions. I’m not really good at answering them because I get agitated so fast.

I spoke to a million in one service, in Korea, in Seoul. And that was the largest audience I ever have had.

I couldn’t talk to people face to face, so I got on stage and started screaming and squealing and twitching.

We’re a phenomenally snobby society, and it’s such a rich seam. The middle class is so funny: it’s the class I know best, and it’s the class where you find the most pretension, so that’s what makes the middle classes so funny.

I write all of my own speeches.