“The essence and foundation of House of Commons debating is formal conversation. The set speech, the harangue addressed to constituents, or to the wider public out of doors, has never succeeded much in our small wisely-built chamber. To do any good you have got to get down to grips with the subject and in human touch with the audience.” HumansHouseAudienceDoorsSubjectsConversationSpeechBuiltEssenceFoundationFormalChamberConstituentsHouse Of Commons Book:Great Contemporaries Source: Great Contemporaries
“How many watched the President's speech last night? [half-hearted audience applause] How many watched American Idol ? [thundering applause] Okay, there you go! You get the government you deserve.” GovernmentLastsNightPresidentHalfAudienceSpeechDeserveOkayIdolsLast NightHeartedApplauseAmerican IdolHalf Hearted Author:Jay Leno
“Humor is the most honest of emotions. Applause for a speech can be insincere, but with humor, if the audience doesn't like it there's no faking it.” IfsEmotionAudienceHonestSpeechApplauseInsincereFaking It Author:Robert Orben
“I was grateful to see President Obama's victory speech. I was over the moon to see the audience. There were about 60 percent white voters the other 40 percent were African Americans, Asian, Spanish speaking etc. I wept at that spectacle, it told me that the pundits that continue in our country to try to polarize us, to keep us apart, are not succeeding. Americans are waking up not only to the truth, but the truth in each other. Hallelujah!” TryingCountryPresidentWhiteAudienceVictoryMoonSucceedSpeechPercentWake UpGratefulOur CountryAfrican AmericanEtcVotersWakingBlack PeoplePresident ObamaAsianHispanicPunditsAsian AmericanHallelujahPolarizing Author:Maya Angelou
“... people are growing up in the slack flicker of a pale light which lacks the concentrated burn of a candle flame or oil wick or the bulb of a gooseneck desk lamp: a pale, wavering, oblong shimmer, emitting incessant noise, which is to real knowledge or discourse what the manic or weepy protestations of a drunk are to responsible speech. Drunks do have a way of holding an audience, though, and so does the shimmery ill-focused oblong screen.” PeopleWayDoeRealLightAudienceGrowing UpGrowingSpeechResponsibleIllFocusedOilScreensNoiseDrunkFlamesCandlePaleDesksDiscourseLampsBulbsManicIncessantFlickerWaveringShimmerReal Knowledge Author:Adrienne Rich
“It is frequently said that speech that is intentionally provocative and therefore invites physical retaliation can be punished or suppressed. Yet, plainly no such general proposition can be sustained. Quite the contrary.... The provocative nature of the communication does not make it any the less expression. Indeed, the whole theory of free expression contemplates that expression will in many circumstances be provocative and arouse hostility. The audience, just as the speaker, has an obligation to maintain physical restraint.” DoeSaidWholeResponsibilityAudienceRightsExpressionTheoryCommunicationCircumstancesIntegritySpeechContraryObligationInvitesSpeakersContemplatingRestraintPropositionsHostilityProvocativeRetaliationFree Expression Author:Thomas I. Emerson
“Of the modes of persuasion furnished by the spoken word there are three kinds. The first kind depends on the personal character ofthe speaker; the second on putting the audience into a certain frame of mind; the third on the proof, provided by the words of the speech itself.” MindFirstsKindCharacterCertainThreeAudienceDependsSpeechThirdsProofSpeakersRhetoricPersuasionSpoken WordFrame Of MindPersonal Character Author:Aristotle
“There has been in our time a lack of reliance on language and a lack of experimentation which are frightening to anyone who sees them as symptoms. We know the phenomenon of stage-fright: it holds the player shivering, incapable of speech or action. Perhaps there is an audience-fright which the play can feel, which leaves him with these incapacities.” KnowsFeelsHas BeensPlayActionLanguageAudiencePlayerStageSpeechOur TimePhenomenonFrighteningIncapableSymptomsRelianceExperimentationFrightIncapacityStage Fright Author:Muriel Rukeyser
“There are often multiple sources for some famous statements by King; as a professional speaker and minister he used some significant phrases with only slight variation many times in his essays, books, and his speeches to different audiences.” BookDifferentUsedAudienceSourceKingsSpeechSignificantStatementsMinistersPhrasesSpeakersMultipleEssaysVariation Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
“We talked about trying to create an image that would somehow, to an audience, create the sense of awe, wonder and shock that the troops must have felt that their monarch - and a female monarch - went to the frontline of battle and was prepared to lay down her life. This speech is so well known and has been done in virtually every version of the events of Elizabeth's life.” TryingWellsHas BeensDoneFeltKnownWonderAudienceEventsBattleSpeechFemaleLaysPreparedVersionsAweShockTroopsWell KnownMonarchsFrontline Author:Cate Blanchett
“I think I would say 'The King's Speech' is surprisingly funny, in fact the audiences in London, Toronto, LA, New York commented there's more laughter in this film than in most comedies, while it is also a moving tear-jerker with an uplifting ending.” ThinkingFactsFilmMovingAudienceComedyNew YorkTearsKingsSpeechLaughterLondonUpliftingToronto Author:Tom Hooper