Billy Graham
Evangelist, Author
"We should ask ourselves three questions before we speak: Is it true? Is it kind? Does it glorify Christ?"
Speech quotes
Speech
1K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Pythagoras
Philosopher, Mathematician
"In anger we should refrain both from speech and action."
Rosa Luxemburg
Political Theorist, Activist
"Without general elections, without freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, without the free battle of opinions, life in every public institution withers away, becomes a caricature of itself, and bureaucracy rises as the only deciding factor."
George Orwell
Writer, Journalist
"Free speech is my right to say what you don't want to hear."
Voltaire
Philosopher, Writer
"The right to free speech is more important than the content of the speech."
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Speech quotes (page 1 of 51)
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"Brevity is the best recommendation of speech, whether in a senator or an orator."
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"In the end, what would you gain from everlasting remembrance? Absolutely nothing. So what is left worth living for? This alone: justice in thought, goodness in action, speech that cannot deceive, and a disposition glad of whatever comes, welcoming it as necessary, as familiar, as flowing from the same source and fountain as yourself."
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"To listen is very hard, because it asks of us so much interior stability that we no longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, statements or declarations. True listeners no longer have an inner need to make their presence known. They are free to receive, welcome, to accept."
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"To take arms against a sea of troubles."
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"Demosthenes overcame and rendered more distinct his inarticulate and stammering pronunciation by speaking with pebbles in his mouth."
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"For [D.H.] Lawrence, existence was one continuous convalescence; it was as though he were newly reborn from a mortal illness every day of his life. What these convalescent eyes saw, his most casual speech would reveal."
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"Bore: one who has the power of speech but not the capacity for conversation."
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"Great wisdom is generous; petty wisdom is contentious. Great speech is impassioned, small speech cantankerous."
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"Wherever the relevance of speech is at stake, matters become political by definition, for speech is what makes man a political being."
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"Silence is never-ending speech. Vocal speech obstructs the other speech of silence. In silence one is in intimate contact with the surroundings. Language is only a medium for communicating one's thoughts to another. Silence is ever speaking."
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"It's easier to find a new audience than to write a new speech."
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"Where there is no freedom of speech, there is no conscience."
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"I have reached the conclusion, a bit late perhaps, that speeches should be short."
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"The only reason to give a speech is to change the world."
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"The Framers of the Constitution knew that free speech is the friend of change and revolution. But they also knew that it is always the deadliest enemy of tyranny."
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"True silence is really endless speech."
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"Not in his speech, not in his thoughts, I see his greatness, only in his actions, in his life."
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"Speak briefly and to the point."
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"Words, as is well known, are the great foes of reality."
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"It is the function of art to carry us beyond speech to experience."
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