As debate is rare in the House of Representatives, since nearly all real business is done in the committees, it is very natural th...at such debate as there is should be very oratorical, should be "sounding off," not discussion. And this is one of the reasons why public speaking in America is still so rhetorical, why audiences for example do not often "heckle" a speaker, bombard him with questions, or embarrass him with ironical applause or laughter. It is almost as rare to interrupt a political speech as it is to interrupt a sermon. In the Senate, things are different. Any senator who can get the floor can talk as long as his wind lasts. He cannot be out of order unless he takes the most extravagant liberties. So Senate debates are often lively, often educational. They are very different from the formal pieces declaimed in the other house, or even printed and sent to the voters without being spoken at all. A senator has to persuade his colleagues, even those of his own party, or he has to intimidate them, and so the Senate has a high representation of public speakers who can discuss as well as declaim.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Anyone who has invented a better mousetrap, or the contemporary equivalent, can expect to be harassed by strangers demanding that ...you read their unpublished manuscripts or undergo the humiliation of public speaking, usually on remote Midwestern campuses.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
It is the vice of our public speaking that it has not abandonment. Somewhere, not only every orator but every man should let out a...ll the length of all the reins; should find or make a frank and hearty expression of what force and meaning is in him.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Why any quick-witted and sensitive person should feel ashamed of having said good-by to politics, he couldn't imagine. The sordid ...intrigues behind the scenes! The conscious or unconscious hypocrisy of every form of effective public speaking! The asinine stupidity of that interminable repetition of the same absurd over-simplifications, the same illogical arguments and vulgar personalities, the same bad history and baseless prophecy! And that was supposed to be a man's highest duty. And if he chose instead the life of a civilized human being, he ought to be ashamed of himself.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Public speaking is done in the public tongue, the national or tribal language; and the language of our tribe is the men's language.... Of course women learn it. We're not dumb. If you can tell Margaret Thatcher from Ronald Reagan, or Indira Gandhi from General Somoza, by anything they say, tell me how. This is a man's world, so it talks a man's language.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
For most women, the language of conversation is primarily a language of rapport: a way of establishing connections and negotiating... relationships. Emphasis is placed on displaying similarities and matching experiences. From childhood, girls criticize peers who try to stand out or appear better than others. People feel their closest connections at home, or in settings where they feel close to and comfortable with--in other words, during private speaking. But even the most public situations can be approached like private speaking. For most men, talk is primarily a means to preserve independence and negotiate and maintain status in a hierarchical social order. This is done by exhibiting knowledge and skill, and by holding center stage through verbal performance such as storytelling, joking, or imparting information. From childhood, men learn to use talking as a way to get and keep attention. So they are more comfortable speaking in larger groups made up of people they know less well--in the broadest sense, "public speaking." But even the most private situations can be approached like public speaking, more like giving a report than establishing rapport.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The greatest and truest models for all orators ... is Demosthenes. One who has not studied deeply and constantly all the great spe...eches of the great Athenian, is not prepared to speak in public. Only as the constant companion of Demosthenes, Burke, Fox, Canning and Webster, can we hope to become orators.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mouse-trap, than his neighbor, though he build his hous...e in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Extemporaneous speaking should be practised and cultivated. It is the lawyer's avenue to the public.... And yet there is not a mor...e fatal error to young lawyers than relying too much on speechmaking. If any one, upon his rare powers of speaking, shall claim an exemption from the drudgery of the law, his case is a failure in advance.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »