Eloquence Quotes - Page 11

• No man with a genius for legislation has appeared in America. They are rare in the history of the world. There are orators, politicians, and eloquent men, by the thousand; but the speaker has not yet opened his mouth to speak who is capable of settling the much-vexed questions of the day. We love eloquence for its own sake, and not for any truth which it may utter, or any heroism it may inspire. Our legislators have not yet learned the comparative value of free trade and of freedom, of union, and of rectitude, to a nation.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Truth, Men, America

  Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.301, Simon and Schuster

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• However much we admire the orator's occasional bursts of eloquence, the noblest written words are commonly as far behind or abovethe fleeting spoken language as the firmament with its stars is behind the clouds.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Stars, Clouds, Fleeting

  Henry David Thoreau (2014). “Citizen Thoreau: Walden, Civil Disobedience, Life Without Principle, Slavery in Massachusetts, A Plea for Captain John Brown”, p.68, Graphic Arts Books

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• No living orator would convince a grocer that coffee should be sold without chicory; and no amount of eloquence will make an English lawyer think that loyalty to truth should come before loyalty to his client.

  Anthony Trollope

  Loyalty, Coffee, Thinking

  Anthony Trollope (1862). “Orley Farm”, p.130

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• Nothing is so difficult to believe that oratory cannot make it acceptable, nothing so rough and uncultured as not to gain brilliance and refinement from eloquence.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Believe, Oratory, Gains

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• He bent and laid his lips on her hands, which were cold and lifeless. She drew them away, and he turned to the door, found his coat and hat under the faint gas-light of the hall, and plunged out into the winter night bursting with the belated eloquence of the inarticulate.

  Edith Wharton

  Winter, Night, Light

  Edith Wharton (2015). “The Age of Innocence”, p.97, Booklassic

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• Over his illustrious career, John Harris has explored the most challenging bioethical questions with insight, engaging wit, and eloquence. In Enhancing Evolution, Harris does it again. He argues that it is not just an option but an obligation for people to use available biomedical technologies to enhance their own--and their children's--physical and mental abilities. Harris rightly deserves his reputation for fearlessly following his ethical arguments wherever they lead.

  Ezekiel Emanuel

  Children, Technology, Careers

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• Yep.” Eloquence ’R’ Us. When in trouble, keep it monosyllabic—safer that way.

  Ilona Andrews

  Way, Trouble

  Ilona Andrews (2009). “Magic Strikes”, p.43, Penguin

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• But listen to me first and swear an oath to use all your eloquence and strength to look after me and protect me.

  Homer

  Looks, Use, Rage From The Iliad

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• None but those who have loved can be supposed to understand the oratory of the eye, the mute eloquence of a look, or the conversational powers of the face. Love's sweetest meanings are unspoken; the full heart knows no rhetoric of words, and resorts to the pantomime of sighs and glances.

  Christian Nestell Bovee

  Love, Heart, Eye

  Christian Nestell Bovee (1862). “Intuitions and Summaries of Thought”, p.34

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• The charges we bring against others often come home to ourselves; we inveigh against faults which are as much ours as theirs; and so our eloquence ends by telling against ourselves.

  St. Jerome

  Home, Faults, Ends

  St. Jerome (2012). “The Sacred Writings of Saint Jerome (Annotated Edition)”, p.524, Jazzybee Verlag

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• What the people call eloquence is the facility some persons have of speaking alone and for a long time, aided by extravagant gestures, a loud voice, and powerful lungs.

  Jean de la Bruyere

  Powerful, Loud Voices, Long

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• Can the real Constitution be restored? Probably not. Too many Americans depend on government money under programs the Constitution doesn't authorize, and money talks with an eloquence Shakespeare could only envy. Ignorant people don't understand The Federalist Papers, but they understand government checks with their names on them.

  Joseph Sobran

  Real, Government, Names

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• A man is reputed to have thought and eloquence; he cannot, for all that, say a word to his cousin or his uncle. They accuse his silence with as much reason as they would blame the insignificance of a dial in the shade. In the sun it will mark the hour. Among those who enjoy his thought, he will regain his tongue.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Cousin, Uncles, Men

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1983). “Essays and Lectures”, p.350, Library of America

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• Wit is, in fact, the eloquence of indifference.

