Whatever we conceive well we express clearly, and words flow with
ease.
[Fr., Ce que l'on concoit bien read more

Whatever we conceive well we express clearly, and words flow with
ease.
[Fr., Ce que l'on concoit bien s'enonce clairement,
Et les mots pour le dire arrivent aisement.]

The Orator persuades and carries all with him, he knows not how;
the Rhetorician can prove that he ought read more

The Orator persuades and carries all with him, he knows not how;
the Rhetorician can prove that he ought to have persuaded and
carried all with him.

I asked of my dear friend Orator Prig:
"What's the first part of oratory?" He said, "A great wig."
read more

I asked of my dear friend Orator Prig:
"What's the first part of oratory?" He said, "A great wig."
"And what is the second?" Then, dancing a jig
And bowing profoundly, he said, "A great wig."
"And what is the third?" Then he snored like a pig,
And puffing his cheeks out, he replied, "A great wig."

There is no true orator who is not a hero.

There is no true orator who is not a hero.

For rhetoric, he could not ope
His mouth, but out there flew a trope.

For rhetoric, he could not ope
His mouth, but out there flew a trope.

You'd scarce expect one of my age
To speak in public on the stage;
And if I read more

You'd scarce expect one of my age
To speak in public on the stage;
And if I chance to fall below
Demosthenes or Cicero,
Don't view me with a critic's eye,
But pass my imperfections by.
Large streams from little fountains flow,
Tall oaks from little acorns grow.

It is a thing of no great difficulty to raise objections against
another man's oration,--nay, it is a very read more

It is a thing of no great difficulty to raise objections against
another man's oration,--nay, it is a very easy matter; but to
produce a better in its place is a work extremely troublesome.

The passions are the only orators that always persuade: they
are, as it were, a natural art, the rules read more

The passions are the only orators that always persuade: they
are, as it were, a natural art, the rules of which are
infallible; and the simplest man with passion is more persuasive
than the most eloquent without it.

Solon wished everybody to be ready to take everybody else's part;
but surely Chilo was wiser in holding that read more

Solon wished everybody to be ready to take everybody else's part;
but surely Chilo was wiser in holding that public affairs go best
when the laws have much attention and the orators none.