A man may speak very well in the House of Commons, and fail very completely in the House of Lords. There are two distinct styles requisite: I intend, in the course of my career, if I have time, to give a specimen of both.

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

There 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.

Listen with the intent to understand, not the intent to reply.

The duty of rhetoric is to deal with such matters as we deliberate upon without arts or systems to guide us, in the hearing of persons who cannot take in at a glance a complicated argument or follow a long chain of reasoning.

Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

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.

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

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.

Over the years, all my coaches and my teammates have contributed a lot to shape my career. I can never forget their contribution and help.

It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book.

I thought my life was mapped out. Research, living in the forest, teaching and writing. But in ’86 I went to a conference and realised the chimpanzees were disappearing. I had worldwide recognition and a gift of communication. I had to use them.

A person standing in front of an audience without enthusiasm for his subject and his actions is disconnected from his spirit.

Respond intelligently even to unintelligent treatment.

Now that the House of Commons is trying to become useful, it does a great deal of harm.

I 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.

PowerPoint makes us stupid.

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.

When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.

Before finding music, I didn’t have too many aspirations. I wanted to hang out, make a little money from whatever I had to do.

The woman who can create her own job is the woman who will win fame and fortune.

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

I write all of my own speeches.

There 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.

Communication is a skill that you can learn. It’s like riding a bicycle or typing. If you’re willing to work at it, you can rapidly improve the quality of evry part of your life.

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

A career is born in public – talent in privacy.

As a matter of fact, I didn’t make a political speech outside of my state for 20 years.

Orators are most vehement when their cause is weak.

Read my lips: no new taxes.

Talkers are usually more articulate than doers, since talk is their specialty.

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 goal for me is always to have the opportunity to work in different genres. This is a great and exciting time in my career, where I can have the opportunity to work in different genres, and also I recognize there’s not a lot of actors who have that opportunity and I’m grateful for it.

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

One 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.

Rhetoric is a poor substitute for action, and we have trusted only to rhetoric. If we are really to be a great nation, we must not merely talk; we must act big.

In 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.

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.

Rhetoric may be defined as the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion. This is not a function of any other art.

Talk low, talk slow and don’t say too much.

I go onstage and I talk, and I remember what I’m saying, and I track it.

Be as polite to the custodian as you are to the chairman of the board.

For, 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?

Right now, when we’re hearing so much disturbing and hateful rhetoric, it is so important to remember that our diversity has been – and will always be – our greatest source of strength and pride here in the United States.

I have never talked publicly or privately about the Jewish people, including conversations with President Nixon, except in the most positive terms.

I had never been in charge of anything. I’d always worked for someone. I worked for a furniture warehouse. I did masonry. I always had a boss yelling at me. So I’d never been in charge of an organization.

I’m just preparing my impromptu remarks.

How can a president not be an actor?

I’ve always had to conquer fear when I’m on stage. Basically, I was and still am a very shy person. It’s absolutely in conflict with what I do. But once I deliver the first joke I’m okay. It’s like I’m out there all by myself just delivering my lines to nobody in particular without ever trying to notice the audience in front of me.

I’m mortified to be on the stage, but then again, it’s the only place where I’m happy.

Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement.

Only the prepared speaker deserves to be confident.

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

Freedom has cost too much blood and agony to be relinquished at the cheap price of rhetoric.

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.

Very 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.

There are some who speak well and write badly. For the place and the audience warm them, and draw from their minds more than they think of without that warmth.

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.

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

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

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