Arnold J. Toynbee Quotes

Long speeches work if they’re filled with substance.

The best way to study about speech writing is to read great speeches.

When a man is asked to make a speech, the first thing he has to decide is what to say.

No man not inspired can make a good speech without preparation.

Political speeches are a particularly low form of rhetoric.

Modern political speechwriting is certainly a skill, and one that requires experience and practice to master.

Using rhetorical questions in speeches is a great way to keep the audience involved. Don't you think those kinds of questions would keep your attention?

Speeches are not magic and there is no great speech without great policy.

Trust me, I have never written a speech in my life, and if I have my way, I never will.

Then there was a maiden speech, so inaudible that it was doubted whether, after all, the young orator really did lose his virginity.

Part of politics is redundancy. You’ve got to say the same thing over and over even if you get tired of it…not everyone has heard it.

Part of politics is redundancy. You just have to repeat things sometimes because not everyone has heard your message.

Kennedy had a much better speech writer than I do.

Go ahead, Teleprompter, Go ahead!

An orator is a man who says what he thinks and feels what he says.

In order to make a good speech you must have something to say and you have to believe it.

Sen. McCain isn't someone who strikes you as a particularly dynamic speaker. He doesn't seem to like the formality of giving speeches. He clearly isn't too comfortable reading off a TelePrompter.

Always, with speeches, I feel like it's an opportunity to say something.

The speeches to be wary of are those that begin with I'm just going to say a few words.

Thence to the famous orators repair, Those ancient, whose resistless eloquence Wielded at will that fierce democratie, Shook the arsenal, and fulmin'd over Greece, To Macedon, and Artaxerxes' throne.

Cicero most reminds me of Harold Wilson. Both men knew how to keep the show on the road.

Making clever speeches takes a lot of work and a lot of time.

There are always three speeches, for every one you actually gave. The one you practiced, the one you gave, and the one you wish you gave.

Brevity is the best recommendation of speech, whether in a senator or an orator.

When you make speeches you elicit expectations against which you will be held accountable.