Henry David Thoreau Speech Quotations

The most attractive sentences are, perhaps, not the wisest, but the surest and roundest. They are spoken firmly and conclusively,as if the speaker had a right to know what he says, and if not wise, they have at least been well learned.

The orator puts off his individuality, and is then most eloquent when most silent. He listens while he speaks, and is a hearer along with his audience.

Truth is his inspirer, and earnestness the polisher of his sentences. He could afford to lose his Sharp's rifles, while he retained his faculty of speech,--a Sharp's rifle of infinitely surer and longer range.

It is not in vain that man speaks to man. This is the value of literature.

Who that has heard a strain of music feared then lest he should speak extravagantly any more forever?

Poetry is nothing but healthy speech.

It is the man determines what is said, not the words.

Speech is for the convenience of those who are hard of hearing; but there are many fine things which we cannot say if we have to shout.

The most difficult thing to understand during conversation is silence.