21 Best Quotes About Public Speaking

If you have been following me on Twitter or facebook you will know that I love quotes and in particular those that are positive, uplifting and inspiring.

Quotes are very useful in presentations; a well selected quote can lend credibility to your message, bring additional support for your arguments and powerfully reinforce your ideas.

In a future blog post I will explore how to effectively use quotes in your presentations but for this post I thought I’d share some of my favourite quotes about public speaking:

  1. If you can’t write your message in a sentence, you can’t say it in an hour ~ Dianna Booher

  2. Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you’ve got to say, and say it hot ~ D. H. Lawrence  

  3. If you don’t know what you want to achieve in your presentation your audience never will ~ Harvey Diamond

  4. Let thy speech be better than silence, or be silent ~ Dionysius Of Halicarnassus

  5. Everything that can be said can be said clearly ~ Ludwig Wittgenstein

  6. You can speak well if your tongue can deliver the message of your heart ~ John Ford

  7. 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 ~ Dale Carnegie

  8. It usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech ~ Mark Twain

  9. Words have incredible power. They can make people’s hearts soar, or they can make people’s hearts sore ~ Dr Mardy Grothe

  10. Great speakers are not born, they're trained ~ Dale Carnegie

  11. There are three things to aim at in public speaking: first, to get into your subject, then to get your subject into yourself, and lastly, to get your subject into the heart of your audience ~ Alexander Gregg

  12. The success of your presentation will be judged not by the knowledge you send but by what the listener receives ~ Lilly Walters

  13. Best way to conquer stage fright is to know what you’re talking about ~ Michael H Mescon

  14. There are only two types of speakers in the world. 1. The nervous and 2. Liars ~ Mark Twain

  15. No one ever complains about a speech being too short! ~ Ira Hayes

  16. 90% of how well the talk will go is determined before the speaker steps on the platform ~ Somers White

  17. It takes one hour of preparation for each minute of presentation time ~ Wayne Burgraff

  18. The problem with speeches isn’t so much not knowing when to stop, as knowing when not to begin ~ Frances Rodman

  19. Speech is power: speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

  20. The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause ~ Mark Twain

  21. Be sincere. Be brief. Be seated. ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

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Mel Sherwood is a Presentation Skills and Personal Impact Speaker and Founder of The RED Effect™. She works with ambitious business leaders, teams and individuals who want to express themselves with confidence, credibility and charisma. An Australian based in Scotland, Mel is an award-winning speaker, author and coach and combines over 25 years’ experience in business with a background as an actor, presenter and singer.