Oration
A formal public speech — the original setting for many of the most-quoted lines in history.
An oration is a formal public speech, traditionally one prepared in advance and delivered to a large audience on a significant occasion. The Greek and Roman rhetorical traditions classified orations by purpose: forensic (legal), deliberative (political), and epideictic (ceremonial).
Orations are a primary source of survival for quotation. Speeches as old as Pericles's funeral oration and Cicero's Catiline orations remain quoted because they were transcribed soon after delivery and copied into manuscript collections.
In the modern record, the addresses of Lincoln, King, Churchill, Mandela, and Sojourner Truth occupy a similar position: works of public oration whose most striking lines have been lifted out and now travel on their own.
“Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
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A religious address — historically one of the most prolific sources of quotation in any culture.
The art of persuasive speaking and writing — the discipline behind every great quoted line.
A short, vivid extract from a longer speech, designed to be repeated by news media.
A 2,000-year-old practice of distilling ethical instruction into short, repeatable lines.