Definitions HQ

Speech (n.) inflames ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠no hearer unless it reaches his ears already on fire.

Speech (n.) seems ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠to paint the character of the speaker, so that a gentle manner makes him seem a man of probity and virtue.

Speech (n.) hides ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a kind of concealed singing — not the near-chant of provincial rhetoricians, but the modulation Demosthenes mocked in Aeschines.

Speech (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the soul's interpreter: it agrees everywhere in the ideas it conveys, though it differs in the syllables that express them.

Speech (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not the same speech once the speaker changes: reading Demosthenes' oration aloud, Aeschines asked how much more they would have admired it had they heard him deliver it.

Speech (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠harder to make than a poem: verse has definite rules to follow, while in speaking nothing is settled except that one must not be intemperate, cramped, prosaic or too fluent.

Speech (n.) has ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠only one natural beginning and one natural end; like the limbs of an animal body, its parts keep their strength only when they hang together — so it is folly to hand the peroration to a second advocate.

Speech (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the one gift that most distinguishes us from brute animals — so to excel others in it is to surpass mankind in the very thing by which they claim superiority over the beasts.