Quotes about Rhetoric

I bless the gods for not letting my education in rhetoric, poetry, and other literary studies come easily to me, and thereby sparing me from an absorbing interest in these subjects.

The aim of forensic oratory is to teach, to delight, to move.

Brevity is the best recommendation of speech, whether in a senator or an orator.

Politicians are not born; they are excreted.

I am persuaded that without knowledge of literature pure theology cannot at all endure. . . . When letters have declined and lain prostrate, theology, too, has wretchedly fallen and lain prostrate. . . . It is my desire that there shall be as many poets and rhetoricians as possible, because I see that by these studies as by no other means, people are wonderfully fitted for the grasping of sacred truth and for handling it skillfully and happily.

It was expected, however, that [Erasmus] should make some reply and give some definition. But instead, by availing himself of a rhetorical transition, he drags us who knew nothing of rhetoric away with him, as if the matter at issue here were of no moment, but simply a lot of quibbling, and dashes bravely out of the crowded court, crowned with ivy and laurel.

There is a time for stories, and there is a time for rational arguments, and the skill we need lies in knowing which to use, and when. Put

For some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but his physical presence is unimpressive, and his speaking is of no account.”

I say this so that no one will deceive you by smooth rhetoric.

When you have no basis for an argument, abuse the plaintiff.

Assertion is not argument; to contradict the statement of an opponent is not proof that you are correct.

Arguments out of a petty mouth are unanswerable.