Lay Speaking

Famous quotes containing the words lay and/or speaking:

“An old man, broken with the storms of state,
Is come to lay his weary bones among ye:
Give him a little earth for charity.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

“This unlettered man’s speaking and writing are standard English. Some words and phrases deemed vulgarisms and Americanisms before, he has made standard American; such as “It will pay.” It suggests that the one great rule of composition—and if I were a professor of rhetoric I should insist on this—is, to speak the truth. This first, this second, this third; pebbles in your mouth or not. This demands earnestness and manhood chiefly.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)