Memorable quotes on speech writing & giving
"A speech is part theater and part political declaration; it is a personal communication between a leader and his people; it is art, and all art is a paradox, being at once a thing of great power and great delicacy. A speech is poetry: cadence, rhythm, imagery sweep! A speech reminds us that words, like children, have the power to make dance the dullest beanbag of a heart."
- Peggy Noonan: What I saw at the Revolution
"His standing instruction and his standard complaint to people preparing speech material for him is : “More matter and less art.'"
- Graham Freudenberg on Gough Whitlam: A Certain Grandeur
"Surveys show that the #1 fear of Americans is public speaking. #2 is death. Death is #2. That means that at a funeral, the average American would rather be in the casket than doing the eulogy."
- Jerry Seinfeld
NASA public relations guy: "We’re both writers, heh?"
Presidential speechwriter Sam Waterman: "That’s only if you broaden the definition of writers to people who can spell."
- The West Wing
"At the core a speech is an embrace. A bad speech is a failed attempt at comfort, friendship or seduction and the speechmaker suffers an identical indignity. A good speech is a lover’s embrace, or a brother’s father’s friend’s or mother’s depending on the circumstances."
- Don Watson: Recollections of a Bleeding Heart
"The Gettysburg Address works as a kind of shorthand among speechwriters. It's only 270 words long and wasn't planned as a nation-building speech. It was about the dedication of a cemetery. What strikes you about it is Lincoln's modesty. Unlike the leaders who try to insert themselves into acts of heroism, he seems to stand slightly to one side and gently gesture our attention towards the dead. It's an adult speech: it recognises the awfulness of battle and doesn't try to steal courage from the people it mourns. Speeches for big occasions are hard. After maniacs flew planes into the World Trade Centre, I was asked to write a condolence motion to be spoken in State Parliament. What words would equal the event? It was only by banishing the adjectives and trying not to aim for posterity that I could get close to the heart of it. Let the occasion speak a little for itself. Just the facts."
- Michael Gurr, playwright and author
"A speech is part theater and part political declaration; it is a personal communication between a leader and his people; it is art, and all art is a paradox, being at once a thing of great power and great delicacy. A speech is poetry: cadence, rhythm, imagery sweep! A speech reminds us that words, like children, have the power to make dance the dullest beanbag of a heart."
- Peggy Noonan: What I saw at the Revolution
"His standing instruction and his standard complaint to people preparing speech material for him is : “More matter and less art.'"
- Graham Freudenberg on Gough Whitlam: A Certain Grandeur
"Surveys show that the #1 fear of Americans is public speaking. #2 is death. Death is #2. That means that at a funeral, the average American would rather be in the casket than doing the eulogy."
- Jerry Seinfeld
NASA public relations guy: "We’re both writers, heh?"
Presidential speechwriter Sam Waterman: "That’s only if you broaden the definition of writers to people who can spell."
- The West Wing
"At the core a speech is an embrace. A bad speech is a failed attempt at comfort, friendship or seduction and the speechmaker suffers an identical indignity. A good speech is a lover’s embrace, or a brother’s father’s friend’s or mother’s depending on the circumstances."
- Don Watson: Recollections of a Bleeding Heart
"The Gettysburg Address works as a kind of shorthand among speechwriters. It's only 270 words long and wasn't planned as a nation-building speech. It was about the dedication of a cemetery. What strikes you about it is Lincoln's modesty. Unlike the leaders who try to insert themselves into acts of heroism, he seems to stand slightly to one side and gently gesture our attention towards the dead. It's an adult speech: it recognises the awfulness of battle and doesn't try to steal courage from the people it mourns. Speeches for big occasions are hard. After maniacs flew planes into the World Trade Centre, I was asked to write a condolence motion to be spoken in State Parliament. What words would equal the event? It was only by banishing the adjectives and trying not to aim for posterity that I could get close to the heart of it. Let the occasion speak a little for itself. Just the facts."
- Michael Gurr, playwright and author