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.
Greta ThunbergConflict cannot survive without your participation.
Wayne DyerListen with the intent to understand, not the intent to reply.
Stephen CoveyIn retrospect, I can see I couldn’t talk to people face to face, so I got on stage and started screaming and squealing and twitching about. Ha! Like, that sure made sense!
David ByrneIt could be if I fight in front of one person or one million people. It’s still the same emotions.
Conor McGregorIt is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book.
Friedrich NietzscheWhen 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.
John KennedyI’ve been known to preach.
Kevin HartYou 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.
Christopher HitchensI still get very scared when I step in front of a live audience.
Adam SandlerWhen I speak at my local church, which I try to do 35 to 40 times a year, I try in every lesson to take the Old Testament text or New Testament text and apply them to what is happening to me or how that applies to the audience that I’m teaching in a modern, fast-changing, technological world. I use headlines, interfaith and that sort of thing.
Jimmy CarterForty is when you actually begin even deserving to be on stage telling people what you think.
Jerry SeinfeldIf one could only teach the English how to talk, and the Irish how to listen, society here would be quite civilized.
Oscar WildeThey’ve got this crazy actor who’s 82 years old up there in a suit. I was a mayor, and they’re probably thinking I know how to give a speech, but even when I was mayor I never gave speeches. I gave talks.
Clint EastwoodI don’t even know how to speak up for myself, because I don’t really have a father who would give me the confidence or advice.
EminemThe trouble with her is that she lacks the power of conversation but not the power of speech.
George Bernard ShawI was always taught not to answer no questions. I’m not really good at answering them because I get agitated so fast.
Kevin GatesWhen it comes to knowing what to say, to charm, I always had it.
DrakeTell the audience what you’re going to say, say it; then tell them what you’ve said.
Dale CarnegieIn my opinion, the only way to conquer stage fright is to get up on stage and play. Every time you play another show, it gets better and better.
Taylor SwiftResist the need to be ‚right‘ all the time or to always have the last word.
Joyce MeyerPeople generally quarrel because they cannot argue.
Gilbert K. ChestertonExtemporaneous speaking should be practiced and cultivated. It is the lawyer’s avenue to the public. However able and faithful he may be in other respects, people are slow to bring him business if he cannot make a speech.
Abraham LincolnI don’t want to spend the rest of my life giving speeches.
Colin PowellThere will be days when I walk in an arena and people will cheer and then there might be days when I walk in an arena and people might boo, but it all sounds the same to me because it’s all just noise that lets me know that I’m relevant.
DrakeAlways remember that your calmness under fire is your best defense in any argument or discussion.
Robert GreeneSome years ago I became president of Columbia University and learned within 24 hours to be ready to speak at the drop of a hat, and I learned something more, the trustees were expected to be ready to speak at the passing of the hat.
Dwight D. EisenhowerWhen 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.
Adam SandlerThere’s something about being in front of a live audience that’s fun. It’s a really interesting, very electric, very alive, and intense experience, and you can’t get it anywhere else. And I’ve been doing it since I was 23, so it’s part of my being – it’s part of my fabric as a person.
Steven WrightExample is leadership.
Albert SchweitzerWhen 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.
Dan QuayleThe most successful politician is he who says what the people are thinking most often in the loudest voice.
Theodore RooseveltYou can disagree without being disagreeable.
Ruth Bader GinsburgEventually you get to this point where you understand what you want to do and get across and sound like.
Kendrick LamarNo 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.
Lady GagaVery rarely do I talk off the top of my head on stage. I’m not an improv guy. I’m a writer-guy who presents what he’s written.
Steven WrightI’m not a person that socializes very well.
Paulo CoelhoOnly the prepared speaker deserves to be confident.
Dale CarnegieI spoke to a million in one service, in Korea, in Seoul. And that was the largest audience I ever have had.
Billy GrahamThe Four Levels of Comedy: Make your friends laugh, Make strangers laugh, Get paid to make strangers laugh, and Make people talk like you because it’s so much fun.
Jerry SeinfeldI stand here before you not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people.
Nelson MandelaI don’t have any oratory skills. But I would not use them if I had.
Noam ChomskyI’m not very articulate.
David BowieIn the television age, the key distinction is between the candidate who can speak poetry and the one who can only speak prose.
Richard M. NixonI go onstage and I talk, and I remember what I’m saying, and I track it.
Kevin HartThe most important thing for a director is being able to communicate.
Kevin HartTalk low, talk slow and don’t say too much.
John WaynePeople 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.
George W. BushRespond intelligently even to unintelligent treatment.
Lao TzuOne of the issues I kept saying to my students is you have to learn to interrupt. When you raise your hand at a meeting, by the time they get to you, the point is not germane. So the bottom line is active listening. If you are going to interrupt, you look for opportunities. You have to know what you’re talking about.
Madeleine AlbrightWhen you walk out onstage in front of 65,000 people, it can bring you to tears.
Taylor SwiftFor, if a good speaker, never so eloquent, does not see into the fact, and is not speaking the truth of that – is there a more horrid kind of object in creation?
Thomas CarlyleWhen 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.
Dan QuayleI 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.
Steven WrightI never lecture, not because I am shy or a bad speaker, but simply because I detest the sort of people who go to lectures and don’t want to meet them.
H. L. MenckenThere are always three speeches, for every one you actually gave. The one you practiced, the one you gave, and the one you wish you gave.
Dale CarnegieTransforming 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.
Robert GreeneThe 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.
Richard M. NixonWhen things haven’t gone well for you, call in a secretary or a staff man and chew him out. You will sleep better and they will appreciate the attention.
Lyndon B. JohnsonIn making a speech one must study three points: first, the means of producing persuasion; second, the language; third the proper arrangement of the various parts of the speech.
Aristotle