I’ve had the honor of speaking at many commencements.
Kamala HarrisI could never give relationship advice to anybody!
RihannaIn 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 SwiftSo 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 ThunbergPeople 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. BushRemember 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.
Benjamin FranklinTake 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 RohnI write all my sermons.
Joel OsteenAt first, I wasn’t really keen on the idea of me being on stage having to sing in front of people.
AuroraA master performer like Bill Clinton never lost sight of the fact that as president he had to project confidence and power, but if he was speaking to a group of autoworkers he would adjust his accent and his words to fit the audience, and do the same for a group of executives.
Robert GreeneOnly the prepared speaker deserves to be confident.
Dale CarnegieHow can a president not be an actor?
Ronald ReaganWherever I go meeting the public… spreading a message of human values, spreading a message of harmony, is the most important thing.
Dalai LamaIt’s very intense to be in front of a live audience. It’s just an amazing experience. It’s dangerous. Everything out there is heightened. The bad stuff is extra-worse. The silences are extra-silent. The good stuff is amazing. It’s electric when you walk out there. For 90 minutes, you’re on this other planet.
Steven WrightI 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 AlbrightPowerPoint makes us stupid.
Jim MattisI’ve spent too much time giving speeches, traveling the world.
Billy GrahamWhen 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 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. NixonI’m not a person that socializes very well.
Paulo CoelhoIn oratory the will must predominate.
David HareSome 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 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 CarterTalk low, talk slow and don’t say too much.
John WayneI don’t think there is a single social issue I haven’t spoken on.
Billy GrahamI’m much more comfortable and confident running out on the field in front of 70,000 people instead of standing in front of a camera trying to say some lines. The people who do that as a profession are very talented because it’s certainly not easy.
Tom BradyI 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.
BonoI’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.
Steven WrightWhen 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 KennedyThere 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.
DrakeIn the television age, the key distinction is between the candidate who can speak poetry and the one who can only speak prose.
Richard M. NixonNothing is so unbelievable that oratory cannot make it acceptable.
Marcus Tullius CiceroWhen it comes to knowing what to say, to charm, I always had it.
DrakeBefore I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement.
Ronald ReaganA 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 DisraeliTell the audience what you’re going to say, say it; then tell them what you’ve said.
Dale CarnegieI don’t want to spend the rest of my life giving speeches.
Colin PowellWhen 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 SandlerNo 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 GagaFor, 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 CarlyleIt is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book.
Friedrich NietzscheOne 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 AlbrightI spoke to a million in one service, in Korea, in Seoul. And that was the largest audience I ever have had.
Billy GrahamI couldn’t talk to people face to face, so I got on stage and started screaming and squealing and twitching.
David ByrneWomen have to be active listeners and interrupters – but when you interrupt, you have to know what you are talking about.
Madeleine AlbrightIf 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 EastwoodGreat is our admiration of the orator who speaks with fluency and discretion.
Marcus Tullius CiceroThere’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 WrightI’m mortified to be on the stage, but then again, it’s the only place where I’m happy.
Bob DylanI still get very scared when I step in front of a live audience.
Adam SandlerI stand here before you not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people.
Nelson MandelaI’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.
Steven WrightExample is leadership.
Albert SchweitzerI go onstage and I talk, and I remember what I’m saying, and I track it.
Kevin HartSpeakers who talk about what life has taught them never fail to keep the attention of their listeners.
Dale CarnegieI was always taught not to answer no questions. I’m not really good at answering them because I get agitated so fast.
Kevin GatesReacting in anger or annoyance will not advance one’s ability to persuade.
Ruth Bader GinsburgIt could be if I fight in front of one person or one million people. It’s still the same emotions.
Conor McGregorThe 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 Seinfeld