_Observe the exact repetition of entire sentences._ Consider Antony's
funeral oration over the dead body of Caesar, and note the same mastery
of the art of repetition.
But, like all powerful weapons, it is dangerous to one who is not a
natural speaker. It might easily be fatal, for remember that we are
advised to "use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do, for they
think that they shall be heard for their much speaking."
Do not be epigrammatic. Never "coin a phrase." Never make a sentence
for the purpose of having the newspaper quote it next day. Usually
such sentences are not quoted. Even if they are, these artificial
arrangements of words never live. The reason is that they _are_
artificial--they do not have the vitality of sincerity. Let your
striking expressions come naturally as the climax and flowering of
your thought. Then they will live. They will live because they will be
truthful--natural. Nothing but the sincere endures.
In political speaking, seldom be harsh, seldom denounce, seldom "pour
hot shot into the enemy" as our newspaper head-liners put it. Men in
other parties are not your enemies or the country's--they are fellow
Americans to whom you are trying to show the truth as you see it.
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