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Quotes about talking

319 quotes from 193 people

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Exaggeration follows desperation.
CBChris Bowyer
- Debate
Oh why do we not say the important things, it would be so easy, and we are damned because we do not.
Bertolt Brecht1898–1956“Song about my mother” [Lied von meiner Mutter], from “Thirteen Psalms” (1920), trans. Christopher Middleton in Poems, 1913-1956, p. 40
I’ve been accused of vulgarity. I say that’s bullshit.
Mel Brooksborn 1926
- Comedy
These men are all talk; What is needed is action — action!
John Brown1800–1859Remarks at the New England Anti-Slavery Convention (May 1859), quoted in William Lloyd Garrison by Wendell and Francis Garrison.
He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.
Edmund Burke1729–1797Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), Volume iii, p. 453
- Debate
They defend their errors as if they were defending their inheritance.
Edmund Burke1729–1797Speech on the Independence of Parliament (1780)
- Debate
A very great part of the mischiefs that vex the world arises from words.
Edmund Burke1729–1797Letter to Richard Burke post 19 February 1792 (1792), in R. B. McDowell and William B. Todd (eds), The Writings and Speeches of Edmund Burke, Vol. 9: I: The Revolutionary War, 1794-1797
From symbiosis to parasitism is a short step. The word is now a virus.
William S. Burroughs1914–1997The Ticket That Exploded (1962)
Under all speech that is good for anything there lies a silence that is better. Silence is deep as Eternity; speech is shallow as Time.
Thomas Carlyle1795–1881Sir Walter Scott (1838)
Sarcasm I now see to be, in general, the language of the Devil; for which reason I have, long since, as good as renounced it.
Thomas Carlyle1795–1881Sartor Resartus (1833–1834), Bk. II, ch. 4.
- Humor
Speech is human, silence is divine, yet also brutish and dead: therefore we must learn both arts.
Thomas Carlyle1795–1881Notebooks (1830).
The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
Dale Carnegie1888–1955How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936).
- Debate
“Exactly so,” said Alice.
“Then you should say what you mean,” the March Hare went on.
“I do,” Alice hastily replied; “at least⁠—at least I mean what I say⁠—that’s the same thing, you know.”
“Not the same thing a bit!” said the Hatter. “Why, you might just as well say that ‘I see what I eat’ is the same thing as ‘I eat what I see’!”
Lewis Carroll1832–1898Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865), Chapter VIIIn context
“O Tiger-lily,” said Alice, addressing herself to one that was waving gracefully about in the wind, “I wish you could talk!”
“We can talk,” said the Tiger-lily: “when there’s anybody worth talking to.”
Lewis Carroll1832–1898Through the Looking-Glass (1871), Chapter IIIn context
- Clever Jabs
‘The time has come,’ the Walrus said,
‘To talk of many things:
Of shoes⁠—and ships⁠—and sealing-wax⁠—
Of cabbages⁠—and kings⁠—
And why the sea is boiling hot⁠—
And whether pigs have wings.’
Lewis Carroll1832–1898Through the Looking-Glass (1871), Chapter IVIn context
- Poetry