His temper was too amiable and serene for stinging wit or biting sarcasm, but he had a playful humor which kept the minds of his hearers in that receptive and compliant state which disposed them the more readily to give full and generous consideration to all the strong parts of his argument.
Blaine characterizes a speaker's amiable demeanor and humor as effective tools for engaging an audience.
Share
More from James Blaine
He was a lawyer in full practice, a man of the highest integrity, without fear and without reproach.
I believe that if it should pass it will receive the sanction of nineteen-twentieths of the loyal people of the country.
It was the insane folly of the South, in drawing the sword against the life of the Nation, that led irresistibly to the abolition of slavery.
The need of action and of energy so pressed upon him that he found no time to utter lamentation, none to indulge even in the most sacred personal grief.
Other voices in this conversation
