Ta-Nehisi Coates Quotes

Many a man owes his advancement very largely to his ability to converse well. The ability to interest people in your conversation, to hold them, is a great power.

When I talk, people listen.

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.

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

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

Some people are very good at that, communicating with the world; I'm not sure I'm suited to it.

I'm bad with speaking. I ramble a lot.

I didn't think I was much of a public speaker.

Learning how to get a point across is pretty useful in any situation.

I never failed to convince an audience that the best thing they could do was to go away.

Even if I did give a good talk, is what I have to say more important and interesting than what Colin Powell said?

I conquered my stage fright a long time ago. In my line of work, it's kind of a pre-requisite that you not feel bad about looking stupid in front of a lot of people.

I don't want to spend the rest of my life giving speeches.

Nobody has a magic lamp which can tell you in advance whether what you say will be effective in persuading an audience.

I am not a good cue card reader.

Again, I'm used to speaking to a lot of people; I have a lot of friends and family, and I perform music and speak in front of a lot of crowds. So I share with people already a lot in my life.

What I find daunting always is to stand on a stage and talk to people, whether they agree with me or not.

The stuff I do and say onstage I can do easily. As a performer, that comes easily. But being social offstage, it's not easy for me.

Ever since I was a kid, I've known I could talk to people.

Being a comfortable public speaker, which involves easily being able to go off-script, strongly signals competence.

I'm not great at small talk.

A lot of people don't know how to talk on the phone anymore.

Learn the art of the pitch and of messaging.

It's hard because people often don't recognise shyness; they think it's just someone being rude. I have had to work to overcome that, especially if I'm meeting my readers at author events, because I don't want them to think I'm snooty or rude.

One has to grow up with good talk in order to form the habit of it.