Christine de Pizan, From The Book of the City of Ladies

It is often strage to look back at a time when women didn't have the same rights and respects as men did.  Some would still argue they don't but for the most part a women can do what she wants in this world.  After reading this short excerpt from Christine de Pizan, From The Book of the City of Ladies it is fascinating to think how much courage it would have taken to say some of the things contained in this short part.  I'm sure if I read more of this book there would be even more stronger words for those of my sex.  One of the lines I enjoyed the most was the very last one, "In deed, my lady, what you say is as true as the Lord's Prayer" (545). Bringing Christain ideas or thoughts into any argument will help, I believe, sway your audience. Granted, there are those out there that it would turn off, but for the vast majority of people, it doesn't hurt, it helps.

Cicero

I want to talk about one quote that struck me as very important. On page 290, the last two words or word and a half start the quote: [I]n oratory the very cardinal sin is to depart from the language of everyday life, and the usage approved by the sense of the community" (Cicero 290).
When we talk, we talk hopefully to be understood and prove a point.  I will be the first to admit that some times when I read a textbook or listen to someone speak it goes over my head and I have to read it again and again to get the point.  Not because the subject that was presented was too difficult or the language used was over my head but the way it is written and presented makes no logical sense.  Take for example a legal document, does it have to have the elevated speech that makes you think after you've read an entire paragraph, "What did that just say?"  It seems that our written especially but also or spoken words could be stated much simplier in a world that is so full of confussion already. WHy make it more difficult?

Aristotle, From On Rhetoric Book 3 Chapter 1

I really like this part in Arostotle's book On Rhetoric, "All people are persuaded either because as judges they themselves are affected in some way or because they suppose the speakers have certain qualities or because something has been logically demonstrated" 194.

I think the vast majority of people in today's society are persuaded by the words that are spoken by a great speaker.  Take for example, then Senator Obama, while he was running for the office of the president he spoke and said much better things than his oppenent Senator McCain.  It wasn't because he was a better person or had more experience because that was certainly not the case; he simple spoke more convincingly to the American people than McCain.

Then there are those people that no matter what the person is saying will believe simple based on who they are and what position they hold.  Again I use President Obama as an example to this point.  He still has his die-hard supporters that just eat-up what he says because he is their president.  Forget about all the failures we have seen, all the broken promises made, and the dismal economy he has helped foster, that group of people we still follow and believe solely based on the words that come out of his mouth.

I would go into the third point but I've written enough and I can't think of  a good example.