Nancy Duarte Quotes

An effective speaker knows that the success or failure of his talk is not for him to decide - it will be decided in the minds and hearts of his hearers.

The people only understand what they can feel; the only orators that can affect them are those who move them.

Marvel does a fantastic job about bringing human stories - because you're telling big stories with a heart at the centre of it - and that's what connects all of the characters to our audience members.

For us, creativity means thinking about the lives of our audience and how to connect with them.

The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart.

We could make the most beautiful film in the world, but if it doesn't have a heart beating underneath it, then no one's going to be interested.

It seems like movies that have heart to them always do well, and they find their audience.

It's interesting, for me sappy means sentimental and something that gets you in your heart, gets you emotional. That's what I mean. Also, of course, it means that I'm slightly setting up the audience that there's a bit of fun involved, as well.

If you watched a movie about a guy who wanted a Volvo and worked for years to get it, you wouldn’t cry at the end when he drove off the lot, testing the windshield wipers. You wouldn’t tell your friends you saw a beautiful movie or go home and put a record on to think about the story you’d seen. The truth is, you wouldn’t remember that movie a week later, except you’d feel robbed and want your money back. Nobody cries at the end of a movie about a guy who wants a Volvo.

I like to play any character that allows me the freedom to explore it and teach the audience something they didn't know, and show them a journey they identify with... or be inspired, or moved. Anything that touches someone's heart is important for me.

If you're not connected emotionally to a story, then you're dead. You're as a filmmaker really just opening the door for people to lose interest and their minds to wander, for them to start picking it apart. That's what people will do, people will naturally tear stuff apart because they're trapped with it, they paid money for it. And they came into it wanting to love it. So all you can really do is piss off the audience. Unless you do things right.

Write to the mind and heart, and let the ear Glean after what it can.

I’ve always believed that the way you affect your audience is more important than how many of them are there.

Country music has its way of getting into the minds and hearts of people. I will say - you never know how long it's gonna take something to grow, you never know if you're gonna hit in a certain market.

I think human beings probably resonate with audiences more than bunnies, but who knows?

Words have to find a man's mind before they can touch his heart, and some men's minds are woefully small targets.

To me, words are like stickpins. I can throw a word at you and it will bounce right off your body. But if I take that little stickpin and wire it to the back of an iron bar called human emotion, I can put that thing right through your heart.

Making one object, in outward or inward nature, more holy to a single heart is reward enough for a life; for the more sympathies we gain or awaken for what is beautiful, by so much deeper will be our sympathy for that which is most beautiful,--the human soul!

Humor is the easiest to achieve; the 'heart' is always the toughest, because you can't tell people to feel a certain way.

I just want to fill the hearts and minds of the people who listen to my music

When someone says "that resonates with me" what they are saying is "I agree with you" or "I align with you." Once your ideas resonate with an audience, they will change. But, the only way to have true resonance is to understand the ones with whom you are trying to resonate. You need to spend time thinking about your audience. What unites them, what incites them? Think about your audience and what's on their mind before you begin building your presentation. It will help you identify beliefs and behavior in your audience that you can connect with. Resonate with.

The mechanism she employs is much more powerful than ours, for all her levers move the human heart.

Instead of giving someone a piece of your mind, it turns out far better if you give them a piece of your heart.

My mind was in my heart, anchored like a bright kite in a safe place.

The actors are telling the truth on some level, and people have to believe it. At Cannes, a lot of people said, "Oh, shocking," but this Italian girl said to me, "My god, I just said that to my boyfriend the other night." That's what Lula from Wild at hearts talks about. That's life - to turn each other on, to feel good, to feel in love.