Involuntary Speech

Famous quotes containing the words involuntary and/or speech:

    We are things of dry hours and the involuntary plan,
    Grayed in, and gray. “Dream” makes a giddy sound, not strong
    Like “rent,” “feeding a wife,” “satisfying a man.”
    Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)

    If we would enjoy the most intimate society with that in each of us which is without, or above, being spoken to, we must not only be silent, but commonly so far apart bodily that we cannot possibly hear each other’s voice in any case. Referred to this standard, speech is for the convenience of those who are hard of hearing; but there are many fine things which we cannot say if we have to shout.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)