Rhetoric Day 156
The pen is the best, the most excellent former and director of the tongue.
- Cicero "De Oratore"
Rhetoric Day 155
[I]n an orator, there is required the subtility of logicians, the learning of philosophers, the diction almost of poets, the memory of lawyers, the voice of tragedians, and the action of the best players.
- Cicero "De Oratore"
Rhetoric Day 154
Even the best speakers, they who speak with the greatest ease and grace, appear to me almost with an air of impudence, unless they compose themselves to speak with a certain bashfulness, and are under some confusion when they set out; yet they can never appear otherwise; for the more a man excels in speaking, he is the more sensible of its difficulty, he is under the greater concern for the event of his speech, and to answer to expectation of the public.
- Cicero "De Oratore"
Rhetoric Day 153
[T]here is one thing which the masters of the art of speaking bring as peculiar to themselves; a style graceful, ornamented, and distinguished by certain masterly touches, and an artful polish. Yet all this beauty of language, if the subject itself is not thoroughly understood and comprehended by the speaker, must be either empty or ridiculous...
- Cicero "De Oratore"
Rhetoric Day 152
[C]an anything impart so exquisite pleasure to the ears and understanding, as a speech to which sentiments give dignity, and expression embellishment?"
- Cicero "De Oratore"
Rhetoric Day 151
"Words must not only be well chosen, but properly disposed, and the speaker must have a thorough knowledge of all the affections which nature has implanted in the soul of man, because it demands the whole energy and power of speaking to awaken and to sooth the passions of an audience."
- Cicero "De Oratore"
Rhetoric Day 150
"[E]loquence consists in the most obvious principles, the knowledge of common life, and in the habits and conversation of mankind."
- Cicero "De Oratore"
Rhetoric Day 86.1
The worst fault in speaking is to shun ordinary speech and generally admitted ideas.
– Quintillian, VIII
Day 3.1 - Rhetoric
His character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion he possesses.
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Rhetoric Day 35.1
Of the modes of persuasion furnished by the spoken word there are three kinds. The first kind depends on the personal character of the speaker; the second on putting the audience into a certain frame of mind; the third on the proof, or apparent proof, provided by the words of the speech itself.
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Rhetoric Day 22.1
[A] litigant has clearly nothing to do but to show that the alleged fact is so or is not so, that it has or has not happened.
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Rhetoric Day 66.1
Stability is primarily gained by cultivation; . . . Vocal flexibility – the ability in speaking to vary the intonations of the voice at pleasure – is primarily achieved by declamatory exercise.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric - Day 15.1
The Reason, by means of brief explanation, sets forth the causal basis for the Proposition.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 53.1
Personification consists in representing an absent person as present, or in making a mute thing or one lacking form articulate, and attributing to it a definite form and a language or a certain behavior appropriate to its character . . .
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 32.1
[T]he materials of enthymemes are Probabilities and Signs.
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Day 2.1 - Rhetoric
Rhetoric may be defined as the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Rhetoric Day 22.1
[A]rgument based on knowledge implies instruction, and there are people whom one cannot instruct. Here, then, we must use, as our modes of persuasion and argument, notions possessed by everybody…
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Rhetoric Day 70.1
The Résumé is defective if it does not include every point in the exact order in which it has been presented; if it does not come to a conclusion briefly; and if the summary does not leave something precise and stable, so as to make clear what the Proposition was, then what has been established by the Reason, by the Proof of the Reason, and by the argument as a whole.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric - Day 18.1
It is not right to pervert the judge by moving him to anger or envy or pity-one might as well warp a carpenter’s rule before using it.
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Rhetoric Day 62.1
There are three types of Statement of Facts. It is one type when we set forth the facts and turn every detail to our advantage so as to win the victory, and this kind appertains to the cause on which a decision is to be rendered. There is a second type which often enters into a speech as a means of winning belief or incriminating our adversary or effecting a transition or setting the stage for something. The third type is not used in a cause actually pleaded in court, yet affords us convenient practice for handling the first two types more advantageously in actual causes.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 36.1
Persuasion is achieved by the speaker’s personal character when the speech is so spoken as to make us think him credible. We believe good men more fully and more readily than others: this is true generally whatever the question is, and absolutely true where exact certainty is impossible and opinions are divided.
