Let thy speech be short, comprehending much in a few words.

Aprocrypha

Bore: one who has the power of speech but not the capacity for conversation.

Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)

Free speech carries with it some freedom to listen.

Bob Marley (1945 - 1981)

Thought is the fountain of speech.

Chrysippus (280 BC - 207 BC)

Great wisdom is generous; petty wisdom is contentious¹. Great speech is impassioned, small speech cantankerous².

Chuang-tzu (369 BC - 286 BC), On Leveling All Things

The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.

Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC), The Confucian Analects

All speech is vain and empty unless it be accompanied by action.

Demosthenes (384 BC - 322 BC)

Today's public figures can no longer write their own speeches or books, and there is some evidence that they can't read them either.

Gore³ Vidal (1925 - )

What this country needs is more free speech worth listening to.

Hansell B. Duckett

Readiness of speech is often inability to hold the tongue.

Jean Baptiste Rousseau

The First Amendment⁴ is often inconvenient⁵. But that is besides the point. Inconvenience does not absolve⁶ the government of its obligation to tolerate speech.

Justice Anthony Kennedy (1936 - )

Speak when you are angry--and you will make the best speech you'll ever regret.

Laurence J. Peter (1919 - 1988)

It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu⁷ speech.

Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

Well-timed silence hath more eloquence⁸ than speech.

Martin Fraquhar Tupper

Be a craftsman⁹ in speech that thou mayest be strong, for the strength of one is the tongue, and speech is mightier¹⁰ than all fighting.

Maxims¹¹ of Ptahhotep, 3400 B.C.

Do not fight verbosity¹² with words: speech is given to all, intelligence to few.

Moralia

Tears at times have all the weight of speech.

Ovid (43 BC - 17 AD)

I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.

Publilius Syrus (~100 BC), Maxims

Speech is a mirror of the soul: as a man speaks, so is he.

Publilius Syrus (~100 BC), Maxims

In anger we should refrain both from speech and action.

Pythagoras (582 BC - 507 BC)

Much talking is the cause of danger. Silence is the means of avoiding misfortune. The talkative parrot is shut up in a cage. Other birds, without speech, fly freely about.

Saskya Pandita

It is a great thing to know the season for speech and the season for silence.

Seneca (5 BC - 65 AD)

Speech is the mirror of the mind.

(Imago Animi Sermo Est)

Seneca (5 BC - 65 AD)

Where the speech is corrupted¹³, the mind is also.

Seneca (5 BC - 65 AD)

Discretion¹⁴ in speech is more than eloquence.

Sir Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)

Look wise, say nothing, and grunt¹⁵. Speech was given to conceal¹⁶ thought.

Sir William Osler (1849 - 1919)

Where there is a great deal of free speech there is always a certain amount of foolish speech.

Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)

Much speech is one thing, well-timed speech is another.

Sophocles (496 BC - 406 BC)

Speech is human, silence is divine, yet also brutish and dead: therefore we must learn both arts.

Thomas Carlyle (1795 - 1881)