Quotations

«Talking and eloquence are not the same: to speak and to speak well are two things. A fool may talk, but a wise man speaks.»

«Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech.»

«Yes, I heard my people singing!--in the glow of parlor coal-stove and on summer porches sweet with lilac air, from choir loft and Sunday morning pews--and my soul was filled with their harmonies. Then, too, I heard these songs in the very sermons of my father, for in the Negro's speech there is much of the phrasing and rhythms of folk-song. The great, soaring gospels we love are merely sermons that are sung; and as we thrill to such gifted gospel singers as Mahalia Jackson, we hear the rhythmic eloquence of our preachers, so many of whom, like my father, are masters of poetic speech.»

«Take eloquence and wring its neck.»

«There is an eloquence in true enthusiasm»

«True eloquence consists in saying all that is necessary, and nothing but what is necessary.»

«There is no more sovereign eloquence than the truth in indignation.»

«Silence is one great art of conversation. He is not a fool who knows when to hold his tongue; and a person may gain credit for sense, eloquence, wit, who merely says nothing to lessen the opinion which others have of these qualities in themselves.»