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Rhetoric - Day 9.1
The arguments by which we convince others when we speak to them are the same as those we use when we engage in reflection.
- Socrates
Rhetoric Day 20.1
A man can confer the greatest of benefits by a right use of these, and inflict the greatest of injuries by using them wrongly.
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Day 7.1 - Rhetoric
Persuasion is … a sort of demonstration, since we are most fully persuaded when we consider a thing to have been demonstrated.
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Day 1.1 Rhetoric
What makes a man a sophist is not his faculty, but his moral purpose.
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Rhetoric Day 126
Another line of proof is the 'a fortiori'. The principle here is that, if a quality does not in fact exist where it is more likely to exist, it clearly does not exist where it is less likely.
- Aristotle's Rhetoric
Rhetoric Day 125
Another line of proof is based upon correlative ideas. Thus ... '[i]f it is no disgrace for you to sell them, it is no disgrace for us to buy them.'
- Aristotle's Rhetoric
Rhetoric Day 124
Another line of proof is got by considering some modification of the key-word, and arguing that what can or cannot be said of the one, can or cannot be said of the other: e.g. 'just' does not always mean 'beneficial', or 'justly' would always mean 'beneficially', whereas it is not desirable to be justly put to death.
- Aristotle's Rhetoric
Rhetoric Day 123
One line of positive proof is based upon consideration of the opposite of the thing in question. Observe whether that opposite has the opposite quality. If it has not, you refute the original proposition; if it has, you establish it. E.g. "Temperance is beneficial; for licentiousness is hurtful."
- Aristotle's Rhetoric
Rhetoric Day 121
The Oratour may lead his hearers which way he list, and draw them to what affection he will: he may make them to be angry, to be pleased, to laugh, to weepe, and lament: to love, to abhorre, and loath.
- Henry Peacham
Rhetoric Day 25
A speaker might choose to feign helplessness by pretending to be uncertain how to begin or proceed with his speech. This makes him appear, not so much as a skilled master of rhetoric, but as an honest man.
- Quintilian
Rhetoric Day 121
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
- Benjamin Disraeli
Rhetoric Day 120
Something unpleasant is coming when men are anxious to tell the truth.
- Benjamin Disraeli
Rhetoric Day 119
Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth.
- Benjamin Disraeli
Rhetoric Day 118
Be amusing: never tell unkind stories; above all, never tell long ones.
- Benjamin Disraeli
Rhetoric Day 118
Refining consists in dwelling on the same topic and yet seeming to say something ever new. It is accomplished in two ways: by merely repeating the same idea, or by descanting upon it. We shall not repeat the same thing precisely – for that, to be sure, would weary the hearer and not refine the idea – but with changes. Our changes will be of three kinds: in the words, in the delivery, and in the treatment.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 117
[G]ood delivery ensures that what the orator is saying seems to come from his heart.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 116
Physical movement consists in a certain control of gesture and mien which renders what is delivered more plausible. [T]he facial expression should show modesty and animation, and the gestures should not be conspicuous for either elegance or grossness, lest we give the impression that we are either actors or day labourers.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 115
Simile is the comparison of one figure with another, implying a certain resemblance between them. This is used either for praise or censure. For praise, . . . “He entered the combat in body like the strongest bull . . .” For censure, . . . “That wretch who daily glides through the middle of the Forum like a crested serpent, . . .”
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 114
At the end of a speech a sustained flow is beneficial to the voice. And does not this, too, most vigorously stir the hearer at the Conclusion of the entire discourse?
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 113
Metaphor occurs when a word applying to one thing is transferred to another, because the similarity seems to justify the transference. Metaphor is used for the sake of creating a vivid mental picture . . .
