Philip Melanchthon

"Sagacity and eloquence are linked together to such an extent that they cannot be torn asunder for any reason."

"It does not make such a difference whether you are simply mute or employ no art for speaking. For it is not feasible that you can express what you think as it should be understood unless you acquire a…"

"Does the painter imitate the body correctly if he guides his brush without any method, and if his hand is moved at random and the lines are not drawn with art? In the same way you will not put the sen…"

"No one will be able to speak suitably and clearly about anything unless he has shaped his speech by some art, by imitation of the best."

"You can see for what reason I commend the study of eloquence to you—because we can neither explain what we ourselves want, nor understand the surviving writing written by our ancestors, unless we have…"

"How miserable is the condition of men when the better a thing is, the further it recedes from our sight and the less it is recognized."

"The shadow does not follow the body more closely than eloquence accompanies sagacity."

"What do you believe was on the mind of the ancient Romans that they called the arts of speaking humanity? They judged that, indisputably, by the study of these disciplines not only was the tongue refi…"