Top 25 Public Speaking Quotes of 47

Say not always what you know, but always know what you say.

Say not always what you know, but always know what you say.

Claudius

Motivational, Self Improvement, Public Speaking

Publicity, publicity, PUBLICITY is the greatest moral factor and force in our public life.

Joseph Pulitzer

Publicity, Moral, Public Speaking

I have never seen an ass who talked like a human being, but I have met many human beings who talked like asses.

Heinrich Heine

Literature, Ass, Public Speaking

Only the prepared speaker deserves to be confident.

Dale Carnegie

Public Speaking, Be Confident, Prepared

Dale Carnegie, Dorothy Carnegie (1977). “The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking”, p.35, Simon and Schuster

My method is to take the utmost trouble to find the right thing to say, and then to say it with the utmost levity.

George Bernard Shaw

Wise, Trouble, Public Speaking

"Answers to Nine Questions". Interview with Clarence Rook, 1895.

Tell the audience what you're going to say, say it; then tell them what you've said.

Dale Carnegie

Public Speaking, Said, Audience

Dale Carnegie (2017). “How to enjoy your life and your job”, p.117, Diamond Pocket Books Pvt Ltd

I had used eclectic therapy and behavior therapy on myself at the age of 19 to get over my fear of public speaking and of approaching young women in public.

Albert Ellis

Age, Eclectic Style, Public Speaking

More men feel comfortable doing "public speaking," while more women feel comfortable doing "private" speaking.

Deborah Tannen

Men, Public Speaking, Feels

What orators lack in depth they make up for in length.

Baron de Montesquieu

Philosophical, Depth, Public Speaking

"Why doesn't the fellow who says, "I'm no speechmaker," let it go at that instead of giving a demonstration? "

Kin Hubbard

Giving, Let It Go, Public Speaking

To be a person is to have a story to tell.

Isak Dinesen

Stories, Public Speaking, Storytelling

If you don't know what you want to achieve in your presentation your audience never will.

Harvey Diamond

Want, Public Speaking, Achieve

An effective speaker knows that the success or failure of his talk is not for him to decide - it will be decided in the minds and hearts of his hearers.

Dale Carnegie

Heart, Mind, Public Speaking

Dale Carnegie, Dorothy Carnegie (1977). “The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking”, p.55, Simon and Schuster

My activism has to do with my conscience; I cannot let certain things slide without doing something. My public speaking is part of an art form that is cultural.

Lee Maracle

Art, Slides, Public Speaking

Interview with Brecken Hancock, cwila.com.

A talk is a voyage. It must be charted. The speaker who starts nowhere, usually gets there.

Dale Carnegie

Voyages, Public Speaking, Speakers

Dale Carnegie (1983). “Ht Develop Slf Con”, p.54, IICA Biblioteca Venezuela

Public Speaking is a skill that can be studied, polished, perfected. Not only can you get good at it, you can get damn good at it and it makes a heck of a difference.

Tom Peters

Differences, Skills, Public Speaking

Say what you have to say, and then stop.

Rudolf Flesch

Public Speaking, Fear Of Public Speaking, Speaking In Public

Rudolf Flesch (1949). “The Art of Readable Writing”

If your own mind is muddled, much more will the minds of your hearers be confused.

Dale Carnegie

Confused, Mind, Public Speaking

It is true that despite occasional gleams of Churchillian eloquence he [Gen. Douglas MacArthur] usually spoke poorly. He was far more effective in conversations a deux. But those who dismiss him as shallow because his rhetoric was fustian err.

William Manchester

Gleam, Public Speaking, Macarthur