Besides, as is usually the case, we are much more affected by the
words which we hear, for though what you read in books may be
more pointed, yet there is something in the voice, the look, the
carriage, and even the gesture of the speaker, that makes a
deeper impression upon the mind.
[Lat., Praeterea multo magis, ut vulgo dicitur viva vox afficit:
nam licet acriora sint, quae legas, ultius tamen in ammo sedent,
quae pronuntiatio, vultus, habitus, gestus dicentis adfigit.]
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When Demosthenes was asked what was the first part of Oratory, he
answered, "Action," and which was the second, read more
When Demosthenes was asked what was the first part of Oratory, he
answered, "Action," and which was the second, he replied,
"action," and which was the third, he still answered "Action."
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.
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.]
He mouths a sentence as curs mouth a bone.
He mouths a sentence as curs mouth a bone.
It makes a great difference whether Davus or a hero speaks.
[Lat., Intererit multum Davusne loquatur an heros.]
It makes a great difference whether Davus or a hero speaks.
[Lat., Intererit multum Davusne loquatur an heros.]
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.
Thence to the famous orators repair,
Those ancient, whose resistless eloquence
Wielded at will that fierce democratie,
read more
Thence to the famous orators repair,
Those ancient, whose resistless eloquence
Wielded at will that fierce democratie,
Shook the Arsenal, and fulmined over Greece,
To Macedon, and Artaxerxes' throne.
Fire in each eye, and papers in each hand,
They rave, recite, and madden round the land.
Fire in each eye, and papers in each hand,
They rave, recite, and madden round the land.
Its Constitution--the glittering and sounding generalities of
natural right which make up the Declaration of Independence.
Its Constitution--the glittering and sounding generalities of
natural right which make up the Declaration of Independence.
