Speaking Quotes

If there is any person to whom you feel a dislike, that is the person of whom you ought never to speak.

Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.

The reason why we have two ears and only one mouth is that we may listen the more and talk the less.

I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.

Thought is the seed of action; but action is as much its second form as thought is its first. It rises in thought, to the end that it may be uttered and acted. Always in proportion to the depth of its sense does it knock importunately at the gates of the soul, to be spoken, to be done.

Not to act is to act. Not to speak is to speak.

I went to a Presbyterian college, you know, I was in... all the way, and so I remember doing my first sermon when I was 17, I was in high school. It wasn't a full twenty-five minute sermon, but for like ten minutes I got up and they let me do that, and it was on faith.

We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.

A wise man first thinks and then speaks and a fool speaks first and then thinks.

To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves. Nothing is often a good thing to say, and always a clever thing to say.

We have two ears and one tongue so that we would listen more and talk less.

He who knows, does not speak. He who speaks, does not know.

He that speaks much, is much mistaken.

To speak and to speak well, are two things. A fool may talk, but a wise man speaks.

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.

I will begin to speak when I have that to say which had not better be unsaid.

I speak the truth not so much as I would, but as much as I dare, and I dare a little more as I grow older.

The intimacy that arises in listening and speaking truth is only possible if we can open to the vulnerability of our own hearts. Breathing in, contacting the life that is right here, is our first step. Once we have held ourselves with kindness, we can touch others in a vital and healing way.

He knows not when to be silent who knows not when to speak.

Speaking truth to power is actually a form of loyalty.

I have always been among those who believed that the greatest freedom of speech was the greatest safety, because if a man is a fool, the best thing to do is to encourage him to advertise the fact by speaking. It cannot be so easily discovered if you allow him to remain silent and look wise, but if you let him speak, the secret is out and the world knows that he is a fool. So it is by the exposure of folly that it is defeated; not by the seclusion of folly, and in this free air of free speech men get into that sort of communication with one another which constitutes the basis of all common achievement.

God speaks in the silence of the heart, and we listen. And then we speak to God from the fullness of our heart, and God listens. And this listening and this speaking is what prayer is meant to be.

Once you can express yourself, you can tell the world what you want from it. All the changes in the world, for good or evil, were first brought about by words.

Listen more than you speak.

The way to be a bore is to say everything.