Faith cometh by hearing.

—St. Paul, Romans X:17

It is not enough to speak, but to speak true.

—Shakespeare

Mend your speech a little
Lest it may mar your fortunes.

—Shakespeare

The power of utterance should be included by all in their plans of self-culture.

—William Ellery Channing

He is an orator that can make me think as he thinks and feel as he feels.

—Daniel Webster

A vessel is known by its sound whether it be cracked or not; so men are proved by their speeches, whether they be wise or foolish.

—Demosthenes

I advocate in its full intent and for every reason of humanity, of patriotism, of religion, a more thorough culture of oratory.

—Henry Ward Beecher

Eloquence has a client which, before all, it must save or make triumph. It matters little whether this client be a man, a people, or an idea.

—Victor Cousin

It is to this early speaking practice in the great art of all arts, oratory, that I am indebted for the primary and leading impulses that stimulated me forward.

—Henry Clay

Ninety-nine men in every hundred in the crowded professions will probably never rise above mediocrity because the training of the voice is entirely neglected and considered of no importance.

—William E. Gladstone

He who does not use a gift, loses it; the man who does not use his voice or limbs, loses power over them, and becomes disqualified for the state of life to which he is called.

—Cardinal Newman

I recognize but one mental acquisition as an essential part of the education of a lady or gentleman, namely, an accurate and refined use of the mother-tongue.

—Charles W. Eliot

Extemporaneous speaking should be practiced and cultivated. It is the lawyer’s avenue to the public. However able and faithful he may be in other respects, people are slow to bring him business if he cannot make a speech.

—Abraham Lincoln

The cultivated voice is like an orchestra. It ranges high, intermediate or low, unconsciously to him who uses it, and men listen, unaware that they have been bewitched out of their weariness by the charms of a voice not artificial, but made by assiduous training to be his second nature.

—Henry Ward Beecher

Men forget what they read; some do not read at all. They do not, however, forget when they are told by a vigorous speaker who means what he says.

—John Oliver Hobbes (Mrs. Craigie)

For who can suppose amid the great multitude of students, the utmost abundance of masters, the most eminent geniuses among men, the infinite variety of causes, the most ample rewards offered to eloquence, there is any other reason to be found for the small number of orators than the incredible magnitude and difficulty of the art?

—Cicero

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