Cherrie Moraga Quotes

Eloquence is the poetry of prose.

We love eloquence for its own sake, and not for any truth which it may utter, or any heroism it may inspire

Rhetoric paints with a broad brush.

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

He who wants to persuade should put his trust not in the right argument, but in the right word. The power of sound has always been greater than the power of sense.

Rhetoric may be defined as the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion. This is not a function of any other art.

Of all those arts in which the wise excel, Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well.

A great speech is literature.

It is but a poor eloquence which only shows that the orator can talk.

Eloquence is a painting of the thoughts.

Writing is learning to say nothing, more cleverly each day.

The art of utterance persuades initially by its music and its rhythm, before semiotic or personal characteristics come into play.

Poetry has done enough when it charms, but prose must also convince.

The art of the parenthesis is one of the greatest secrets of eloquence in Society.

Language is wine upon the lips.

This trial has developed in the most remarkable manner, the insane love of speaking among public men. We are wading knee deep in words, words, words ….

We love to hear some men speak, though we hear not what they say.

As reason is the glory of man, so the lamp of reason is eloquence.

Rhetoric is a poor substitute for action.

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

Eloquence is the language of nature, and cannot be learned in the schools; but rhetoric is the creature of art, which he who feels least will most excel in.

Metaphors convince at once or not at all.

Rhetoric is nothing but reason well dressed and argument put in order.

Public speaking is the art of diluting a two-minute idea with a two-hour vocabulary.

There is a truth and beauty in rhetoric; but it oftener serves ill turns than good ones.