Action is eloquence. ~William Shakespeare inCoriolanusDoes the painter imitate the body correctly if he guides his brush without any method, and if his hand is moved at random and the lines are not drawn with art? In the same way you will not put the sentiment of your mind in front of the others’ eyes unless you use appropriate and distinct words, a fitting arrangement of words and the right order of sentences. For, just as we represent bodies by colours, we represent the sentiment of our mind by speech. ~Philipp Melanchthon
Eloquence (fromLatineloquentia) is fluent, forcible, elegant or persuasivespeaking in public. It is primarily the power of expressing strongemotions in striking and appropriate language, thereby producing conviction or persuasion. The term is also used for writing in a fluent style.
Does the painter imitate the body correctly if he guides his brush without any method, and if his hand is moved at random and the lines are not drawn with art? In the same way you will not put the sentiment of your mind in front of the others’ eyes unless you use appropriate and distinct words, a fitting arrangement of words and the right order of sentences. For, just as we represent bodies by colours, we represent the sentiment of our mind by speech.
Philipp Melanchthon, “Praise of eloquence” (1523),Orations on Philosophy and Education, C. Salazar, trans. (1999), p. 63
You can see for what reason I commend the study of eloquence to you—because we can neither explain what we ourselves want, nor understand the surviving writing written by our ancestors, unless we have thoroughly studied a fixed rule for speaking. For my part, I do not see how there could be others who wish neither to explain what they think, nor to understand what is excellently said.
Philipp Melanchthon, “Praise of eloquence” (1523),Orations on Philosophy and Education, C. Salazar, trans. (1999), p. 64
The shadow does not follow the body more closely than eloquence accompanies sagacity.
Philipp Melanchthon, “Praise of eloquence” (1523),Orations on Philosophy and Education, C. Salazar, trans. (1999), p. 65
What do you believe was on the mind ancient Romans that they called the arts of speakinghumanity? They judged that, indisputably, by the study of these disciplines not only was the tongue refined, but also the wildness and barbarity of people’s minds was amended.
Philipp Melanchthon, “Praise of eloquence” (1523),Orations on Philosophy and Education, C. Salazar, trans. (1999), p. 66
A man in all the world's new fashion planted, That hath a mint of phrases in his brain.
The most eloquent voice of our century uttered, shortly before leaving the world, a warning cry against the "Anglo-Saxon contagion."
Matthew Arnold,An Essay on Criticism (1709), Second Series. Essay on Milton. First Par. ("Most eloquent voice" said to be Emerson's; claimed for Coleridge and Hugo).
Discourse may want an animated "No" To brush the surface, and to make it flow; But still remember, if you mean to please, To press your point with modesty and ease.
Denial of one's better self seals the lips or pollutes them. Fidelity to conviction opens them and truth blossoms in eloquence. ... He who aspires to master the art of expression must first of all consecrate himself completely to some great cause.
Eugene V. Debs, "The Secret of Efficient Expression" (1911)
The distrust which peasants and children display for glib persons has always preserved the notion of that injustice which made language the servant of gain.
Max Horkheimer, “The End of Reason,”The Essential Frankfurt School Reader (1982), pp. 38-39
To acquire immunity to eloquence is of the utmost importance to the citizens of a democracy.
Bertrand Russell,Power: A New Social Analysis (1938), Ch. 18: The Taming of Power.
Eloquence may be found in conversations and in all kinds of writings; it is rarely found when looked for, and sometimes discovered where it is least expected.
Profane eloquence is transfered from the bar, where Le Maître, Pucelle, and Fourcroy formerly practised it, and where it has become obsolete, to the Pulpit, where it is out of place.
