I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
Not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.
—George Augustus Henry Sala (1828–95) British Journalist, Writer, Artist
Our companions please us less from the charms we find in their conversation, than from those they find in ours.
—George Greville, 2nd Earl of Warwick (1746–1816) British Nobleman, Politician
Speech is human nature itself, with none of the artificiality of written language.
—Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) English Mathematician, Philosopher
The eloquent man is he who is no beautiful speaker, but who is inwardly and desperately drunk with a certain belief.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Speak well of every one if you speak of them at all—none of us are so very good.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
How ironical that it is by means of speech that man can degrade himself below the level of dumb creation—for a chatterbox is truly of a lower category than a dumb creature.
—Soren Kierkegaard (1813–55) Danish Philosopher, Theologian
Talk ought always to run obliquely, not nose to nose with no chance of mental escape.
—Frank Moore Colby (1865–1925) American Encyclopedia Editor, Essayist
In conversation the game is, to say something new with old words. And you shall observe a man of the people picking his way along, step by step, using every time an old boulder, yet never setting his foot on an old place.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
I don’t like to talk much with people who always agree with me. It is amusing to coquette with an echo for a little while, but one soon tires of it.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
Good talk is like good scenery—continuous, yet constantly varying, and full of the charm of novelty and surprise.
—Randolph Bourne (1886–1918) American Journalist, Social Critic
To talk without thinking is to shoot without aiming.
—English Proverb
The reason why so few people are agreeable in conversation, is, that each is thinking more of what he is intending to say, than of what others are saying; and we never listen when we are planning to speak.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
It is good to rub and polish our brain against that of others.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
He speaketh not; and yet there lies
A conversation in his eyes.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
It is the still, small voice that the soul heeds, not the deafening blasts of doom.
—William Dean Howells (1837–1920) American Novelist, Critic
A single conversation across the table with a wise man is worth a month’s study of books.
—Chinese Proverb
Conversation is an art in which a man has all mankind for competitors.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
All speech, written or spoken, is a dead language, until it finds a willing and prepared hearer.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
Everything becomes a little different as soon as it is spoken out loud.
—Hermann Hesse (1877–1962) German-born Swiss Novelist, Poet
I don’t mind how much my ministers talk—as long as they do what I say.
—Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British Head of State
There is no such thing as conversation. It is an illusion. There are intersecting monologues, that is all.
—Rebecca West (1892–1983) English Author, Journalist, Literary Critic
I’ve decided to discontinue my long talks. It’s because of my throat. Someone threatened to cut it.
—Unknown
Language is legislation, speech is its code. We do not see the power which is in speech because we forget that all speech is a classification, and that all classifications are oppressive.
—Roland Barthes (1915–80) French Writer, Critic, Teacher
We have as many planes of speech as does a painting planes of perspective which create perspective in a phrase. The most important word stands out most vividly defined in the very foreground of the sound plane. Less important words create a series of deeper planes.
—Konstantin Stanislavski (1863–1938) Russian Actor, Theater Personality
The stroke of the whip maketh marks in the flesh: but the stroke of the tongue breaketh the bones. Many have fallen by the edge of the sword: but not so many as have fallen by the tongue.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
A talk is like a woman’s dress. Long enough to cover the subject, but short enough to be interesting.
—Unknown
You have such strong words at command, that they make the smallest argument seem formidable.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
The techniques of opening conversation are universal. I knew long ago and rediscovered that the best way to attract attention, help, and conversation is to be lost. A man who seeing his mother starving to death on a path kicks her in the stomach to clear the way, will cheerfully devote several hours of his time giving wrong directions to a total stranger who claims to be lost.
—John Steinbeck (1902–68) American Novelist, Short Story Writer, Journalist
The most important things to say are those which often I did not think necessary for me to say — because they were too obvious.
—Andre Gide (1869–1951) French Novelist
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