What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say.
 — Ralph Waldo Emerson (bio)

If you can’t help all of them, help at least one
~ Mother Teresa

Who will you help with your speaking today? Which one person?

I have always loved this quote … I like the thought of words taking on their own energy.
Sometimes I feel they do, and that is when they truly can engage an audience … or assault the unthinking.
Words ought to be a little wild for they are the assaults of thought on the unthinking.
John Maynard Keynes

The way to gain a good reputation, is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear. – Socrates

Love this – I will file it – not sure where I can use it in my speaking, but I hope the opportunity arises. In the meantime, …. I can share it with you!!
Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it.
G. K. Chesterton

Self-expression must pass into communication for its fulfillment.
Pearl S. Buck

… and of course every speech or presentation is communication – hopefully even a conversation.
… but does self-expression need to turn into communication to be fulfilled? Can one express oneself just for the sake of creating something, for learning mastery? What about the value of a journal that no-one ever reads but that is so cathartic, and supportive of personal growth?
Am I missing something?

The purpose of our lives is to give birth to the best which is within us.
– Marianne Williamson

The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right place but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment. ~Dorothy Nevill

Each time a person stands up for an ideal,
or acts to improve the lot of others…
s/he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope,
and crossing each other
from a million different centers
of energy and daring,
those ripples build a current
that can sweep down the mightiest walls of resistance.
~ Robert Kennedy