Openers Quotes

I'd like to introduce a man with a lot of charm talent and wit. Unfortunately he couldn't be here tonight so instead . . .

~ Melvin Helitzer

I do not stand on protocol. If you just call me Excellency it will be okay.

~ Henry Kissinger

The number-one fear in life is public speaking and the number-two fear is death. This means that if you go to a funeral you're better off in the casket than giving the eulogy.

~ Jerry Seinfeld

At the end of a long introduction: You omitted perhaps one thing - that in 1974 I had a hemorrhoidectomy.

~ Howell Heflin

My father gave me these hints on speech making: Be sincere ... be brief ... be seated.

~ James Roosevelt

A good speech like a woman's skirt should be long enough to cover the subject and short enough to create interest. I have been asked to give my address in the remaining five minutes. That I can do! Here it is: 10 Carlton Gardens London England.

~ Lord Balfour

I sort of feel like Cindy Crawford's new husband on their wedding night. I know what's expected of me. I'm just not sure I've got the ability to make it interesting.

~ Melvin Helitzer

If any of you are related to our main guest let me know so I can speak slowly.

~ Wendy Morgan

As my mother used to say: Mimic a duck act calm and unruffled on the surface but paddle like crazy underneath.

~ Anonymous

Some people might say that I think too highly of you just because I worship the water you walk on.

~ Anonymous

As Spinoza or someone very much like him once said . . .

~ Judith Viorst

An evening like this would be empty without some reference to [politics] so let's just think of this as empty.

~ Anonymous

Speeches are like steer horns - a point here a point there and a lot of bull in between.

~ Evelyn Anderson

My job is to talk to you and your job is to listen. If you finish first please let me know.

~ Harry Hershfield

I have noticed that the people who are late are often so much jollier than the people who have to wait for them.

~ E. V. Lucas

I don't want to be patronizing . . . that means talking down.

~ Wendy Morgan

speaker: I have only ten minutes and hardly know where to begin. voice in back: Begin at the ninth.

~ Jacob Braude

After such an introduction I can hardly wait to hear what I'm going to say.

~ Evelyn Anderson

I was chosen to speak due to my warm personality. . . . Look up warm and it means not so hot.

~ Anonymous

A speech that's full of sparkling wit will keep its hearer grinning provided its end is close to its beginning.

~ Anonymous

It usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.

~ Mark Twain

I'd like to tell you some jokes now but you'd only laugh.

~ Milton Berle

The recipe for a good speech includes some shortening.

~ Anonymous

I was told to be accurate be brief and then be seated. ... So I promise I shall be brief as possible - no matter how long it takes me.

~ Willard Pearson

Thank you for the privilege of speaking to you in this magnificent auditorium. You know the meaning of the word auditorium don't you? It is derived from two Latin words audio to hear and taurus the bull.

~ Larry Wilde

I was chosen to speak today based on my senility.

~ Wendy Morgan

A toastmaster is a man who eats a meal he doesn't want so he can get up and tell a lot of stories he doesn't remember to people who've already heard them.

~ George Jessel

I'm an idealist: I don't know where I'm going but I'm on my way.

~ Carl Sandburg

We noticed a crasher at the bar - that shows what a real man he is - he's here to show he's not ticked for not being asked.

~ Anonymous

Response to clapping: Thank you for ovating.

~ Anonymous

I often quote myself. It adds spice to my conversation.

~ George Bernard Shaw

A bore is a man who spends so much time talking about himself that you can't talk about yourself.

~ Melville Landon

Buffet: A French word that means get up and get it yourself.

~ Ron Dentinger

Wit is the salt of conversation not the food.

~ William Hazlitt

Good breeding consists in concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person.

~ Mark Twain

On how to become a good speaker: Practice all the time. One of the best ways is to put a bunch of marbles in your mouth while you talk. Slowly but surely you take away a marble. And then when you've lost all your marbles you're a public speaker.

~ George Jessel

Once you get people laughing they're listening and you can tell them almost anything.

~ Herb Gardner

Goldie Hawn is funny sexy beautiful talented intelligent warm and consistently sunny. Other than that she doesn't impress me at all.

~ Neil Simon

When I told her we were going to roast her she said Of course . . . they only crucify the innocent.

~ Anonymous

A lot of you want me to hurry through the introduction. That's because you're so much older you don't want to waste a minute of your life.

~ Wendy Morgan