Laconic Speech Quotes

Oh! how heartily did she grieve over every ungracious sensation she had ever encouraged, every saucy speech she had ever directed towards him. For herself she was humbled; but she was proud of him. ~ Jane Austen

I had learned that some people feel that books are "intrusive," in the sense that books put things in their heads that they don't want there. Some people call these things "ideas." Maybe they're right. Sometimes these ideas sprout into what are known as "thoughts," and you know my feelings about school, government, and big businesses
thoughts are the last things they want rattling around inside people's heads because thoughts inevitably lead to consumer protection, free speech and hippies. ~ Gary Reilly

You get to say that the Earth is flat because we live in a country that guarantees your free speech. But it's not a country that guarantees that anything you say is correct. ~ Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Just as he was slowly bringing order to his own internal life, he would also bring order to his language. ~ David Brooks

I had a right to my own political opinions. I am a Southern woman, born with Revolutionary blood in my veins. Freedom of speech and of thought were my birthright, guaranteed, signed and sealed by the blood of our fathers. ~ Rose O'Neal Greenhow

Forgive me if what has seemed little to you, to me is all. ~ Jose Saramago

I think that, as Americans, we should never forget that when we tamper with freedom of speech, it is a very sensitive issue that affects all of our constitutional rights and privileges. ~ Charles B. Rangel

Today's public figures can no longer write their own speeches or books, and there is some evidence that they can't read them either. ~ Gore Vidal

Silence accompanies the most significant expressions of happiness and unhappiness: those in love understand one another best when silent, while the most heated and impassioned speech at a graveside touches only outsiders, but seems cold and inconsequential to the widow and children of the deceased. ~ Anton Chekhov

Playing Super Mario Bros. 2 again, in the two-bedroom apartment I share with my wife, is to re-learn the productivity of cussing. Playing any game, for that matter, bends my larynx into the saltiest shapes imaginable. With time comes an understanding that the game on your screen is nothing compared to life's true challenges. Still, with each fall down a pit or graze of a fireball-spitting plant, my mild-mannered speech pattern gives way to filth. Super Mario Bros. 2 is not even known as a difficult game. But to a player of limited and rusty skills, i.e., your author, it pushes back. ~ Jon Irwin

He who knows, does not speak. He who speaks, does not know. ~ Lao-Tzu

Surprise is when a prime minister is assassinated during his speech. Suspense is when an assassin lurks while the prime minister speaks. Balancing surprise and suspense is the job of the thriller writer. ~ Ashwin Sanghi

Freedom of speech is detestable only to those who have no desire to think for themselves. ~ Criss Jami

..the poem is made of sequences in which images, figures of speech and rhythm are undivided. One needs to enter this 'undivision'", and what it does, the proposition it issues, in both senses of the word, logical and erotic: "Let us call a sentence a proposition. A poem makes propositions ~ Michel Deguy

The expression of a man's face is commonly a help to his thoughts, or glossary on his speech; but the countenance of Newman Noggs, in his ordinary moods, was a problem which no stretch of ingenuity could solve. ~ Charles Dickens

Today it is becoming harder to speak out, with the inception of the Patriot Act, the president has legislated free speech to be a crime. ~ Frank Serpico

There is something very cheerful and courageous in the setting-out of a child on a journey of speech with so small baggage and with so much confidence ... ~ Alice Meynell

We have seen dog-tired Members of Congress marching lockstep ahead with their eyes fixed only on the end of the 100 Days of the 1995 Republican 'Contract with America' reform efforts. Many of the changes wrought by the House were passed without the benefit of a single hearing, or at best with a minimal legislative record. Is this what Jefferson and Madison had in mind? ~ John Gibbons

Building a business is a creative act. Few of us realize when we start out that we are creating not only a company but a culture. That's because it's usually not planned. It just happens. While everyone is focused on something else, making sales, providing service, sending out invoices, a little community springs up. It has its own unspoken customs, traditions, modes of dress and speech, and rules of behavior. By the time you become aware of it, the culture is often well established and it will probably be a reflection of your personality. ~ Jack Daly

Wo Hunger herrscht, ist auf die Dauer kein Friede."

("Where there is hunger, there cannot be lasting peace.)

Speech before the United Nations General Assembly, September 26, 1973 ~ Willy Brandt

Our spirit is back, but we haven't reinstitutional ized it. We've got to do a better job of getting across that America is freedom
freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise. And freedom is special and rare. It's fragile; it needs protection. ~ Ronald Reagan

Then, since all great poets are strange in their speech and actions, he must have achieved great fame, for his actions and conversations were the strangest of any man I ever knew. ~ Robert E. Howard

Speak simple, speak plain, speak clear, otherwise you may not be understood! The objective of a speech is to be understood! Let your message be obvious, as obvious as the message of the wind for the sailboat! ~ Mehmet Murat Ildan

In a society so estranged from animals as ours, we often fail to credit them with any form of language. If we do, it comes under the heading of communication rather than speech. And yet, the great silence we have imposed on the rest of life contains innumerable forms of expression. Where does our own language come from but this unfathomed store that characterizes innumerable species?
We are now more than halfway removed from what the unwritten word meant to our ancestors, who believed in the original, primal word behind all manifestations of the spirit. You sang because you were answered. The answers come from life around you. Prayers, chants, and songs were also responses to the elements, to the wind, the sun and stars, the Great Mystery behind them. Life on earth springs from a collateral magic that we rarely consult. We avoid the unknown as if we were afraid that contact would lower our sense of self-esteem. ~ John Hay

