Last modified on April 12, 2012 by Brad Phillips

The Ten Best Media Training Quotes Ever (Part Three)

Attention, word nerds! If you like clever quotes as much as I do, you’re going to enjoy today’s post.

In 2010, when I posted ten of my favorite media training quotes of all time, I feared the post would be too “in the weeds” to attract an audience. To my great surprise, it became one of the blog’s most popular posts.

So in 2011, I posted ten more of my favorite quotes. Again, readers seemed to enjoy it.

Today, I’m happy to unveil the third installment. Here are ten more of the best media training and public speaking quotes…ever!

Jerry Seinfeld has one of the best public speaking quotes of all time. Photo: David Shankbone

PUBLIC SPEAKING

  1. “A mediocre speech supported by all the power of delivery will be more impressive than the best speech unaccompanied by such power.” – Quintilian, Roman Rhetorician
  2. “Three things matter in a speech: who says it, how he says it, and what he says – and of the three, the last matters least.” – John Morley, British Politician
  3. “It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.” – Mark Twain
  4. “According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two! Now, this means to the average person, if you have to go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.” – Jerry Seinfeld

MEDIA INTERVIEWING

    1. “No word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.” – Mark Twain

The great Mark Twain knew when to talk – and when to take a breath.

2. “An orator or author is never successful till he has learned to make his words smaller than his ideas.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

3. “This business of saying the same thing over and over and over again – which to a lot of Washington insiders and pundits is boring – works.” – Michael Deaver, Deputy Chief of Staff, President Reagan

BODY LANGUAGE AND DELIVERY

1. “What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

2. “It is better to speak from a full heart and an empty head than from a full head and an empty heart.” – Dublin Opinion Magazine (h/t Dianna Daniels Booher)

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

1. “Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.” – Theodore Roosevelt

2. Bonus: “If you’re in a hole, stop digging.” – Unknown

Don’t miss a beat! Have the best of the blog delivered to your inbox twice per month! Enter your name in the box on the upper right of the blog to join our mailing list.