When I have an address to deliver, I like to forget all about the rules for the proper use of the English language, and all about rhetoric and that sort of thing, and I like to make the audience forget all about these things, too.
Washington describes his preferred approach to public speaking, aiming to transcend formal rules of language and rhetoric to foster a direct connection with his audience.
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More from Booker T. Washington
If my life in the past has meant anything in the lifting up of my people and the bringing about of better relations between your race and mine, I assure you from this day it will mean doubly more.
In the economy of God there is but one standard by which an individual can succeed—there is but one for a race.
We try to keep constantly in mind the fact that the worth of the school is to be judged by its graduates.
The great human law that in the end recognizes and rewards merit is everlasting and universal.