17 Public Speaking Quotes to Help You Overcome Anxiety and Hone Your Presentation Skills
If the idea of giving a speech or speaking in public in any form gives you butterflies, you're not alone. In fact, fear of public speaking is so common that it has its own word: glossophobia.
Unfortunately, many professionals will have to bite the bullet and speak in public at some point in their life. This means you'll probably have to take on your stage fright and deal with your public speaking fear at some time.
On the upside, many impressive, influential people have dealt with the same fear at some point and shared their insights on mastering the art of public speaking—or at least feeling a little less anxious about the idea of having to speak in public.
Here are X inspirational quotes about public speaking to help you conquer stage fright (or lessen it a bit), hone your communication skills, and become a great public speaker.
Quotes about quelling your anxiety and fear of public speaking
1. “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”—Eleanor Roosevelt
2. "If you're public speaking, imagine yourself feeling confident; if you're nervous about a date and thinking, 'I'm gonna be a dork,' picture yourself being funny. Then it will be familiar to your brain."—Lindsey Stirling
3. "For many years, I didn't even like the idea of doing a one-person play. Public speaking got me past that. I've always been good at public speaking, but I never really enjoyed it. Then I started to really enjoy it, and that's made all the difference."—Mimi Kennedy
4. “If you're not comfortable with public speaking—and nobody starts out comfortable; you have to learn how to be comfortable —practice. I cannot overstate the importance of practicing. Get some close friends or family members to help evaluate you, or somebody at work that you trust.”—Hillary Clinton
5. “The way you overcome shyness is to become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid.”—Lady Bird Johnson
Quotes about honing your public speaking skills and engaging your audience
6. "When speaking in public, your message—no matter how important—will not be effective or memorable if you don't have a clear structure."—Patricia Fripp
7. “Honestly, if everyone likes what you say something is wrong with your message.”―Ashley Ormon
8. “If you can’t write your message in a sentence, you can’t say it in an hour.”—Dianna Booher
9. “The success of your presentation will be judged not by the knowledge you send but by what the listener receives.”—Lilly Walters
10. “Make sure you have stopped speaking before your audience has stopped listening.”—Dorothy Sarnoff
11. "My best advice is to not start in PowerPoint. Presentation tools force you to think through information linearly, and you really need to start by thinking of the whole instead of the individual lines."—Nancy Duarte
12. "You don't have to change who you are, you have to become more of who you are."—Sally Hogshead
13. “The best way to make a good speech is to have a good beginning and a good ending – and have them close together.”— Author unknown
14. “So much is said with the electricity of the eyes, the intensity of a whisper. Less is more.”—Elizabeth Taylor
Public speaking quotes about inspiring your audience—and the world
15. “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”—Maya Angelou
16. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.”—Margaret Mead
17. “If you can speak, you can influence. If you can influence, you can change lives.”—Author unknown
While you're not going to conquer stage fright overnight and may have a little public speaking anxiety throughout your life, hopefully these inspirational quotes help you realize that you're not alone and have given you some communication pointers to deliver your speech with passion and poise.
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