Clarity of Speech Quotes

A scientist sounds like a scientist because the things that come out of their mouth don't stumble, that's all. If they [said], "And the, um, a microwave, uh," you know, then you don't sound right, but if you can just get it out without stumbling then you're going to sound fine.

God gave you that gifted tongue of yours, and set it between your teeth, to make known your true meaning to us, not to be rattled like a muffin man's bell.

When we are understood, we always speak well, and then all your fine diction serves no purpose.

We should have an easier name to pronounce.

Whether the theater is 1,000 seats or 500 seats or 200 seats, you have to make sure the person in the back of the theater can hear you and understand you. So there's a lot of articulation and a lot of voice in theater that really just isn't necessary when it comes to dealing with the camera.

If you cannot say what you mean, your majesty, you will never mean what you say and a gentleman should always mean what he says.

[On George H.W. Bush:] A man who wishes to lead the Western world should be able to find the right words, string them together in coherent sentences, and steer them to an intelligible conclusion. His sentences have the stuttering start of an old car on a cold morning. They never run smoothly. The only speech part that he has mastered completely is the non sequitur.

We always speak well when we manage to be understood.

You must learn to talk clearly. The jargon of scientific terminology which rolls off your tongues is mental garbage.

How can you trust a man who can talk for 5 minutes and you cant understand a sentence of it!

If you can express yourself so as to be perfectly understood in ten words, never use a dozen.

He that uses his words loosely and unsteadily will either not be minded or not understood.

Speak up. You have to project! If people can't hear you, it doesn't matter what you say.

It is a difficult task to talk to the purpose, and to put life and perspicuity into our discourse.

It is sometimes hard to know what Sarah Palin means, just on a day to day basis. Sometimes it is hard to follow what she is talking about.

We have this wonderful language and we don't appreciate it. That's old-fashioned me, but when I went to school, everyone had elocution lessons, not to sound posh but so you could be understood.

I watch and listen to movies today and am shocked by the way actors deliver their lines. Everybody mumbles now and I don't understand why.

People avoid the telephone because it's easier to text. Calls can be awkward - you interrupt each other; you can't quite hear someone. But the advantage is you get to hear someone else's voice. You find out whether or not you can have a fluid conversation or if it's stilted and peculiar.