35 Thought-Provoking Quotes About Rhetoric

Anuoluwa Soneye
Mar 13, 2023 By Anuoluwa Soneye
Originally Published on Feb 27, 2023
Edited by Oluwapelumi Iwayemi
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These rhetoric quotes will shape your diction.

Rhetorics belong to three major classes: logos, ethos, and pathos.

These thought-provoking quotes will teach you the power and ability of 'persuasion. You will learn this through the words of Aristotle and many famous authors.

Stay with us to learn 35 quotes about rhetorics that would change your view on language

Why quotes about rhetoric?

Learning quotes about rhetoric can be a helpful way for kids to develop critical thinking skills and gain a deeper understanding of the art of persuasion. Rhetoric studies the principles and techniques of effective communication and is an integral part of many subjects, including literature, history, and social studies.

By learning quotes about rhetoric, kids can learn to analyze and evaluate the persuasive techniques used in various communication forms and think critically about the messages they encounter in their daily lives.

What Should Parents Know

  • Rhetoric involves understanding how language can effectively convey ideas and persuade others to take a particular action.
  • Rhetoric can be used for good or evil. While rhetoric can inspire and persuade people to do good things, it can also be used to manipulate and deceive people.
  • Rhetoric is a skill that can be taught and learned.
  • Rhetoric is an integral part of many academic disciplines. From history and political science to business and marketing.

What To Discuss With Kids

  • Encourage your kids to think about the words they use and how they can use language to communicate their ideas and persuade others effectively.
  • Explain to your kids that rhetoric can be a powerful tool, but it can also be used to deceive and manipulate people.
  • Help your kids understand the importance of organizing their thoughts and presenting them clearly and logically.

Quotes About Rhetoric By Aristotle

Here are some quotes on rhetoric by Aristotle.

“It is clear that he who is most capable of examining the matter and forms of a syllogism will be in the highest degree a master of rhetorical argument,”

“Rhetoric then may be defined as the faculty of discovering the possible means of persuasion in reference to any subject whatever.”

“since we are most strongly convinced when we suppose anything to have been demonstrated; that rhetorical demonstration is an enthymeme,”

“What makes a man a 'sophist' is not his faculty, but his moral purpose.

“Nevertheless, Rhetoric is useful, because the true and the just are naturally superior to their opposites, so that, if decisions are improperly made, they must owe their defeat to their own advocates; which is reprehensible.”

“To say this, however, is not to claim that it was the object of theoretical study.”

“rhetoric was to be surveyed from the standpoint of philosophy.”

"The duty of rhetoric is to deal with such matters as we deliberate upon without arts or systems to guide us, in the hearing of persons who cannot take in at a glance a complicated argument or follow a long chain of reasoning.

"Rhetoric falls into three divisions, determined by the three classes of listeners to speeches. For of the three elements in speech-making--speaker, subject, and person addressed it is the last one, the hearer, that determines the speech’s end and object."

"Rhetoric is the counterpart of Dialectic. Both alike are concerned with such things as come, more or less, within the general ken of all men and belong to no definite science."

Thought Provoking Quotes About Rhetoric

Your language use will change after reading these thought-provoking quotes about rhetoric.

(Powerful quotes for you about rhetoric.)

“You can sway a thousand men by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one man by logic.” ― Robert A. Heinlein, 'Revolt In 2100'/'Methuselah's Children'

“Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend.” ― Francis Bacon, 'The Collected Works Of Sir Francis Bacon'

“We spend so much time bantering about the words when the real open conversations might very well be our actions. I worry about our rhetoric.” ― Anna Deavere Smith

"Washington is paralyzed by extreme political rhetoric that creates powerful sound bites but poor policy." ― John Delaney
 

Quotes About Rhetoric By Famous Authors

Here is what famous authors have to say about rhetoric.

"There is a truth and beauty in rhetoric, but it oftener serves ill turns than good ones." ― William Penn

"Even Stalin proclaimed his love for democracy. We do not learn about the nature of systems of power by listening to their rhetoric." ― Noam Chomsky

"Power is the most persuasive rhetoric." ― Friedrich Schiller

"Rhetoric is not important. Actions are." ― Nelson Mandela

"You were always uncomfortable with the rhetoric of emotion, which is quite a different matter from discomfort with emotion itself." ― Lionel Shriver

"If you stand on a soapbox and trade rhetoric with a dictator you never win." ― Mel Brooks

"But I had also learned that freedom of speech means freedom from rhetoric." ― Umberto Eco

Short Quotes About Rhetoric

You can memorize these short quotes about rhetoric.

"I am a plain man, and I care and know comparatively little about rhetoric." ―Gerrit Smith

"Facts are not liberals' strong suit. Rhetoric is." ―Thomas Sowell

"The rhetoric is the key to the character. It's the verbal music of the piece." ―Peter Shaffer

"Fear requires belief that you will be harmed, and it is easily manipulated by rhetoric." ―Martha Nussbaum

"We make out of the quarrel with others, rhetoric, but of the quarrel with ourselves, poetry." ―William Butler Yeats

"Power is the most persuasive rhetoric." ―Friedrich Schiller

"Rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men." ―Plato

"Love`s sweetest meanings are unspoken; the full heart knows no rhetoric of words" ― Christian Nestell Bovee

"I'm not good at throwing around rhetoric." ― Julia Hartz

"We had a sense of importance that would have led us to risk our lives for our rhetoric." ― Jerry Rubin

"Rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men." ― Plato

''Political rhetoric leads only to confusion.'' ― Tariq Ramadan

"I don`t get myself caught up in the rhetoric of any personal comments that are made." ― Roger Goodell

"As Americans, we are no strangers to hate-fueled rhetoric." ― Lucy McBath

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Sources

https://www.azquotes.com/author/524-Aristotle/tag/rhetoric

https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/423608

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/rhetoric

https://wisesayings.com/rhetoric-quotes/

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Written by Anuoluwa Soneye

Bachelor of Arts specializing in English

Anuoluwa Soneye picture

Anuoluwa SoneyeBachelor of Arts specializing in English

With a Bachelor's in English from Obafemi Awolowo University and extensive experience as an editor and tutor, Anuoluwa is an award-winning poet who now serves as a content writer for Kidadl. In his spare time, he enjoys online gaming, playing the piano, table tennis, writing poetry, and graphic design. Anuoluwa also serves as vice president of his local branch of the National Youth Service Corps (CDS).

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