Andrew Johnson Quotes

No one ever complains about a speech being too short!

if you want someone to stop listening to you go ahead and yell. If you want them to listen to every word, whisper. -Mimi

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

It is more difficult to keep the attention of hearers than of readers.

Communicators need to figure out how well do they engage people, and they should not talk one word longer than people are engaged.

Using rhetorical questions in speeches is a great way to keep the audience involved. Don't you think those kinds of questions would keep your attention?

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

I think if you can get people to laugh, you can get people to listen.

Ultimately, the best speakers are the ones who have put 10,000 hours into listening.

The issue is: how do you engage the audience? And one of the things I talk to our communicators about is: The outline is great; the stories are great. But how do you engage them? How do you make it feel like we are on a journey, not you are just up there giving me information.

Mr. Chairman, I desire to say to those present that their perfect attention will not embarrass me in the least.

Long speeches work if they’re filled with substance.

A good orator is pointed and impassioned.

When I was a young boy I used to raise chickens and I was studying to be a preacher. I used to practice preaching to the chickens. Some of those chickens listened to me better than some of my colleagues now in the Congress.

It's not how many followers you have, it's how many care. It's not width, it's depth. It's not how many impressions you get, it's how much attention you get.

There is something in the eloquence of the pulpit, when it is really eloquence, which is entitled to the highest praise and honour. The preacher who can touch and affect such an heterogeneous mass of hearers, on subjects limited, and long worn thread-bare in all common hands; who can say any thing new or striking, any thing that rouses the attention, without offending the taste, or wearing out the feelings of his hearers, is a man whom one could not (in his public capacity) honour enough.

There is a craft and a power in listening.

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

He has oratory who ravishes his hearers while he forgets himself.

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

If you don't have story to tell the public at large - you have to be able to sort of go listen.

He didn't say a lot so I tend to remember what he did say. And I don't remember that he had a lot of patience with havin to say things twice so I learned to listen the first time.

That's the secret: be interesting. If you can't be interesting, shut up. There's nothing wrong with silence.

Listening well is an exercise of attention and by necessity hard work. It is because they do not realize this or because they are not willing to do the work that most people do not listen well.

Many people may listen, but few people actually hear.