Speech quotes
1K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Explore further
Browse quotes that often appear alongside speech — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"During her Oscar acceptance speech, Patricia Arquette called for equal pay for women. Then Oprah stood up and said, 'She's right, I can't live like this. I can't take another second of this living hell.'"
"In a speech today, President Obama said that Michelle Obama is very strong and talented and she frequently tells him that he is wrong. As a result, Michelle Obama is now the Republican front-runner for 2016."
"Arnold Schwarzenegger is gonna be the new governor of California. During his acceptance speech Arnold said 'I will not let you down.' Unfortunately, at the time Arnold was holding a woman over his head and looking up her dress."
"Heretical views arise when the truth is uncertain, and it is only when the truth is uncertain that censorship is invoked."
"I've spent too much time giving speeches, traveling the world."
"Do you wish people to speak well of you? Then do not speak at all yourself."
"Nobody has a right to speak more clearly than he thinks."
"The mentality of mankind and the language of mankind created each other. If we like to assume the rise of language as a given fact, then it is not going too far to say that the souls of men are the gift from language to mankind. The account of the sixth day should be written: He gave them speech, and they became souls."
"There's a lot about being "A Writer" that has nothing to do with writing. That's one thing I've discovered. You've got to meet with the sales force, and you've got to have all these luncheons, and be gracious, and you've got to give a lot of presentations and you've got to give a lot of speeches, and you've got to be on tour."
"The basis of democratic freedom is freedom of speech."
"It has to be living, to learn the speech of the place, It has to face the man of the time."
"Funest philosophers and ponderers, Their evocations are the speech of clouds."
"A thought Of that late death took all my heart for speech."
"Be checked for silence, But never taxed for speech."
"Speak on, but be not over-tedious."
"I can give the loser leave to chide."
"First Witch He knows thy thought: Hear his speech, but say thou nought."
"Babylon, Learned and wise, hath perished utterly, Nor leaves her speech one word to aid the sigh That would lament her."
"The literary gift is a very dangerous gift to possess if you are not telling the truth, and I would a great deal rather, for my part, have a man stumble in his speech than to feel he was so exceedingly smooth that he had better be watched both day and night."
"but I had also learned that freedom of speech means freedom from rhetoric."
