All the great speakers were bad speakers at first.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Oratory is just like prostitution. You must have little tricks.
-Vittorio Emanuele Orlando
The relationship of the toastmaster to the speaker should be the same as that of the fan to the fan dancer. It should call attention to the subject without making any particular effort to cover it.
-Adlai Stevenson
In oratory the greatest art is to hide art.
-Jonathan Swift
Lecturer, n. One with his hand in your pocket, his tongue in your ear and his faith in your patience.
-Ambrose Bierce
When I think over what I have said, I envy dumb people.
-Seneca
The eloquent man is he who is no beautiful speaker, but who is inwardly and desperately drunk with a certain belief.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
True eloquence consists in saying all that should be said, and that only.
-La Rochefoucauld
To be brief is almost a condition of being inspired.
-George Santayana
What is conceived well is expressed clearly.
-Nicolas Boileau
Language is a virus.
-William Burroughs
It is a terrible misconception to believe that language was developed to aid in communication.
-Dadaist saying