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| Polyhymnia Greek Muse of Eloquence |
Speech is one symptom of affection; and silence one; the perfect communication is heard of none. Emily Dickinson
Everything that steel achieves in war can be won in politics by eloquence. Demetrius
Much unhappiness has come into the world because of bewilderment and things left unsaid. Dostoevsky
He that has no silver in his purse should have silver on his tongue. Thomas Fuller
There is no more sovereign eloquence than the truth of indignation. Victor Hugo
When the eyes say one thing, and the tongue another, a practiced man relies on the language of the first. Emerson
True eloquence consists in saying all that should be said, and that only. LA Rochefoucauld
Promise is most given when the least is said. George Chapman
Today it is neither the classroom nor the classics which are the models of eloquence, but the ad agencies. Marshall McLuhan
Good communication is stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after. Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Speech is civilization itself. The word, even the most contradictious word, preserves contact; it is silence which isolates. Thomas Mann
Yes and no are soon said, but give much to think over. Baltasar Gracian
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. Pascal
The articulate voice is more distracting than mere noise. Seneca
It is an impertinent and unreasonable fault in conversation for one man to take up all the discourse. Richard Steele
Nothing is often a good thing to say, and always a clever thing to say. Will Durant
If language be not in accordance with the truth of things, affairs cannot be carried onto success. Confucius
A man does not know what he is saying until he knows what he is not saying. G. K. Chesterton
Eloquence; it requires the pleasant and the real; but the pleasant must itself be drawn from the true. Pascal
Brevity is very good, when we are or are not understood. Samuel Butler
We should have a great many fewer disputes in the world if words were taken for what they are, the signs of our ideas only, and not for things themselves. John Locke
I see that everywhere among the race of men, it is the tongue that wins and not the deed. Sophocles
The voice is a second face. Gerard Bauer
Whenever I have talked to anyone at too great length, I am like a man who has drunk too much, and ashamed, doesn’t know where to put himself. Jules Renard
Clarity is the politeness of the man of letters. Jules Renard
The stillest tongue can be the truest friend. Euripides
Eloquence is a republican art, as conversation is an aristocratic one. George Santayana
Language is by its very nature a communal thing; that is, it expresses never the exact thing but a compromise; that which is common to you, me, and everybody. Thomas Ernest Hulme
That is the happiest conversation where there is no competition, no vanity, but a calm quiet interchange of sentiments. Samuel Johnson
No one would talk much in society, if he only knew how often he misunderstands others. Goethe
I distrust the incommunicable; it is the source of all violence. Jean-Paul Sartre
Words have users, but as well, users have words. And it is the users that establish the world’s realities. Le Roi Jones
People are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they have themselves discovered than by those which have come into the mind of others. Pascal
The tongue of man is a twisty thing, there are plenty of words there, of every kind, the range of words is wide, and their variance. Homer
Least said is soonest disavowed. Ambrose Bierce
Eloquence wins its great and enduring fame quite as much from the benches of our opponents as from those of our friends. Tacitus
Intelligence is silence, truth being invisible. But what a racket I make in declaring this. Ned Rorem
The art of conversation is the art of hearing as well as of being heard. William Hazlitt
What is conceived well is expressed clearly; and the words to say it with arrive with ease. Nicolas Boileau
Use what language you will, you can never say anything but what you are. Emerson
It’s when the thing itself is missing that you have to supply the word. Henry De Montherlant
There can be no fairer ambition than to excel in talk; to be affable, gay, ready, clear, and welcome. Robert Louis Stevenson
The sum of human wisdom is not contained in any one language, and no single language is capable of expressing all the forms and degrees of human comprehension. Ezra Pound
Talking is like playing on the harp; there is as much in laying the hand on the strings to stop their vibrations as in twanging them to bring out their music. Oliver Wendell Holmes
Nothing is so unbelievable that oratory cannot make it acceptable. Cicero
When I struggle to be terse, I end by being obscure. Horace
The dumbness in the eyes of animals is more touching than the speech of man, but the dumbness in the speech of men is more agonizing than the eyes of animals. Unknown
We oftener say things because we can say them well, than because they are sound and reasonable. Walter Savage Landor
The silence of the pure innocence persuades when speaking fails. Shakespeare
When orators and auditors have the same prejudices, those prejudices run a great risk of being made to stand for incontestable truths. Joseph Roux
Poetry should help, not only to refine the language of the time, but to prevent it from changing too rapidly. T. S. Eliot
If to talk to oneself when alone is folly; it must be doubly unwise to listen to oneself in the presence of others. Baltasar Gracian
To grasp the meaning of the world of today we use the language created to express the world of yesterday. The life of the past seems to us nearer our true natures, but only for the reason that it is nearer our language. Saint-Exupery
What oh wise man is the tongue in the mouth? It is a key to the casket of the intellectual treasurer; so long as the lid remains shut how can any person say whether he be a dealer in gems or in pedlery? Sadi
If a people have no word for something, either it does not matter to them or it matters too much to talk about. Edgar Z. Friedenberg
