One may sometimes tell a lie, but the grimace that accompanies it tells the truth.
Friedrich NietzscheIf one could only teach the English how to talk, and the Irish how to listen, society here would be quite civilized.
Oscar WildeI’m just preparing my impromptu remarks.
Winston ChurchillIn the last analysis, what we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or do.
Stephen CoveyOnly the prepared speaker deserves to be confident.
Dale CarnegieOne 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 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. JohnsonWhen angry count to ten before you speak. If very angry, count to one hundred.
Thomas JeffersonReacting in anger or annoyance will not advance one’s ability to persuade.
Ruth Bader GinsburgThere 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 PascalYou can disagree without being disagreeable.
Ruth Bader GinsburgI’m not very articulate.
David BowieThe trouble with her is that she lacks the power of conversation but not the power of speech.
George Bernard ShawNo one wants advice – only corroboration.
John SteinbeckListen with the intent to understand, not the intent to reply.
Stephen CoveyIt is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book.
Friedrich NietzscheRespond intelligently even to unintelligent treatment.
Lao TzuI go onstage and I talk, and I remember what I’m saying, and I track it.
Kevin HartIn 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.
AristotleAlways remember that your calmness under fire is your best defense in any argument or discussion.
Robert GreeneExtemporaneous 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 LincolnYou 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 HitchensSome 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. EisenhowerNo one can lie, no one can hide anything, when he looks directly into someone’s eyes.
Paulo CoelhoIn 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 ByrneTake 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 don’t want to spend the rest of my life giving speeches.
Colin PowellA 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 DisraeliTransforming 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 GreeneA yawn is a silent shout.
Gilbert K. ChestertonI have been – I have spoken in Bir Zeit a number of times.
Noam ChomskyI don’t think people are going to talk in the future. They’re going to communicate through eye contact, body language, emojis, signs.
Kanye WestThe most important thing for a director is being able to communicate.
Kevin HartThat sort of half sigh, which, accompanied by two or three slight nods of the head, is pity’s small change in general society.
Charles DickensA 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 GreeneWhen people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.
Ernest HemingwayExample is leadership.
Albert SchweitzerWomen have to be active listeners and interrupters – but when you interrupt, you have to know what you are talking about.
Madeleine AlbrightHow can a president not be an actor?
Ronald ReaganI 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 GoodallResist the need to be ‚right‘ all the time or to always have the last word.
Joyce MeyerI 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.
EminemI was always taught not to answer no questions. I’m not really good at answering them because I get agitated so fast.
Kevin GatesI’ve been known to preach.
Kevin HartPeople generally quarrel because they cannot argue.
Gilbert K. ChestertonListen with your eyes for feelings.
Stephen CoveyI 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 AlbrightIt usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.
Mark TwainTalk low, talk slow and don’t say too much.
John WayneCommunication 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.
Brian TracyI don’t do meetings.
Karl LagerfeldThe only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
Dale CarnegieYou 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 CarnegieWhen it comes to knowing what to say, to charm, I always had it.
DrakeA man’s face as a rule says more, and more interesting things, than his mouth, for it is a compendium of everything his mouth will ever say, in that it is the monogram of all this man’s thoughts and aspirations.
Arthur SchopenhauerWhen 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 HitchensWhen I looked at the third base coach, he turned his back on me.
Bob UeckerIn the television age, the key distinction is between the candidate who can speak poetry and the one who can only speak prose.
Richard M. NixonTalkers are usually more articulate than doers, since talk is their specialty.
Thomas SowellReading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.
Francis Bacon