Rhetoric Quotes - Page 5

• The most characteristic concern of rhetoric [is] the manipulation of men's beliefs for political ends....the basic function of rhetoric [is] the use of words by human agents to form attitudes or to induce actions in other human agents.

  Kenneth Burke

  Attitude, Men, Political

  58 Copy quote

• If Americans want to see results instead of rhetoric, if taxpayers would like solutions instead of sound bites, and hard work instead of horse trading, I suggest you take a short look, and it won't take much longer, at the accomplishments of this Congress.

  Alcee Hastings

  Horse, Hard Work, Accomplishment

  7 Copy quote

• We had a sense of importance that would have led us to risk our lives for our rhetoric.

  Jerry Rubin

  Risk, Importance, Our Lives

  9 Copy quote

• RHETORIC The art of making life less believable; the calculated use of language, not to alarm but to do full harm to our busy minds and properly dispose our listeners to a pain they have never dreamed of. The context of what can be known establishes that love and indifference are forms of language, but the wise addition of punctuation allows us to believe that there are other harms - the dash gives the reader the clear signal they are coming.

  Ben Marcus

  Wise, Art, Pain

  Ben Marcus (2013). “The Age of Wire and String”, p.92, Granta Books

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Modern liberalism, for most liberals is not a consciously understood set of rational beliefs, but a bundle of unexamined prejudices and conjoined sentiments. The basic ideas and beliefs seem more satisfactory when they are not made fully explicit, when they merely lurk rather obscurely in the background, coloring the rhetoric and adding a certain emotive glow.

  James Burnham

  Emotional, Glowing, Color

  33 Copy quote

• Love's sweetest meanings are unspoken; the full heart knows no rhetoric of words.

  Christian Nestell Bovee

  Love, Heart, Sweetest

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

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Within the model minority rhetoric, Asian Americans are represented as “good” minorities and African Americans are represented as “bad” minorities. Here, the achievements of Asian Americans are used to discipline African Americans. As model minorities, Asian Americans achieved the status of “honorary Whites”. Again it is important to point out that the honorary whiteness of Asian Americans was granted at the expense of Blacks. It is also significant that as “honorary Whites,” Asian Americans do not have the actual privileges associated with “real” whiteness.

  Jennifer Lee

  Real, Discipline, Achievement

  13 Copy quote

• British diplomats, constantly exposed to American political-ethical rhetoric, find their professional skills tested to the limits by the need to keep a straight face. For illustrations of what I mean, study the photographs of the expressions worn by Mr Douglas Hurd at any international conference involving all the Western allies.

  Conor Cruise O'Brien

  Mean, Illustration, Expression

  Conor Cruise O'Brien (1994). “On the Eve of the Millennium: The Future of Democracy Through an Age of Unreason”, p.150, Simon and Schuster

  15 Copy quote

  Show source

• The United Nations cannot do anything, and never could; it is not an animate entity or agent. It is a place, a stage, a forum and a shrine... a place to which powerful people can repair when they are fearful about the course on which their own rhetoric seems to be propelling them.

  Conor Cruise O'Brien

  Powerful, People, Agents

  16 Copy quote

• When liberals finally grasped the strength of popular feeling about the family, they cried to appropriate the rhetoric and symbolism of family values for their own purposes.

  Christopher Lasch

  Symbolism, Feelings, Popular Song

  20 Copy quote

• The rhetoric is the first step, it coarsens attitudes

  Amy Waldman

  Attitude, Firsts, Steps

  4 Copy quote

• National Defense A strong USA defense brought down the Soviet Union. It was Ronald Reagan - first in a speech at Notre Dame University in May 1981, then his 'Evil Empire' speech of March 1983 - who most eloquently declared communism's imminent demise. Reagan was right. And even Soviet officials attribute Ronald Reagan's rhetoric and foreign policy to bringing down that 'evil empire.' By Christmas Day, 1990, the Soviet Union ceased to exist. Liberals wished it were other things.

  Rush Limbaugh

  Strong, Usa, Evil

  4 Copy quote

• It's very easy to have slogans and rhetoric that people will follow, but eventually the slogans fall away

  Saad Hariri

  Fall, People, Easy

  6 Copy quote

• De-Christianizing America has been high on the progressive agenda, and, thanks to the government (especially the federal courts), it has been a great success. Nor can we overlook the contribution of the entertainment industry, which now determines what passes for 'culture.' The main practical vehicle of de-Christianization has been the Sexual Revolution. A few radicals have called for the abolition of the family, but most liberals have been more discreet, avoiding hostile rhetoric while quietly but constantly pursuing policies that result in lower birthrates and fatherless children.

  Joseph Sobran

  Children, America, Government

  31 Copy quote

• In the coming year, I believe we can make sure America lives up to its legacy as a land of opportunity if the President is willing to back up his rhetoric with substance.

  Ron Kind

  Believe, Opportunity, Years

  4 Copy quote

• Mediocrity is no answer to violence. In fact, it probably invites violence. At least the mediocre and the violent appear together as in the old Western movies - the ruffian outlaw band shooting up main street and the little white church with the little white schoolteacher wringing her hands. To cool violence you need rhythm, humor, tempering; you need dance and rhetoric. Not therapeutic understanding.

  James Hillman

  Hands, White, Understanding

  17 Copy quote

• It is astonishing how articulate one can become when alone and raving at a radio. Arguments and counter arguments, rhetoric and bombast flow from one's lips like scurf from the hair of a bank manager.

  Stephen Fry

  Hair, Radio, Flow

  Stephen Fry (2010). “Paperweight”, p.62, Random House

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• No, I know all the war rhetoric, but it's all aimed at achieving peace.

  George W. Bush

  Peace, War, Election

  7 Copy quote

• Americans aren't buying the hate these anti-LGBT extremists are selling, so they've been forced to take their take their dangerous rhetoric abroad. These radicals are now travelling from country to country advocating for the persecution of LGBT people under the guise that they're saving children.

  Chad Griffin

  Country, Children, Hate

  "US conservative activists want more countries to emulate Russia's anti-gay laws", www.foxnews.com. February 21, 2014.

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• Rick Perry is the perfect candidate for those who thought George W. Bush was just too dang cerebral. And Adios, Mofo is the perfect guide to his record, his rhetoric and his remarkable hair. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll vote.

  Paul Begala

  Hair, Perfect, Laughing

  "MSNBC Live Brings On 'Adios Mofo' Author to Slam Rick Perry". www.newsbusters.org. June 5, 2015.

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• The men who have gotten women pregnant need to be accountable if we are. If we are going to jail, the men are coming too. Religious rhetoric will bite its own ass trying to nail only women in a two-person process.

  Neko Case

  Religious, Men, Two

  4 Copy quote

• For preachers, clarity is a moral matter. It is not merely a question of rhetoric, but a matter of life and death.

  Haddon W. Robinson

  Life And Death, Matter, Moral

  15 Copy quote

• These are the only genuine ideas, the ideas of the shipwrecked. All the rest is rhetoric, posturing, farce.

  Jose Ortega y Gasset

  Ideas, Farce, Genuine

  "The Revolt of the Masses". Book by José Ortega y Gasset, p. 157, 1929.

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• The voice of humility is God's music, and the silence of humility is God's rhetoric.

  Francis Quarles

  Humility, Voice, Silence

  Francis Quarles (1844). “Enchiridion Institutions, Essays and Maxims, political, moral & divine. Divided into four centuries. By Francis Quarles”, p.91

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• How long do politicians have to keep on promising heaven and delivering hell before people catch on and stop getting swept away by rhetoric?

  Thomas Sowell

  Long, People, Heaven

  30 Copy quote