Speech is civilization itself. The word, even the most contradictious word, preserves contact-it is silence which isolates.

A rejection of the way a woman speaks is often a way of blaming or dismissing her without dealing with the content of what she is saying.

A dog is not considered good because of his barking, and a man is not considered clever because of his ability to talk.

If human beings don't keep exercising their lips, he thought, their mouths probably seize up. After a few months' consideration and observation he abandoned this theory in favor of a new one. If they don't keep on exercising their lips, he thought, their brains start working.

The most difficult thing in the world is to say thinkingly what everybody says without thinking.

To speak agreeably to him with whom we deal is more than to speak in good words or in good order.

Many foreign tourists try to speak Italian. A few creditably manage this in a short time. Others think they do.

Words [spoken by Americans] were usually ejected in lumps, at enormous speed, groups of them strung together like rushing railroad cars without perceptible separations.

The voice is a second face.

None love to speak so much, when the mood of speaking comes, as they who are naturally taciturn.