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.
Blaise PascalOne of the key qualities a leader must possess is the ability to detach from the chaos, mayhem, and emotions in a situation and make good, clear decisions based on what is actually happening.
Jocko WillinkSome 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. EisenhowerOnly the prepared speaker deserves to be confident.
Dale CarnegieIn 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.
AristotleLet us be absolutely clear about one thing: we must not confuse humility with false modesty or servility.
Paulo CoelhoI 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.
EminemBe as polite to the custodian as you are to the chairman of the board.
H. Jackson Brown, Jr.I could never give relationship advice to anybody!
RihannaSo 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 ThunbergThe more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.
Niccolo MachiavelliTalk low, talk slow and don’t say too much.
John WayneExample is leadership.
Albert SchweitzerAlways try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure your sentence couldn’t mean anything else.
C. S. LewisThings may not be immediately discernible in what a man writes, and in this sometimes he is fortunate; but eventually they are quite clear, and by these and the degree of alchemy that he possesses, he will endure or be forgotten.
Ernest HemingwayI try to speak in a way that people can understand.
John KennedyTake advantage of every opportunity to practice your communication skills so that when important occasions arise, you will have the gift, the style, the sharpness, the clarity, and the emotions to affect other people.
Jim RohnPart of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time is because we’re hardwired not to always think clearly when we’re scared. And the country’s scared.
Barack ObamaYou 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.
Dale CarnegieThe most important thing for a director is being able to communicate.
Kevin HartWhen 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.
Christopher HitchensI 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.
Jane GoodallOne 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 AlbrightChildren are remarkable for their intelligence and ardor, for their curiosity, their intolerance of shams, the clarity and ruthlessness of their vision.
Aldous HuxleyI’m not confused. I’m just well mixed.
Robert FrostWomen have to be active listeners and interrupters – but when you interrupt, you have to know what you are talking about.
Madeleine AlbrightIn an interconnected age when opportunistic adversaries can work in tandem to destroy stability and prosperity, our country needs to regain its strategic footing. We need to bring the clarity to our efforts before we lose the confidence of the American people and the support of potential allies.
Jim MattisI’m not very articulate.
David BowieCan the mind see the truth of its own incapacity to know the unknown? Surely if I see very clearly that my mind cannot know the unknown, there is absolute quietness.
Jiddu KrishnamurtiI meant what I said and I said what I meant.
Dr. SeussConflict cannot survive without your participation.
Wayne DyerI’ve been known to preach.
Kevin HartThe only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
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 GreeneI used to tell my husband that, if he could make me ‚understand‘ something, it would be clear to all the other people in the country.
Eleanor RooseveltGood writing is like a windowpane.
George OrwellI 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.
Madeleine AlbrightI don’t do meetings.
Karl LagerfeldThe trouble with her is that she lacks the power of conversation but not the power of speech.
George Bernard ShawA person standing in front of an audience without enthusiasm for his subject and his actions is disconnected from his spirit.
Wayne DyerIf one could only teach the English how to talk, and the Irish how to listen, society here would be quite civilized.
Oscar WildeBrevity and conciseness are the parents of correction.
Hosea BallouIf you have God on your side, everything becomes clear.
Ayrton SennaI have been – I have spoken in Bir Zeit a number of times.
Noam ChomskyI experience a period of frightening clarity in those moments when nature is so beautiful. I am no longer sure of myself, and the paintings appear as in a dream.
Vincent Van GoghNo one means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous.
Henry AdamsI only see clearly what I remember.
Jean-Jacques RousseauWhy a four-year-old child could understand this report. Run out and find me a four-year-old child. I can’t make head nor tail out of it.
Groucho MarxNever be so brief as to become obscure.
Hosea BallouDon’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say ‚infinitely‘ when you mean ‚very‘; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.
C. S. LewisYou can disagree without being disagreeable.
Ruth Bader GinsburgIt is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book.
Friedrich NietzscheTalkers are usually more articulate than doers, since talk is their specialty.
Thomas SowellI have learned to interface – what I think would be the contemporary term – with various different lexicons, and people speak very different languages. I’ve learned to speak in a lot of tongues, and I can live with the bellicose language of some fervent, fire-breathing Christians, sure.
BonoIn one case out of a hundred a point is excessively discussed because it is obscure; in the ninety-nine remaining it is obscure because it is excessively discussed.
Edgar Allan PoeI go onstage and I talk, and I remember what I’m saying, and I track it.
Kevin HartThe figure a poem makes. It begins in delight and ends in wisdom… in a clarification of life – not necessarily a great clarification, such as sects and cults are founded on, but in a momentary stay against confusion.
Robert FrostA 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.
Benjamin DisraeliA man does not know what he is saying until he knows what he is not saying.
Gilbert K. ChestertonIt will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.
James Madison