rhetoric quotes

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.

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.

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

Facts are not liberals‘ strong suit. Rhetoric is.

What we all want is public safety. We don’t want rhetoric that’s framed through ideology.

Language is a weapon of politicians, but language is a weapon in much of human affairs.

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.

Orators are most vehement when their cause is weak.

In oratory the will must predominate.

Rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men.

Persuasion is achieved by the speaker’s personal character when the speech is so spoken as to make us think him credible. We believe good men more fully and more readily than others: this is true generally whatever the question is, and absolutely true where exact certainty is impossible and opinions are divided.

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.

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.

Nothing is so unbelievable that oratory cannot make it acceptable.