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 112
[I]n speaking conserve stability mainly by using for the Introduction a voice as calm and composed as possible. . . . And it is appropriate to use rather long pauses – the voice is refreshed by respiration and the windpipe is rested by silence. We should also relax from continual use of the full voice and pass to the tone of conversation; for, as the result of changes, no one kind of tone is spent, and we are complete in the entire range. . . . [A]t the end of the speech it is proper to deliver long periods in one unbroken breath, . . . and the voice, which has been used in a variety of tones, is restored to a kind of uniform and constant tone.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 111
Distribution has two parts: the Enumeration and the Exposition. We shall be using the Enumeration when we tell by number how many points we are going to discuss. The number ought not to exceed three; for otherwise, besides the danger that we may at some time include in the speech more or fewer points than we enumerated, it instills in the hearer the suspicion of premeditation and artifice, and this robs the speech of conviction. The Exposition consists in setting forth, briefly and completely, the points we intend to discuss.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 110
[F]aculties can acquire by three means: Theory, Imitation, and Practice. By theory is meant a set of rules that provide a definite method and system of speaking. Imitation stimulates us to attain, in accordance with a studied method, the effectiveness of certain models in speaking. Practice is assiduous exercise and experience in speaking.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 109
The speaker, then, should possess the faculties of Invention, Arrangement, Style, memory, and Delivery. Invention is the devising of matter, true or plausible, tht would make the case convincing. Arrangement is the ordering and distribution of the matter, making clear the place to which each thing is to be assigned. Style is the adaptation of suitable words and sentences to the matter devised. Memory is the firm retention in the mind of the matter, words, and arrangement. Delivery is the graceful regulation of voice, countenance, and gesture.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 108
And as for the rest, since what has been said last is easily committed to memory, it is useful, when ceasing to speak, to leave some very strong argument fresh in the hearer’s mind. This arrangement of topics in speaking, like the arraying of soldiers in battle, can readily bring victory.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 107
The aspects of Flexibility are Conversational Tone, Tone of Debate, and Tone of Amplification. The Tone of Conversation is relaxed, and is closest to daily speech. The Tone of Debate is energetic, and is suited to both proof and refutation. The Tone of Amplification either rouses the hearer to wrath or moves him to pity.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 106
Clarity renders language plain and intelligible. It is achieved by two means, the use of current terms and of proper terms. Current terms are such as are habitually used in everyday speech. Proper terms are such as are, or can be, the designations specially characteristic of the subject of our discourse.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 105
An Allegory is presented in the forms of argument when a similitude is drawn from a person or place or object in order to magnify or minify, . . . An Allegory is drawn from a contrast if, for example, one should mockingly call a spendthrift . . . frugal and thrifty.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 104
Allegory is a manner of speech denoting one thing by the letter of the words, but another by their meaning. It assumes three aspects: comparison, argument, and contrast. It operates through a comparison when a number of metaphors originating in a similarity in the mode of expression are set together, as follows: “For when dogs act the part of wolves, to what guardian, pray, are we going to entrust our herds of cattle?”
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 103
Delivery, . . . includes Voice Quality and Physical Movement. Voice Quality . . .: Volume Stability, and Flexibility. Vocal Volume is primarily the gift of nature. . .
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 102
The Division of the cause falls into two parts. When the Statement of Facts has been brought to an end, we ought first to make clear what we and our opponents agree upon, if there is agreement on the points useful to us, and what remains contested. . .
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 101
[B]efore some audiences not even the possession of the exactest knowledge will make it easy for what we say to produce conviction. For argument based on knowledge implies instruction, and there are people whom one cannot instruct. Here, then, we must use, as our modes of persuasion and argument, notions possessed by everybody . . .
-Aristotle, Rhetorica, Book I
Rhetoric Day 100
Our Statement of Facts will have plausibility if it answers the requirements of the usual, the expected, and the natural . . .
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 99
If the hearers have been convinced, if our opponent’s speech has gained their credence – and this will not be hard for us to know, since we are well aware of the means by which belief is ordinarily effected – . . . we shall make our Subtle Approach to the cause by the following means: the point which our adversaries have regarded as their strongest support we shall promise to discuss first; we shall begin with a statement made by the opponent, and particularly with that which he made last; and we shall use Indecision, along with an exclamation of astonishment: “What had I best say?” or “To what point shall I first reply?”
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 98
If the hearers have been fatigued by listening, we shall open with something that may provoke laughter . . ..
