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Quotes about talking

319 quotes from 193 people

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But those that understood him smil’d at one another and shook their heads; but for mine own part, it was Greek to me.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Julius Caesar (1599), Act I, Scene II, spoken by CascaIn context
- Knowledge
You taught me language, and my profit on ’t
Is, I know how to curse. The red plague rid you,
For learning me your language!
William Shakespeare1564–1616The Tempest (c. 1611), Act I, Scene II, spoken by CalibanIn context
- Education
Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing, more than any man in all Venice. His reasons are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff: you shall seek all day ere you find them, and when you have them they are not worth the search.
William Shakespeare1564–1616The Merchant of Venice (c. 1597), Act I, Scene I, spoken by BassanioIn context
- Clever Jabs
Silence is the perfectest herald of joy: I were but little happy, if I could say how much.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Much Ado About Nothing (c. 1598), Act II, Scene I, spoken by ClaudioIn context
- Happiness
Your “if” is the only peacemaker; much virtue in “if.”
William Shakespeare1564–1616As You Like It (c. 1599), Act V, Scene IV, spoken by TouchstoneIn context
- Comedy
An honest tale speeds best being plainly told.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Richard III (c. 1593), Act IV, Scene IV, spoken by Queen ElizabethIn context
- Truth & Lies
The English have no respect for their language, and will not teach their children to speak it.
George Bernard Shaw1856–1950Pygmalion (1912), Preface to PygmalionIn context
- Education
It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him.
George Bernard Shaw1856–1950Pygmalion (1912), Preface to PygmalionIn context
I don’t want to talk grammar. I want to talk like a lady.
George Bernard Shaw1856–1950Pygmalion (1912), Act II, spoken by LizaIn context
But all was false and hollow; though his tongue
Dropped manna, and could make the worse appear
The better reason
John Milton1608–1674Paradise Lost (1667), Book IIIn context
- Truth & Lies
We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate.
Henry David Thoreau1817–1862Walden (1854), Economy (2 of 3)In context
- Technology
Human speech is like a cracked tin kettle, on which we hammer out tunes to make bears dance when we long to move the stars.
Gustave Flaubert1821–1880Madame Bovary (1857), Part II, Chapter TwelveIn context
- Music
Charles’s conversation was commonplace as a street pavement, and everyone’s ideas trooped through it in their everyday garb, without exciting emotion, laughter, or thought.
Gustave Flaubert1821–1880Madame Bovary (1857), Part I, Chapter SevenIn context
- Clever Jabs
No man cares to hear ill news.
Sophocles496–406 BCAntigone (c. 441 BC), spoken by GuardIn context
For just where fails the comprehension,
A word steps promptly in as deputy.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe1749–1832Faust (1808), Scene IV, spoken by MephistophelesIn context
- Knowledge