Stephen Colbert Quotes

The writing is important, but the way you say the line and the pause you give it, the facial expression - all of that is very important.

Tone is everything.

It's really important how you say things because people won't necessarily remember what words you used, but they'll remember how you made them feel.

The Politician uses the language of diplomacy of which he is a master, and it consists in telling some of the truth without necessarily exhausting it.

It's not just what you say that stirs people. It's the way that you say it.

Hitler understood the demagogues' essential principle to teach or persuade is far more difficult than to stir emotion.

Don't hoo, hoo, hoo me. There's a fine line between hoo, hoo, hoo and hiel, hiel, hiel.

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

An Oxe is taken by the horns, and a Man by the tongue.

LANGUAGE, n. The music with which we charm the serpents guarding another's treasure.

Being a language, mathematics may be used not only to inform but also, among other things, to seduce.

Insight into character comes from listening intently to the spoken word. The physical person, their charisma, charm and dramatic flair is more often used to persuade audiences, as they use these stealth tools of disguise and deception.

I passionately believe that's it's not just what you say that counts, it's also how you say it - that the success of your argument critically depends on your manner of presenting it.

A half truth, like half a brick, is always more forcible as an argument than a whole one. It carries better.

Rhetoric, which is the use of language to inform or persuade, is very important in shaping public opinion. We are very easily fooled by language and how it is used by others.

Tone has the living soul.

The quality of what is said inevitably influences the way in which it is said, however inexperienced the writer.

A man may lack everything but tact and conviction and still be a forcible speaker; but without these nothing will avail... Fluency, grace, logical order, and the like, are merely the decorative surface of oratory.

Words can be very powerful. I find them very difficult.

Truthful words are not beautiful; beautiful words are not truthful. Good words are not persuasive; persuasive words are not good.

If you can't convince them, confuse them.

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

Eloquence, n. The art of orally persuading fools that white is the color that it appears to be. It includes the gift of making any color appear white.

Speech is a very important aspect of being human. A whisper doesn't cut it.

Words are potent weapons for all causes, good or bad.