SPEECH

Related Subjects: Address, Conversation, Eloquence, Grammar, Language, Lip, Mouth, Oratory, Talk, Tongue, Voice, Words

1. Speech finely framed delighteth the ears.—Apocrypha: 2 Maccabees
   

2. It is generally better to deal by speech than by letter.—BACON, Of Negotiating
   

3. My observation is that, generally speaking, poverty of speech is the outward evidence of poverty of mind.—BRUCE BARTON
   

4. Though I say it that should not say it.—BEAUMONT & FLETCHER, Wit at Several Weapons
   

5. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.—Bible, Psalms 19:2
   

6. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.—Bible, Matthew 5:37
   

7. They think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.—Bible, Matthew 6:7
   

8. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt.—Bible, Colossians 4:6
   

9. Let him now speak, or else hereafter for ever hold his peace.—Book of Common Prayer
   

10. He said
    Little, but to the purpose.—BYRON, Don Juan
    

11. To know how to say what others only know how to think is what makes men poets or sages; and to dare to say what others only dare to think makes men martyrs or reformers or both.—ELIZABETH CHARLES, Chronicles
    

12. As a vessel is known by the sound, whether it be cracked or not; so men are proved, by their speeches, whether they be wise or foolish.—DEMOSTHENES
    

13. Let thy speech be better than silence, or be silent.—DIONYSIUS THE ELDER
    

14. What is the use of speech? Silence were fitter:
    Lest we should still be wishing things unsaid.—ERNEST DOWSON, You Would Have Understood Me
    

15. We have medicines to make women speak; we have none to make them keep silence.—ANATOLE FRANCE, The Man Who Married a Dumb Wife
    

16. Monkeys, who very sensibly refrain from speech, lest they should be set to earn their livings.—KENNETH GRAHAME, The Golden Age
    

17. It is easier not to speak a word at all than to speak more words than we should.—THOMAS A KEMPIS, Of the Imitation of Christ
    

18. Speech is civilization itself. The word, even the most contradictory word, preserves contact—it is silence which isolates.—THOMAS MANN, The Magic Mountain
    

19. Oh, that men would learn that the true speaker is he who speaks only when he has something to say!—PLUTARCH
    

20. He that speaks, sows; he that hears, reaps.—Proverb
    

21. Speech is a mirror of the soul: as a man speaks, so is he.—PUBLILIUS SYRUS, Sententiae
    

22. Speech is the index of the mind.—SENECA
    

23. Well said: that was laid on with a trowel.—SHAKESPEARE, As You Like It
    

24. I will speak daggers to her, but use none.—SHAKESPEARE, Hamlet
    

25. Mend your speech a little,
    Lest you may mar your fortunes.—SHAKESPEARE, King Lear
    

26. He draweth out the thread of his verbosity finer than the staple of his argument.—SHAKESPEARE, Love's Labour's Lost
    

27. Your fair discourse hath been as sugar,
    Making the hard way sweet and delectable.—SHAKESPEARE, Richard II
    

28. She speaks, yet she says nothing.—SHAKESPEARE, Romeo and Juliet
    

29. Let any man speak long enough, he will get believers.—STEVENSON, The Master of Ballantrae