Walter Lippmann Quotes

Power comes through public persuasion.

Power gravitates to the man who knows how.

A skill required to be president is to explain to the American people any given thing they do.

Turning Intellect Into Influence

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 longer I live, the more I have come to value the gift of eloquence. Every American youth, if he desires for any purpose to get influence over his countrymen in an honorable way, will seek to become a good public speaker.

Eloquence shows the power and possibility of man. There is one of whom we took no note, but on a certain occasion it appears that he has a secret virtue never suspected - that he can paint what has occurred and what must occur, with such clearness to a company, as if they saw it done before their eyes. By leading their thought he leads their will, and can make them do gladly what an hour ago they would not believe that they could be led to do at all.

There is nothing like oratory, it is a skill that can turn a commoner into a king.

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

Where visionaries can be good at persuasion, CEOs are good at wielding authority. Visionaries transcend organizations, resources, and current realities, while CEOs master them.

We need a president with tremendous intelligence, smarts, cunning, strength and stamina.

I've always been a leader. Every team I've played on, I've led my way.

As his vice president for eight years, I learned more from Ronald Reagan than from anyone I encountered in all my years of public life.

The wisest have the most authority.

The mark of a true politician is that he is never at a loss for words because he is always half-expecting to be asked to make a speech.

Rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men.

I've always found when I was captain when other people were doing the talking for me, I didn't need to say as much, and when I did say one or two things, people tended to listen all the more.

The world isn't one way or another. Things can be changed very, very rapidly by someone with sufficient confidence, sufficient knowledge and sufficient authority.

I don't have any authority over Linux other than this notion that I know what I'm doing.

I wish I could talk like Donald Trump or Steve Wynn. Hell, I'd love it.

The main essentials of a successful prime minister are sleep and a sense of history.

Princes need, in tender matters and ticklish times, to beware what they say.

France will be heeded if it has a message to convey.

With words we govern men.

I regard most of my speeches as opportunities to teach rather than traditional political speeches.