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 97
If the cause has a discreditable character, we can make our Introduction with the following points: that the agent, not the action, ought to be considered; that we ourselves are displeased with the acts which our opposite say have been committed, and that these are unworthy, yes, heinous. Next, when we have for a time enlarged upon the idea, we shall show that nothing of the kind has been committed by us.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 96
The Summing Up gathers together and recalls the points we have made – briefly, that the speech may not be repeated in entirety, but that the memory of it may be refreshed; and we shall reproduce all the points in the order in which they have been presented, so that the hearer, if he has committed them to memory, is brought back to what he remembers. [W]e must take care that the Summary should not be carried back to the Introduction or the Statement of Facts. Otherwise the speech will appear to have been fabricated and devised with elaborate pains so as to demonstrate the speaker’s skill, advertise his wit, and display his memory. Therefore, the Summary must take its beginning from the Division. Then we must in order and briefly set forth the points treated in the proof and Refutation.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium
Rhetoric Day 95
A Simile is defective if it is inexact in any aspect, and lacks a proper ground for the comparison, or is prejudicial to him who presents it.
An example is defective if it is either false, and hence refutable, or base, and hence not to be imitated, or if it implies more or less than the matter demands.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 94
There is a time when the Résumé should be dispensed with – if the matter is brief enough to be readily embraced by the memory. There is a situation, too, in which the Embellishment should be omitted – if the matter proves to be too meagre for amplification and adornment. [I]f the argument is brief and the matter also slight or insignificant, then both the Embellishment and the Résumé should be left out.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 93
A Statement of Facts should have three qualities: brevity, clarity, and plausibility. . . We shall be able to make the Statement of Facts brief if we begin it at the place at which we need to begin; if we do not try to recount from the remotest beginning; if our Statement of Facts is summary and not detailed; if we carry it forward, not to the furthermost point, but to the point to which we need to go; if we use no digressions and do not wander from the account we have undertaken to set forth; and if we present the outcome in such a way that the facts have preceded can also be known, although we have not spoken of them. For example, if I should say that I have returned from the province, it would also be understood that I had gone to the province. [I]n general it is better to pass by not only that which weakens the cause but also that which neither weakens nor helps it.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 92
In the Proof and Refutation of arguments it is appropriate to adopt an Arrangement of the following sort: (1) the strongest arguments should be placed at the beginning and at the end of the pleading; (2) those of medium force, and also those that are neither useless to the discourse nor essential to the proof, which are weak if presented separately and individually, but become strong and plausible when conjoined with the others, should be placed in the middle.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 91
Conclusions, . . . are tripartite, consisting of the Summing Up, Amplification, and Appeal to Pity.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 90
Since Embellishment consists of similes, examples, amplifications, previous judgements, and the other means which serve to expand and enrich the argument, let us consider the faults which attach to these.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 89
The most complete and perfect argument, then, is that which is comprised of five parts: the Proposition, the Reason, the Proof of the Reason, the Embellishment, and the Résumé. Through the Proposition we set forth summarily what we intend to prove. The Reason, by means of a brief explanation subjoined, sets forth the causal basis for the Proposition, establishing the truth of what we are urging. The Proof of the Reason corroborates, by means of additional arguments, the briefly presented Reason. Embellishment we use in order to adorn and enrich the argument, after the Proof has been established. The Résumé is a brief conclusion, drawing together the parts of the argument.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 88
Our Statement of Facts will be clear if we set forth the facts in the precise order in which they occurred, observing their actual or probable sequence and chronology. . . . [T]he shorter the Statement of Facts, the clearer will it be and the easier to follow.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 87
[T]he six parts of a discourse: the Introduction, Statement of Facts, Division, Proof, Refutation, and Conclusion. The Introduction is the beginning of the discourse, and by it the hearer’s mind is prepared for attention. The Narrative or Statement of Facts sets forth the events that have occurred or might have occurred. By means of the Division we make clear what matters are agreed upon and what are contested, and announce what points we intend to take up. Proof is the presentation of our arguments, together with their corroboration. Refutation is the destruction of our adversaries’ arguments. The Conclusion is the end of the discourse, formed in accordance with the principles of art.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 85
Of the five tasks of the speaker Invention is the most important and the most difficult.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric day 84
That Introduction, . . . is faulty which the opponent can turn to his own use against you. . . . [T]hat is faulty which has been composed in too laboured a style, or is too long; and that which does not appear to have grown out of the cause of itself in such a way as to have an intimate connection with the Statement of Facts . . ..
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric day 81
Or, we shall promise to speak otherwise than as we have prepared, and not to talk as others usually do; we shall briefly explain what the other speakers do and what we intend to do.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 82
Speak English! I don't know the meaning of half those long words, and I don't believe you do either!
– Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
Rhetoric Day 80
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
– Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
Rhetoric Day 79
The faculties of Invention, Arrangement, Style, memory, and Delivery can acquire by three means: Theory, Imitation, and Practice. By theory is meant a set of rules that provide a definite method and system of speaking. Imitation stimulates us to attain, in accordance with a studied method, the effectiveness of certain models in speaking. Practice is assiduous exercise and experience in speaking.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 78
The speaker, then, should possess the faculties of Invention, Arrangement, Style, memory, and Delivery. Invention is the devising of matter, true or plausible, tht would make the case convincing. Arrangement is the ordering and distribution of the matter, making clear the place to which each thing is to be assigned. Style is the adaptation of suitable words and sentences to the matter devised. Memory is the firm retention in the mind of the matter, words, and arrangement. Delivery is the graceful regulation of voice, countenance, and gesture.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 77
The worst fault in speaking is to shun ordinary speech and generally admitted ideas.
– Quintillian, VIII
Rhetoric Day 76
A great orator is one who possesses the art of taking into consideration, in his argumentation, the composite nature of his audience. - Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca “The New Rhetoric”
Rhetoric Day 75
There are two kinds of Introduction: the Direct Opening, . . . and the Subtle Approach, . . .. The Direct Opening straightway prepares the hearer to attend to our speech. Its purpose is to enable us to have hearers who are attentive, receptive, and well-disposed.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 75
Delivery, . . . includes Voice Quality and Physical Movement. Voice Quality . . .: Volume Stability, and Flexibility. Vocal Volume is primarily the gift of nature. . .
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 74
[T]he six parts of a discourse: the Introduction, Statement of Facts, Division, Proof, Refutation, and Conclusion. The Introduction is the beginning of the discourse, and by it the hearer’s mind is prepared for attention. The Narrative or Statement of Facts sets forth the events that have occurred or might have occurred. By means of the Division we make clear what matters are agreed upon and what are contested, and announce what points we intend to take up. Proof is the presentation of our arguments, together with their corroboration. Refutation is the destruction of our adversaries’ arguments. The Conclusion is the end of the discourse, formed in accordance with the principles of art.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 73
Now I must explain the Subtle Approach. There are three occasions on which we cannot use the Direct Opening, and these we must consider carefully: (1) when our cause is discreditable, that is, when the subject itself alienates the hearer from us; (2) when the hearer has apparently been won over by the previous speakers of the opposition; (3) or when the hearer has become wearied by listening to the previous speakers.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 72
One appeals to values in order to induce the hearer to make certain choices rather than others, and, most of all, to justify those choices so that they may be accepted and approved by others.
- Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca- “The New Rhetoric”
Rhetoric Day 71
When we see in everyday life things that are pretty, ordinary, and banal, we generally fail to remember them, because the mind is not being stirred by anything novel or marvellous. But if we see or hear something exceptionally base, dishonourable, extraordinary, great, unbelievable, or laughable, that we are likely to remember a long time.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 68
[I]t is a fault, when our adversaries admit a fact, to devote an argument to establishing it as a fact; for it should rather be amplified.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 67
The difference between testimony and example is this: by example we clarify the nature of our statement, while by testimony we establish its truth.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 66
Pauses strengthen the voice. They also render the thoughts more clear-cut by separating them, and leave the hearer time to think. Relaxation from a continuous full tone conserves the voice, and the variety gives extreme pleasure to the hearer too, since now the conversational tone holds the attention and now the full voice rouses it.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 64
Defective arguments are of two kinds: one can be refuted by the adversary, and so belongs to the cause proper; the other, although likewise invalid, does not need to be refuted.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 65
[D]elivery itself has a marvellously powerful effect in oratory; for the nature of the material we have composed in our minds is not so important as how we deliver it; . . . [A] mediocre speech supported by all the power of delivery will have more force than the best speech devoid of that power.
– Quintilian, 11
Rhetoric Day 63
To be sure, it is in general not hard to devise matter which should serve to support a cause, but to polish what has been devised and to give it a ready delivery is very hard.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 63
The entire hope of victory and the entire method of persuasion rest on proof and refutation, for when we have submitted our arguments and destroyed those of the opposition, we have, of course, completely fulfilled the speaker’s function.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 61
We can have receptive hearers if we briefly summarize the cause and make them attentive; for the receptive hearer is one who is willing to listen attentively. We shall have attentive hearers by promising to discuss important, new, and unusual matters.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 60
A great orator is one who possesses the art of taking into consideration, in his argumentation, the composite nature of his audience.
- Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca “The New Rhetoric”
Rhetoric Day 59
An Introduction is faulty if it can be applied as well to a number of causes; that is called a banal Introduction.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 58
[T]hat the hearers constantly show themselves attentive, receptive, and well-disposed to us – is to be secured throughout the discourse, it must in the main be won by the Introduction to the cause. . . . In the Introduction of a cause we must make sure that our style is temperate and that the words are in current use, so that the discourse seems unprepared.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 57
The Direct Opening straightway prepares the hearer to attend to our speech. Its purpose is to enable us to have hearers who are attentive, receptive, and well-disposed.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric
There are two kinds of Introduction: the Direct Opening, . . . and the Subtle Approach.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 55
We should insert maxims only rarely, that we may be looked upon as pleading the case, not preaching morals. When so interspersed, they will add much distinction. Furthermore, the hearer, when he perceives that an indisputable principle drawn from practical life is being applied to a cause, must give it his tacit approval.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 54
A Maxim is a saying drawn from life, which shows concisely either what happens or ought to happen in life . . .
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 52
[I]f an interlocutor wishes to combat the prestige attaching to what has been admitted as a fact, he will not be satisfied in most cases with a simple denial that might be considered just ridiculous. He will endeavor to justify his attitude either by showing incompatibility of the statement in the question with other facts and attacking it for its inconsistency with the coherence of reality or by showing that the so-called fact is simply the conclusion of an argument which, by its very nature, is not compelling.
- Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca “The New Rhetoric”
Rhetoric Day 52
It is no mean thing to have a person’s attention, to have a wide audience, to be allowed to speak under certain circumstances, in certain gatherings, in certain circles.
- Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca “The New Rhetoric”
Rhetoric Day 51
When we are convinced, we are overcome only by ourselves, by our own ideas. When we are persuaded, it is always by another.
- Chaignet, La rhetorique et son histoire
Rhetoric Day 50
Sometimes disagreement with respect to values is presented as a disagreement over facts, because it is easier to correct a factual error than a value judgment of which one disapproves.
- Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca “The New Rhetoric”
Rhetoric Day 49
When a speaker selects and puts forward the premises that are to serve as foundation for his argument, he relies on his hearers’ adherence to the propositions from which he will start.
- Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca “The New Rhetoric”
Rhetoric Day 48
Speech is “like a feast, at which the dishes are made to please the guest, and not the cooks.”
- Gracian, L’homme de Cour
Rhetoric Day 47
The essential consideration for the speaker who has set himself the task of persuading concrete individuals is that his construction of the audience should be adequate to the occasion.
- Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca “The New Rhetoric”
Rhetoric Day 46
All men whatsoever are almost always led into belief not because a thing is proved but because it is pleasing.
- Pascal, On Geometrical Demonstration
Rhetoric Day 45
The interrogative is a modality of considerable rhetorical importance. A question presupposes an object to which it relates and suggests that there is agreement on the existence of this object. To answer a question is to confirm this implicit agreement.
- Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca “The New Rhetoric”
Rhetoric Day 44
[K]nowledge of those one wishes to win over is a condition preliminary to all effectual argumentation.
- Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca “The New Rhetoric”
Rhetoric Day
With regard to the persuasion achieved by proof or apparent proof … there is induction on the one hand and [deduction] on the other[.]
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Rhetoric Day 41
The great orator, the one with a hold on his listeners, seems animated by the very mind of his audience. This is not the case for the ardent enthusiast whose sole concern is with what he himself considers important. - Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca “The New Rhetoric”
Rhetoric Day 40
The end sought by eloquence always depends on the speaker’s audience, and he must govern his speech in accordance with their opinions. - Vico, Opere
Rhetoric Day 39
[A]ll argumentation aims at gaining the adherence of minds, and, by this very fact, assumes the existence of an intellectual contact.
- Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca “The New Rhetoric”
Rhetoric Day 38
There are, then … three means of effecting persuasion. [T]o be in command of them [you] must, it is clear, be able to reason logically, to understand human character and goodness in their various form and to understand the emotions . . . to know their causes and the way in which they are excited.
