Roger Ascham Quotes

He that will write well in any tongue, must follow this counsel of Aristotle, to speak as the common people do, to think as wise men do: and so should every man understand him, and the judgment of wise men allow him.

Talking and eloquence are not the same: to speak, and to speak well, are two things.

There are people who have tremendously important things to say, but they say it so poorly that nobody would ever want to read it.

Talking and eloquence are not the same: to speak and to speak well are two things. A fool may talk, but a wise man speaks.

Eloquence is the child of knowledge.

Speech was given to the ordinary sort or men, whereby to communicate their mind; but to wise men, whereby to conceal it.

False eloquence is exaggeration; true eloquence is emphasis.

To speak and to speak well, are two things. A fool may talk, but a wise man speaks.

Talking and eloquence are not the same.

Eloquence is the essential thing in a speech, not information.

Those orators who give us much noise and many words, but little argument and less wit, and who are the loudest when least lucid, should take a lesson from the great volume of nature; she often gives us the lightning without the thunder, but never the thunder without the lightning.

Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.

Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood.

The tongue is the only tool that gets sharper with use.

There is no more difficult art to acquire than the art of observation, and for some men it is quite as difficult to record an observation in brief and plain language.

For my next trick I will make everyone understand me.

Much speech is one thing, well-timed speech is another.

I used to tell my husband that, if he could make me understand something, it would be clear to all the other people in the country.

I'm not good at throwing around rhetoric.

Eloquence is the power to translate a truth into language perfectly intelligible to the person to whom you speak.

The ability to speak well is the shortcut to distinction.

We oftener say things because we can say them well, than because they are sound and reasonable.

The thought hath good leggs, and the quill a good tongue.

It is not sufficient to know what one ought to say, but one must also know how to say it.

The art of saying well what one thinks is different from the faculty of thinking. The latter may be very deep and lofty and far- reaching, while the former is altogether wanting.