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Oratory: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations
O opportunity, thy guilt is great! 'Tis thou that executest the traitor's treason; Thou set'st the wolf where he the lamb may get; Whoever plots the sin, thou 'point'st the season; 'Tis thou that spurn'st at right, at law, at reason. The Rape of Lucrece. L. 876. There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries. 0. Julius Cæsar. Act IV. Sc. 3. L. 218. There's place and means for every man alive.— Shakespeare — All's Well That Ends Well. Act IV. Sc. 3. L. 375.
Urge them while their souls Are capable of this ambition, Lest zeal, now melted by the windy breath Of soft petitions, pity and remorse, Cool and congeal again to what it was.— Shakespeare — King John. Act II. Sc. 2. L. 475.
Who seeks, and will not take when once 'tis offer'd, Shall never find it more.— Shakespeare — Antony and Cleopatra. Act II. Sc. 7. L. 89.
Turning for them who pass, the common dust Of servile opportunity to gold. S.— WORDSWORTH — Desultory Stanzas.
For rhetoric, he could not ope His mouth, but out there flew a trope.— BUTLER — Hudibras. Pt. I. Canto I. L. 81.
The Orator persuades and carries all with him, he knows not how; the Rhetorician can prove that he ought to have persuaded and carried all with him.— CARLYLE — Essays. Characteristics.
He mouths a sentence as curs mouth a bone.— CHURCHILL — The Rosciad. L. 322.
I asked of my dear friend Orator Prig: "What's the first part of oratory?" He said, "A great wig." "And what is the second?" Then, dancing a jig And bowing profoundly, he said, "A great wig." "And what is the third?" Then he snored like a pig, And puffing his cheeks out, he replied, "A great wig." GEO. COLMAN (the Younger)-Orator Prig. We fear that the glittering generalities of the speaker have left an impression more delightful than permanent.— F. J. DICKMAN — Review of Lecture by
Rufus Choate. There is no true orator who is not a hero.— EMERSON — Letters and Social Aims.
Eloquence. You'd scarce expect one of my age To speak in public on the stage; And if I chance to fall below Demosthenes or Cicero, Don't view me with a critic's eye, But pass my imperfections by. Large streams from little fountains flow, Tall oaks from little acorns grow.— DAVID EVERETT — Lines Written for a
School Declamation. The passions are the only orators that always persuade: they are, as it were, a natural art, the rules of which are infallible; and the simplest man with passion is more persuasive than the most eloquent without it.— LA ROCHEFOUCAULD — Maxims. No. 9.
The object of oratory alone is not truth, but persuasion.— MACAULAY — Essay on Athenian Orators.
Thence to the famous orators repair, Those ancient, whose resistless eloquence. Wielded at will that fierce democratie, Shook the Arsenal, and fulmined over Greece, To Macedon, and Artaxerxes' throne.— MILTON — Paradise Regained. Bk. IV. L. 267.
The capital of the orator is in the bank of the highest sentimentalities and the purest enthusiasms.— EDW. G. PARKER — The Golden Age of American Oratory. Ch. I.
When Demosthenes was asked what was the first part of Oratory, he answered, "Action," and which was the second, he replied, "Action," and which was the third, he still answered "Action."— PLUTARCH — Morals. Lives of the Ten
Orators. Be not thy tongue thy own shame's orator.— Shakespeare — Comedy of Errors. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 10.
Is enim est eloquens, qui et humilia subtiliter, et magna graviter, et mediocria temperate potest dicere. He is an eloquent man who can treat humble subjects with delicacy, lofty things impressively, and moderate things temperately. C.— CICERO — De Oratore. XXIX.
Ce que l'on conçoit bien s'énonce clairement, Et les mots pour le dire arrivent aisément. Whatever we conceive well we express clearly, and words flow with ease.— BOILEAU — L'Art Poètique. I. 153.
L'éloquence est au sublime ce que le tout est à sa partie. Eloquence is to the sublime what the whole is to its part.— LA BRUYÈRE — Les Caractères. I.
L'éloquence est une peinture de la pensée. Eloquence is a painting of the thoughts.— PASCAL — Pensées. XXIV. 88.
Allein der Vortrag macht des Redners Glück. Ich fühl es wohl noch bin ich weit zurück. Yet through delivery orators succeed, I feel that I am far behind indeed.— GOETHE — Faust. I. 1. 194.
Es trägt Verstand und rechter Sinn, Mit wenig Kunst sich selber vor. With little art, clear wit and sense Suggest their own delivery.— GOETHE — Faust. I. 1. 198.
Du sprichst von Zeiten die vergangen sind. Thou speakest of times that long have passed away.— SCHILLER — Don Carlos. I. 2. 48.
Wer kann was Dummes, wer was Kluges denken, Das nicht die Vorwelt schon gedacht. Who can think wise or stupid things at all that were not thought already in the past.— GOETHE — Faust. II. 2. 1.