William Hazlitt Quotes

When Demosthenes was asked what were the three most important aspects of oratory, he answered, 'Action, Action, Action.'

An orator is a good man who is skilled in speaking.

Some of the greatest and most lasting effects of genuine oratory have gone forth from secluded lecture desks into the hearts of quiet groups of students.

There is only one excuse for a speaker's asking the attention of his audience: he must have either truth or entertainment for them.

Of all the talents bestowed upon men, none is so precious as the gift of oratory !!

When Demosthenes was asked what was the first part of Oratory, he answered, "Action," and which was the second, he replied, "action," and which was the third, he still answered "Action.

An effective speaker knows that the success or failure of his talk is not for him to decide - it will be decided in the minds and hearts of his hearers.

The air of the New World seems favorable to the art of declamation.

If the people in the audience are talking, you're being ignored. If the people are gazing at you, you've got something they want to hear.

Extemporaneous speaking should be practiced and cultivated. It is the lawyer's avenue to the public. However able and faithful he may be in other respects, people are slow to bring him business if he cannot make a speech.

I think that no one, or very few, are born as good presenters. It's a skill that you learn.

Trust me, I have never written a speech in my life, and if I have my way, I never will.

No man not inspired can make a good speech without preparation.

The aim of the sculptor is to convince us that he is a sculptor; the aim of the orator, is to convince us that he is not an orator.

A good orator is pointed and impassioned.

An orator is a man who says what he thinks and feels what he says.

You could be the World's greatest orator and if you don't say anything while orating, they are going to walk out on you after a while.

Every man should study conciseness in speaking; it is a sign of ignorance not to know that long speeches, though they may please the speaker, are the torture of the hearer.

Neil Kinnock's speeches go on for so long because he has nothing to say and so he has no way of knowing when he's finished saying it.

Oratory, like the drama, abhors lengthiness; like the drama, it must keep doing. It avoids, as frigid, prolonged metaphysical soliloquy. Beauties themselves, if they delay or distract the effect which should be produced on the audience, become blemishes.

The ability to speak well is the shortcut to distinction.

Chauncy Burr ... talks well, possibly better than he thinks. But this is a common failing.

What passes out of one's mouth passes into a hundred ears. It is a great misfortune not to have sense enough to speak well.

The longer I live, the more I have come to value the gift of eloquence. Every American youth, if he desires for any purpose to get influence over his countrymen in an honorable way, will seek to become a good public speaker.

It is delivery that makes the orators success.