Talks on Talking

Talks on Talking, by Grenville
Kleiser

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Title: Talks on Talking
Author: Grenville Kleiser

Release Date: January 7, 2006 [eBook #17476]
Language: English
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TALKS ON TALKING
by
GRENVILLE KLEISER
Formerly Instructor in Public Speaking at Yale Divinity School, Yale
University; author of "How to Speak in Public," "How to Develop
Power and Personality in Speaking," "How to Develop Self-Confidence
in Speech and Manner," "How to Argue and Win," "How to Read and
Declaim," "Complete Guide to Public Speaking,"; etc.

Copyright, 1916, by Funk. & Wagnalls Company (Printed in the United
States of America) Published, September, 1916 Copyright under the
articles of the Copyright Convention of the Pan-American Republics
and the United States, August 11, 1910

CONTENTS
PAGE
THE ART OF TALKING 1
TYPES OF TALKERS 11
TALKERS AND TALKING 18
PHRASES FOR TALKERS 25
THE SPEAKING VOICE 34
HOW TO TELL A STORY 44
TALKING IN SALESMANSHIP 56
MEN AND MANNERISMS 63

HOW TO SPEAK IN PUBLIC 70
PRACTICAL HINTS FOR SPEAKERS 84
THE DRAMATIC ELEMENT IN SPEAKING 87
CONVERSATION AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 94
A TALK TO PREACHERS 100
CARE OF THE SPEAKER'S THROAT 108
DON'TS FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 116
DO'S FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 118
POINTS FOR SPEAKERS 120
THE BIBLE ON SPEECH 122
THOUGHTS ON TALKING 123

PREFACE
Good conversation implies naturalness, spontaneity, and sincerity of
utterance. It is not advisable, therefore, to lay down arbitrary rules to
govern talking, but it is believed that the suggestions offered here will
contribute to the general elevation and improvement of daily speech.
Considering the large number of persons who are obliged to talk in
social, business, and public life, the subject of correct speech should
receive more serious consideration than is usually given to it. It is
earnestly hoped that this volume will be of practical value to those who
are desirous of developing and improving their conversational powers.
Appreciative thanks are expressed to the Editors of the Homiletic
Review for permission to reprint some of the extracts.

GRENVILLE KLEISER.
NEW YORK CITY, MAY, 1916.
Boys flying kites haul in their white-wing'd birds: You can't do that
way when you're flying words. "Careful with fire," is good advice we
know; "Careful with words," is ten times doubly so. Thoughts
unexpress'd may sometimes fall back dead, But God Himself can't kill
them once they're said!
--Will Carleton.
The first duty of a man is to speak; that is his chief business in this
world; and talk, which is the harmonious speech of two or more, is by
far the most accessible of pleasures. It costs nothing; it is all profit; it
completes our education; it founds and fosters our friendships; and it is
by talk alone that we learn our period and ourselves.
--Robert Louis Stevenson.
Vociferated logic kills me quite; A noisy man is always in the right-- I
twirl my thumbs, fall back into my chair, Fix on the wainscot a
distressful stare; And when I hope his blunders all are out, Reply
discreetly, "To be sure--no doubt!"
--Anon.

TALKS ON TALKING

THE ART OF TALKING
The charm of conversation chiefly depends upon the adaptability of the
participants. It is a great accomplishment to be able to enter gently and
agreeably into the moods of others, and to give way to them with grace
and readiness.

The spirit of conversation is oftentimes more important than the ideas
expressed. What we are rather than what we say has the most
permanent influence upon those around us. Hence it is that where a
group of persons are met together in conversation, it is the inner life of
each which silently though none the less surely imparts tone and
character to the occasion.
It requires vigorous self-discipline so to cultivate the feelings of
kindness and sympathy that they are always in readiness for use. These
qualities are essential to agreeable and profitable intercourse, though
comparatively few people possess them.
Burke considered manners of more importance than laws. Sidney Smith
described manners as the shadows of virtues. Dean Swift defined
manners as the art of putting at ease the people with whom we converse.
Chesterfield said manners should adorn knowledge in order to smooth
its way through the world. Emerson spoke of manners as composed of
petty sacrifices.
We all recognize that a winning manner is