Miriam Margolyes Quotes

Take some elocution lessons; you can joke with Ebonics, but the truth is, nothing beats the King's English. Learning how to speak properly, and the art of delivery can take you very far in life!

I think nobody wants to hear a sermon. Well, some people do, but maybe not through music or not with me. No one wants to hear me give a speech that way.

The great risk is always saying, "how will I communicate what I'm trying to get across to a room full of strangers sitting in the dark watching a stage?"

Poor speakers create an artificial divide between themselves and the audience. They feel they need to do this in order to establish their own credibility.

There are some who speak well and write badly. For the place and the audience warm them, and draw from their minds more than they think of without that warmth.

I was encouraged to read aloud in class and vocalize.

I took speech training. I took a few voice lessons in college.

When you stand on the stage you must have a sense that you are addressing the whole world, and that what you say is so important the whole world must listen.

You have to be aware of who you're talking to in an audience.

I took a public speaking class in college and managed to make the class laugh a little bit.

I never used to speak to the audience at all. I never really knew what to say onstage.

Speeches are much easier if you read them. I just find when I do that, it's harder to fire up the crowd.

I'm much more comfortable singing than talking.

I have to satisfy my audience.

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

When you're the person in the room with the microphone, you have a platform to talk about whatever you want, and it's much more interesting if we're discussing something that feels relevant.

I've always loved public speaking, and that's something I definitely will pursue after the Olympics.

For me, announcing wasn't the ideal working condition.

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

Maybe you've had the experience where somebody's asked you a question and you give an answer, then later in the day you think, "Oh, I wish I'd said that!" I tend to journal these things and put the answers in sermons.

There are two kinds of speeches: the Mother Hubbard speech, which, like the garment, covers everything but touches nothing, and the French bathing suit speech, which covers only the essential points.

Great communicators leave their audiences with great clarity.

I often think that presentations are more difficult than the work itself.

Giving his lecture for the third time freed Dr. Lionel Gift from paying much attention to it. He had a naturally expressive style of delivery, hones over the years in elementary-econ lecture halls. He knew, without even thinking, to address the middle rows of the hall, but to occasionally "shoot" the listeners in the back corners. He knew how to make eye contact and solicit the attention of those who were thinking of other things.

I mean, look, no matter how you feel about Bush, watching him speak is difficult. It's like- it's like watching a drunk man cross an icy street.