Talking Quotes

Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it.

Men are born with two eyes, but only one tongue, in order that they should see twice as much as they say.

As we must account for every idle word, so must we account for every idle silence.

Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.

Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

Words may show a man's wit but actions his meaning.

It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

Be a good listener. Your ears will never get you in trouble.

Blessed is the man, who having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact.

I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.

I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.

Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech.

People are generally amazed that I would take an interest in any form that would require me to stop talking for three hours.

A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.

Eloquence may set fire to reason.

Speak clearly, if you speak at all; carve every word before you let it fall.

When you have nothing to say, say nothing.

Never interrupt me when I'm trying to interrupt you.

He who does not understand your silence will probably not understand your words.

No one gossips about other people's secret virtues.

Anyone who invokes authors in discussion is not using his intelligence but his memory.

It is the province of knowledge to speak and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen.

A man only curses because he doesn't know the words to express what is on his mind.

What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.

A yawn is a silent shout.

Never express yourself more clearly than you are able to think.

I've been accused of vulgarity. I say that's bullshit.

When ideas fail, words come in very handy.

If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull.

It is perfectly monstrous the way people go about, nowadays, saying things against one behind one's back that are absolutely and entirely true.

None are so fond of secrets as those who do not mean to keep them.

If A is a success in life, than A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut.

Occasionally words must serve to veil the facts. But this must happen in such a way that no one becomes aware of it; or, if it should be noticed, excuses must be at hand, to be produced immediately.

Ridicule is generally made use of to laugh men out of virtue and good sense, by attacking everything praiseworthy in human life.

Even if you do learn to speak correct English, whom are you going to speak it to?

A stupid man's report of what a clever man says is never accurate because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand.

A speech is a solemn responsibility. The man who makes a bad thirty-minute speech to two hundred people wastes only a half hour of his own time. But he wastes one hundred hours of the audience's time - more than four days - which should be a hanging offense.

Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.

You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.

Constantly talking isn't necessarily communicating.

If you don't say anything, you won't be called on to repeat it.

I have never been hurt by what I have not said.

It takes a great man to be a good listener.

No man ever listened himself out of a job.

Don't knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn't start a conversation if it didn't change once in a while.

Those who are preoccupied with 'making a statement' usually don't have any statements worth making.

Silence is golden when you can't think of a good answer.

Every improvement in communication makes the bore more terrible.

A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on.

Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.

If you can speak three languages you're trilingual. If you can speak two languages you're bilingual. If you can speak only one language you're an American.

What this country needs is more free speech worth listening to.

We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.

A word is dead when it is said, some say. I say it just begins to live that day.

I think 'no comment' is a splendid expression. I am using it again and again.

People have to talk about something just to keep their good voice boxes in working order, so they'll have good voice boxes in case there's ever anything really meaningful to say.

'Twas but my tongue, 'twas not my soul that swore.

The best of life is conversation, and the greatest success is confidence, or perfect understanding between two people.

Like many intellectuals, he was incapable of saying a simple thing in a simple way.

Reading makes a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

Some people use language to express thought, some to conceal thought, and others instead of thought.

One ought, each day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture and, if possible, speak a few reasonable words.

Slang is the language which takes off its coat, spits on its hands - and goes to work.

Lots of people act well, but few people talk well. This shows that talking is the more difficult of the two.

Speech is conveniently located midway between thought and action, where it often substitutes for both.