Robert Baden-Powell Quotes

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.

My basic rule is to speak slowly and simply so that my audience has an opportunity to follow and think about what I am saying.

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.

Whether one talks well depends very much upon whom he has to talk to.

Some experience of popular lecturing had convinced me that the necessity of making things plain to uninstructed people, was one of the very best means of clearing up the obscure corners in one's own mind.

If you make yourself understood, you're always speaking well.

Simple and to the point is always the best way to get your point across.

Communication is about being effective, not always about being proper.

I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had the time to make it shorter.

My voice has gotten me everything in my life, not my hair.

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

It is much better when a member resumes his seat after he has made a speech for the House to have the feeling that they wish he had gone on longer instead of wondering why he did not stop sooner.

In those days it was very nice to have a President who clearly spoke the English language.

Knowing what to say, in the right way - at the perfect moment - can mean the difference between a world-class life and an average one.

The genius of guys like Lincoln and Reagan and FDR - the great communicator leaders - is that they're actually educators, so they understand when they use a phrase that they have to explain it, because, by definition, you won't understand it or they wouldn't need to be using it.

Scientists aren't necessarily good communicators, because they aren't trained to be good communicators.

Talking, being a better talker, wouldn't have been that hard. It was just, I was just naturally gifted at other things.

I think, for me, one of the things I've been blessed with is the ability to speak with clarity.

Confidence in conversation has a greater share than wit.

Public Speaking is a skill that can be studied, polished, perfected. Not only can you get good at it, you can get damn good at it and it makes a heck of a difference.

The laurels of an orator who is not a master of literary art wither quickly.

And I love to speak - I am very good at it. And if you love to do something, you're very good at it, and also you are paid well, why would you not do it? Why would you stop?

Yet through delivery orators succeed, I feel that I am far behind indeed.

It is delivery that makes the orators success.

that your power of command with simple language was one of the magnificent things of our century. (from the poem: result)