James Brown Quotes

Giving a true speech, a true, passionate speech, is old-school football.

Ninety percent of leadership is the ability to communicate something that people want.

The capacity to persuade is an essential part of being a great leader.

To be sure, Kennedy did not discount the importance of words in rallying the nation to meet its foreign and domestic challenges. Winston Churchill's powerful exhortations during World War II set a standard he had long admired. Kennedy was hardly unmindful of how important a great inaugural address could be.

I've been known to preach.

Positiveness is a good quality for preachers and speakers because, whoever shares his thoughts with the public will convince them as he himself appears convinced.

I was raised in Austin, Texas, around trial lawyers. My friend and I - we were 14 - would go and watch her father try cases. I also heard of lot of Baptist preachers in little churches saying crazy things with such conviction.

Most great leaders are theatrical by nature.

The purpose of oratory or philosophy [is to] respectively leave people in a fighting or thoughtful mood.

Churchill has spent the best years of his life preparing impromptu remarks.

Kennedy understood something that is not so obvious, and that is that words are more important than deeds. You can’t govern 300 million people—or 180 million when Kennedy was president—by doing things. You can only do it by rhetoric.

The way Salman connects with his audience, I love it! I am trying to learn that from him.

I can move any crowd.

Unless you're Barack Obama, you cannot pull off an impromptu a capella rendition of a heart-warming song in the middle of a speech.

I love playing in the spotlight... I feel like that's motivation for everyone.

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

Man makes up his mind he will preach, and he preaches.

Tap into people's emotions. We've all been put to sleep by a speaker who just gives the facts. You must tap into people's feelings.

Being an entertainer includes knowing how to connect with an audience.

What's gratifying for me and interesting is that people are picking up on exactly what I want them to, which is that this is energizing people, and making them want to make stories.

With my natural communication abilities, I could probably gather a crowd even without the Spirit.

I'm at my best when I'm being genuine and sincere, and reading my material straight up to an audience that wants to listen.

I'm not terribly fond of soapboxes.

Had I become a priest, the sermons would've been electric!

Playing live is basically just hyperactivity and a certain sense of enchantment that I deliver to the audience, to let them know what it would be like to be inside my head.