The wise man does not expose himself needlessly to danger, since there are few things for which he cares sufficiently; but he is willing, in great crises, to give even his life--knowing that under certain conditions it is not worth while to live. He is of a disposition to do men service, though he is ashamed to have a service done to him. To confer a kindness is a mark of superiority; to receive one is a mark of subordination... He does not take part in public displays... He is open in his dislikes and preferences; he talks and acts frankly, because of his contempt for men and things... He is never fired with admiration, since there is nothing great in his eyes. He cannot live in complaisance with others, except it be a friend; complaisance is the characteristic of a slave... He never feels malice, and always forgets and passes over injuries... He is not fond of talking... It is no concern of his that he should be praised, or that others should be blamed. He does not speak evil of others, even of his enemies, unless it be to themselves. His carriage is sedate, his voice deep, his speech measured; he is not given to hurry, for he is concerned about only a few things; he is not prone to vehemence, for he thinks nothing very important. A shrill voice and hasty steps come to a man through care... He bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of his circumstances, like a skillful general who marshals his limited forces with the strategy of war... He is his ~ Aristotle

The only truth is that we cannot speak the truth . The only acceptable viewpoint is that we cannot express a viewpoint. ~ Murong Xuecun

Each of us can be a Bodhisattva of compassion. We can radiate calm during difficult situations. And we can offer healing words in times of distress. In this way, each time we speak with empathy, Kannon speaks through us. ~ Alex Kakuyo

Abstaining from speech marks him who is obeying the spontaneity of his nature. ~ Lao-Tzu

Mentioning Jesus in your speech: Small government. Doing what Jesus asked: Big government. ~ Stephen Colbert

Infinite speakers do not give voice to another, but receive it from another. Infinite speakers do not therefore appeal to a world as audience, do not speak before a world, but present themselves as an audience by way of talking with others. Finite speech informs another about the world-for the sake of being heard. Infinite speech forms a world about the other-for the sake of listening. ~ James P. Carse

To be apt in quotation is a splendid and dangerous gift. Splendid, because it ornaments a man's speech with other men's jewels; dangerous, for the same reason. ~ Robertson Davies

But the talk of dialogue involves the work of knowing, acknowledging the other, of shaping speech toward him, for her. It is neither done or done well until it has been well received by that particular hearer. ~ Walter Wangerin Jr.

I don't like jokes in speeches. I do like wit and humor. A joke is to humor what pornography is to erotic language in a good novel. ~ James C. Humes

From her character in the HBO miniseries: The art of politics is the art of applying the seat of the britches to the seat of the chair. ~ Abigail Adams

I've been thinking about something for a long time, and I keep noticing that most human speech-if not all human speech-is made with the outgoing breath. This is the strange thing about presence and absence. When we breath in, our bodies are filled with nutrients and nourishment. Our blood is filled with oxygen, our skin gets flush; our bones get harder-they get compacted. Our muscles get toned and we feel very present when we're breathing in. The problem is, that when we're breathing in, we can't speak. So presence and silence have something to do with each other. ~ Li-Young Lee

People are falling all over themselves to send you free shoes and free cufflinks and colonic irrigations for two. Nobody ever offers you a free acceptance speech. There just seems to be a gap in the market. I would love to be able to pull out a speech by Dolce & Gabbana. ~ Hugh Laurie

When you are filled with inner clutter, the chaos reflects in your personality as obsessiveness, confusion, disorganisation, broken speech patterns, insomnia, indecisiveness, and lack of direction. When your home and world are in disrray, you can't relax. It takes more energy to be in chaos because you have to keep track of all the junk. Eventually exhaustion sets in. When you honestly look at clutter and ask if it's necessary in your life, buried emotions come to the surface.... Toss what's unnecessary so that you can finally relax, and your remaining possessions will have a clear place to land. ~ Brooks Palmer

You get paid for the seven and a half hours a day you put in here," Kelly often told new Bell Labs employees in his speech to them on their first day, "but you get your raises and promotions on what you do in the other sixteen and a half hours. ~ Jon Gertner

THIS IS THE ACCOUNT of when all is still silent and placid. All is silent and calm. Hushed and empty is the womb of the sky. THESE, then, are the first words, the first speech. There is not yet one person, one animal, bird, fish, crab, tree, rock, hollow, canyon, meadow, or forest. All alone the sky exists. The face of the earth has not yet appeared. ~ Allen J. Christenson

A nap is not to be confused with sleeping. We sleep to recharge our bodies. We nap to care for our souls. When we nap, we are resting our eyes while our imaginations soar. Getting ready for the next round. Sorting, sifting, separating the profound from the profane, the possible from the improbable. Rehearsing our acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize, our surprise on receiving the MacArthur genius award. This requires a prone position. If we're lucky, we might drift off, but we won't drift far. Just far enough to ransom our creativity from chaos. ~ Sarah Ban Breathnach

Lebanese freedom of speech : You get to say whatever you like as long as the authorities approve of it ... Hilarious. ~ Ziad K. Abdelnour

As far as I can tell, it's just about letting the universe know what you want and then working toward it while letting go of how it comes to pass. ~ Jim Carrey

I've never given a speech without being terrified first. ~ Susan Cain

Speech is but the incorporation of thought. ~ Joseph Joubert

ORATORY, n. A conspiracy between speech and action to cheat the understanding. A tyranny tempered by stenography. ~ Ambrose Bierce

You can't believe how pro-gay and pro-freedom-of-speech I am. I'm way out beyond anyone on the Left. ~ Penn Jillette

As we saw in the Queen's Speech, anti-social behaviour - a phenomenon that I believe to be a genuine worry that is also being fed by a lot of scare stories - is the political theme of the moment. ~ Kamal Ahmed

These were in the days before anybody thought to criticize Congressmen, let alone first ladies, for making money on speeches. So Eleanor raked in quite a bit of cash that she may have put, for all I know, to good uses, or maybe not. I just don't know. But I don't think she was any great literary breakthrough. ~ William A. Rusher