Speech Quotes — page 55

Calumnies are answered best with silence.

Such were the notes thy once lov'd poet sung, Till death untimely stopp'd his tuneful tongue.

The world's history is a divine poem, of which the history of every nation is a canto, and every man a word.

I disdain to add a single reflection; nor shall I qualify the conduct of my adversary with any of those harsh epithets, which might be interpreted as the expressions of resentment, though I should be constrained to use them as the only …

I have now attained the true art of letter-writing, which we are always told, is to express on paper exactly what one would say to the same person by word of mouth.

I am much oppressed with the idea that this transfer of human beings like chattels should go forward without any voice from collective Europe if it be disposed to speak.

For do our Theologians pretend to make a monopoly of the word, action, and may not the atheists likewise take possession of it, and affirm that plants, animals, men, &c. are nothing but particular actions of one simple universal substance, …

Perfect love casteth out fear, the Bible says; but, to speak it reverently, so does perfect hate.

Homer's poems were writ from a free fury, an absolute and full soul; Virgil's out of a courtly, laborious, and altogether imitatory spirit: not a simile he hath but is Homer's; not an invention, person, or disposition but is wholly or …

Ah! much those ancient heroes were of old As patterns of benignity extoll'd: Whom, though their bosoms did with anger boil; Rich gifts and softer words would reconcile.

His words ... like so many nimble and airy servitors trip about him at command.

There is a southern proverb—fine words butter no parsnips.

I have seldom known a man cunning with his brush who was not simple with his tongue; or, indeed, any skill in particular that was not allied to general stupidity.

Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write. Let every order and degree among the people rouse their attention and animate their resolution.

How was it that words, so often spoken and lost in the air like the empty chiming of bells, were changed into actions? The answer is easy. Action, the continuous action, ceaselessly renewed, of minorities brings about this transformation.

When my mother died I was very young, And my father sold me while yet my tongue Could scarcely cry 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!'weep! So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep.

Talk not of love: thou never knew'st its force.

In one word, this ideal is that you are divine.

I can say, if I wish, extremely mean and hateful things. I have read a great many religious papers and discussions and think that I now know all the infamous words in our language.

No man with a genius for legislation has appeared in America. They are rare in the history of the world. There are orators, politicians, and eloquent men, by the thousand; but the speaker has not yet opened his mouth to speak who is …

"The people may eat grass": hasty words, which fly abroad irrevocable—and will send back tidings.

You inherit your notions from a set of priests that had no wives and no children, or none to speak of, and so let their humanity die out of them.

Morn shall meet noon While the flower-stems yet move, Though the wind dieth soon And the clouds fade above. Loved lips are thine As I tremble and hearken;

An old speech of mine delivered fourteen years ago was read to show — I know not what. Perhaps it was to show that I am not infallible. If so, I have to say in defense, that I never pretended to be