The Art of Public Speaking

Know your subject better than your hearers know it, and you have nothing to fear.

My words fly up, my thoughts remain below:
Words without thoughts never to heaven go.

Success or failure in business is caused more by mental attitude even than by mental capacity."

It is too late to think about the cut of your coat when once you are upon the platform, so centre your interest on what you are about to say—fill your mind with your speech–material and, like the infilling water in the glass, it will drive out your unsubstantial fears.

"Get your principles right," said Napoleon, "and the rest is a matter of detail."

But they cannot be mastered and applied by thinking or reading about them—you must practise, practise, PRACTISE. If no one else will listen to you, listen to yourself—you must always be your own best critic, and the severest one of all.

The second principle lies close to the first: The man must enthrone his will to rule over his thought, his feelings, and all his physical powers, so that the outer self may give perfect, unhampered expression to the inner.

Concentration is the keynote of conversational charm and efficiency.

Know your subject better than your hearers know it, and you have nothing to fear.

the importance of what you were saying would drive all fear–thoughts out of your mind.