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Rhetoric Day 37
[P]ersuasion is effected through the speech itself when we have proved a truth or an apparent truth by means of persuasive arguments suitable to the case in question.
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Rhetoric Day 35.5
Persuasion is achieved by the speaker’s personal character when the speech is so spoken as to make us think him credible.
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Rhetoric Day 34
[W]e must be able to employ persuasion, just as strict reasoning can be employed, on opposite sides of a question, not in order that we may in practice employ it in both ways (for we must not make people believe what is wrong), but in order that we may see clearly what the facts are, and that, if another man argues unfairly, we on our part may be able to confute him. - Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Rhetoric Day 33
[T]he man who makes a good guess at truth is likely to make a good guess at probabilities.
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Rhetoric Day 31
[T]herefore … the propositions forming the basis of enthymemes, through some of them may be “necessary”, will most of them be only usually true.
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Rhetoric Day 30
There are few facts of the “necessary” type that can form the basis of rhetorical syllogisms. Most the things about which we make decisions, and into which therefore we inquire, present us with alternative possibilities. For it is about our actions that we deliberate and inquire, and all our actions have a contingent character; hardly any of them are determined by necessity.
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Rhetoric Day 29
Thus, to show that Dorieus has been victor in a contest for which the prize is a crown, it is enough to say “For he has been victor in the Olympic games”, without adding “And in the Olympic games the prize is a crown’ [medal], a fact which everybody knows.
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Rhetoric Day 28
The enthymeme must consist of few propositions … if any of these propositions is familiar fact, there is no need even to mention it; the hearer adds it himself.
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Rhetoric Day 27
A statement is persuasive and credible either because it is directly self-evident or because it appears to be proved from other statements that are so. In either case it is persuasive because there is somebody whom it persuades.
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Rhetoric Day 26
Speeches that rely on examples are as persuasive as the other kind, but those which rely on enthymemes excite the louder applause.
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Rhetoric Day 25
[W]hen it is shown that, certain propositions being true, a further and quite distinct proposition must also be true in consequence, whether invariably or usually this is called … enthymeme….
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Rhetoric Day 24
When we base the proof of a proposition on a number of similar cases, this is example…
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Rhetoric Day 23
The Resume is a brief conclusion, drawing together the parts of the argument.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 23
[I]t is absurd to hold that a man ought to be ashamed of being unable to defend himself with his limbs, but not being unable to defend himself with speech and reason, when the use of rational speech is more distinctive of a human being that the use of his limbs.
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Rhetoric - Day 21
[B]efore some audiences not even the possession of the exactest knowledge will make it easy for what we say to produce conviction.
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Rhetoric - Day 19
[P]ersuasion may come through the hearers, when the speech stirs their emotions.
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Rhetoric - Day 17
Embellishment we use to adorn and enrich the argument after the Proof has been established.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric - Day 16
The Proof of the Reason corroborates, by means of detailed arguments, the Reason.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium
Rhetoric - Day 14
Through the Propostion we set forth summarily what we intend to prove.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric - Day 13
The most complete and perfect argument is comprised of five parts: Proposition, Reason, Proof of Reason, Embellishment, and Resume.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric - Day 12
It is in general not hard to devise matter which should serve to support a cause, but to polish what has been devised and to give it a ready delivery is very hard.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 11
Defective arguments are of two kinds: those that can be refuted and those that do not need to be refuted.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric Day 10
By example we clarify the nature of our case, while by testimony we establish its truth.
- Cicero "Ad Herennium"
Rhetoric - Day 8
When we are convinced, we are overcome only by ourselves, by our own ideas. When we are persuaded, it is always by another.
- Chaignet
Day 6 - Rhetoric
[T]o a certain extent all men attempt to discuss statements and to maintain them, to defend themselves and to attack others.
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Day 5 - Rhetoric
Rhetoric is useful because things that are true and things that are just have a natural tendency to prevail over their opposites, so that if the decisions of judges are not what they out to be, the defeat must be due to the speakers themselves…
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
Day 4 - Rhetoric
Our judgments when we are pleased and friendly are not the same as when we are pained and hostile.
- Aristotle "Rhetoric"