  William Hazlitt

  Facts, Indifference, Wit

  William Hazlitt (1857). “Lectures on the English comic writers. Lectures on the English poets”, p.14

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• My heart always timidly hides itself behind my mind. I set out to bring down stars from the sky, then, for fear of ridicule, I stop and pick little flowers of eloquence.

  Edmond Rostand

  Stars, Fear, Flower

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• E?  loquence quipersuade par douceur, non par empire, en tyran, non en roi. Eloquence should persuade gently, not by force or like a tyrant or king.

  Blaise Pascal

  Kings, Tyrants, Roi

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• America could carry on a two years' war by the confiscation of the property of disaffected persons, and be made happy by their expulsion. Say not that this is revenge, call it rather the soft resentment of a suffering people, who, having no object in view but the good of all, have staked their own all upon a seemingly doubtful event. Yet it is folly to argue against determined hardness; eloquence may strike the ear, and the language of sorrow draw forth the tear of compassion, but nothing can reach the heart that is steeled with prejudice.

  Thomas Paine

  Revenge, War, Heart

  Thomas Paine (2016). “THE AMERICAN CRISIS – Revolutionary Work Which Inspired the American People to Fight for Their Independence: Including “The Life of Thomas Paine” – Extensive Biography of the Author”, p.8, e-artnow

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• In painting as in eloquence, the greater your strength, the quieter your manner.

  John Ruskin

  Painting, Greater

  "Modern Painters". Book by John Ruskin. Volume V, part VIII, chapter III, 1860.

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• A man avails himself of the truth so long as it is serviceable; but he seizes on what is false with a passionate eloquence as soon as he can make a momentary use of it.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Truth, Men, Long

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (2013). “Delphi Works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Illustrated)”, p.3587, Delphi Classics

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• Those mutually opposed manifestos are written with the same eloquence, they breathe the same virtuous indignation, and one is just as sincere as the other; that is to say both of them are equally brazen in their lies, and it is only fools who are deceived by them. Sensible persons, all those who have had some political experience, do not even take the trouble of reading such manifestos.

  Mikhail Bakunin

  Lying, Reading, Political

  Mikhail Aleksandrovich Bakunin “The Selected Works of Mikhail Aleksandrovich Bakunin”, Library of Alexandria

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• Addison writes with the ease of a gentleman. His readers fancy that a wise and accomplished companion is talking to them; so thathe insinuates his sentiments and taste into their minds by an imperceptible influence. Johnson writes like a teacher. He dictates to his readers as if from an academical chair. They attend with awe and admiration; and his precepts are impressed upon them by his commanding eloquence. Addison's style, like a light wine, pleases everybody from the first. Johnson's, like a liquor of more body, seems too strong at first, but, by degrees, is highly relished.

  James Boswell

  Wise, Teacher, Strong

  James Boswell (1827). “The life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: comprehending an account of his studies and numerous works, in chronological order; a series of his epistolary correspondence; and conversations with many eminent persons ...”, p.58

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• There is something in the eloquence of the pulpit, when it is really eloquence, which is entitled to the highest praise and honour. The preacher who can touch and affect such an heterogeneous mass of hearers, on subjects limited, and long worn thread-bare in all common hands; who can say any thing new or striking, any thing that rouses the attention, without offending the taste, or wearing out the feelings of his hearers, is a man whom one could not (in his public capacity) honour enough.

  Jane Austen

  Men, Hands, Offending

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• The Romans, who so coolly and so concisely mention the acts of justice which were exercised by the legions, reserve their compassion and their eloquence for their own sufferings, when the provinces were invaded and desolated by the arms of the successful Barbarians.

  Edward Gibbon

  Successful, Compassion, History

  Edward Gibbon (2009). “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Edited and Abridged): Abridged Edition”, p.496, Modern Library

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• In such business Action is eloquence, and the eyes of th’ ignorant More learned than the ears.

  William Shakespeare

  Business, Learning, Eye

  William Shakespeare (1796*). “The beauties of Shakespeare, selected from his plays and poems”, p.142

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• Love and businesse teach eloquence.

  George Herbert

  Teach

  George Herbert (1874). “The Complete Works of George Herbert: Prose”, p.350

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