65.5 Power of Speech

 65.5 Power of Speech

Question:

            Is brevity in speech important?

Answer:

Only those who cannot express themselves in a

few faultless words would like to use many words.                 (Couplet – 649)

பலசொல்லக் காமுறுவர் மன்ற மாசற்ற

சிலசொல்லல் தேற்றா தவர்.                                         (குறள் – 649)

Explanation:

              According to Valluvar, only those who are incapable of speaking briefly prefer to be verbose when they communicate with others. Speaking briefly helps to get the sustained attention of the listeners. Some people do not have clarity of ideas about what they want to communicate with others. In those situations, they tend to be long-winded. Valluvar’s advice is applicable to situations when the mode of communication is either inter-personal or addressing a group of people.

It is said that Sir Winston Churchill mentioned that it took him more time to prepare a short speech than the time it took to prepare a long speech. Some of the great speeches of historical importance are indeed very short. For example, President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address was less than three minutes. Sir Winston Churchill’s “Never give in “speech was less than five minutes. President Delano Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy speech “was less than seven minutes. Rev. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech was about fifteen minutes. These speeches were made at critical junctures of human history.