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Eloquence: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations

Eloquence is to the sublime what the whole is to its part.— DE LA BRUYÈRE — The Characters or Manners of the Present Age. Ch. I.

Eloquence may be found in conversations and in all kinds of writings; it is rarely found when looked for, and sometimes discovered where it is least expected.— DE LA BRUYÈRE — The Characters. Ch. I. 55.

Profane eloquence is transferred from the bar, where Le Maître, Pucelle, and Fourcroy formerly practised it, and where it has become obsolete, to the Pulpit, where it is out of place.— DE LA BRUYÈRE — The Characters. Ch. XVI. 2.

Discourse may want an animated "No" To brush the surface, and to make it flow; But still remember, if you mean to please, To press your point with modesty and ease.— COWPER — Conversation. L. 101.

*** as that dishonest victory At Chæronea, fatal to liberty, Killed with report that old man eloquent.*— MILTON — Sonnet X.

Pour the full tide of eloquence along, Serenely pure, and yet divinely strong.— POPE — Imitation of Horace. Bk. II. Ep. II. L. 171.

There is as much eloquence in the tone of voice, in the eyes, and in the air of a speaker as in his choice of words.— LA ROCHEFOUCAULD — Maxims and Moral Sentences. No. 261.

True eloquence consists in saying all that is necessary, and nothing but what is necessary.— LA ROCHEFOUCAULD — Maxims and Moral Sentences. No. 262.

Action is eloquence.— Shakespeare — Coriolanus. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 76.

A man in all the world's new fashion planted, That hath a mint of phrases in his brain.— Shakespeare — S. Love's Labour's Lost. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 165.

Every tongue that speaks But Romeo's name speaks heavenly eloquence.— Shakespeare — Romeo and Juliet. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 32.

Say she be mute and will not speak a word; Then I'll commend her volubility, And say she uttereth piercing eloquence.— Shakespeare — Taming of the Shrew. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 175.

* Isocrates, the celebrated Orator of Greece. That aged ears play truant at his tales And younger hearings are quite ravished; So sweet and voluble is his discourse.— Shakespeare — Love's Labour's Lost. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 74.

To try thy eloquence, now 'tis time.— Shakespeare — Antony and Cleopatra. Act III. Sc. 12. L..26.

When he speaks, The air, a charter'd libertine, is still, And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears, To steal his sweet and honey'd sentences. C.— Shakespeare — Henry V. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 47.

But while listening Senates hang upon thy tongue, Devolving through the maze of eloquence A roll of periods, sweeter than her song.— THOMSON — The Seasons. Autumn. L. 15.

In causâ facili cuivis licet esse diserto. In an easy cause any man may be eloquent.— OVID — Tristium. III. 11. 21.

Magna eloquentia, sicut flamma, materiâ alitur, et motibus excitatur et urendo clarescit. It is the eloquence as of a flame; it requires matter to feed it, motion to excite it, and it brightens as it burns.— TACITUS — De Oratoribus. XXXVI.