Chapter I: Front Matter

[Transcriber's Notes] Original "misspellings" such as "fulness" are unchanged.

Unfamiliar (to me) words are defined on the right side of the page in square brackets. For example:

abstemious diet [abstemious = Eating and drinking in moderation.]

The blandness of contemporary (2006) speech would be relieved by the injection of some of these gems:

"phraseological quagmire"

"Windy speech which hits all around the mark like a drunken carpenter."

[End Transcriber's Notes]

BY GRENVILLE KLEISER

HOW TO BUILD MENTAL POWER A book of thorough training for all the faculties of the mind. Octa cloth, $3.00, net; by mail, $3.16.

HOW TO SPEAK IN PUBLIC A practical self-instructor for lawyers, clergymen, teachers, businessmen, and others. Cloth, 543 pages, $1.50. net; by mail, $1.615.

HOW TO DEVELOP SELF-CONFIDENCE IN SPEECH AND MANNER A book of practical inspiration: trains men to rise above mediocrity and fearthought to their great possibilities. Commended to ambitious men. Cloth. 320 pages, $1.50. net; by mail, $1.65.

HOW TO DEVELOP POWER AND PERSONALITY IN SPEAKING Practical suggestions in English, word-building, imagination, memory conversation, and extemporaneous speaking. Cloth, 422 pages, $1.50 net; by mail, $1.65.

HOW TO READ AND DECLAIM A course of instruction in reading and declamation which will develop graceful carriage, correct standing, and accurate enunciation; and will furnish abundant exercise in the use of the best examples of prose and poetry. Cloth, $1.50, net; by mail, $1.65.

GREAT SPEECHES AND HOW TO MAKE THEM In this work Mr. Kleiser points out methods by which young men may acquire and develop the essentials of forcible public speaking. Cloth $1.50, net; by mail, $1.65.

HOW TO ARGUE AND WIN Ninety-nine men in a hundred know how to argue to one who can argue and win. This book tells how to acquire this power. Cloth, 320 pages, $1.50, net; by mail, $1.65,

HUMOROUS HITS AND HOW TO HOLD AN AUDIENCE A collection of short stories, selections and sketches for all occasions. Cloth, 326 pages, $1.25, net; by mail. $1.37.

COMPLETE GUIDE TO PUBLIC SPEAKING The only extensive, comprehensive encyclopedic work of its kind ever issued. The best advice by the world's great authorities upon oratory, preaching, platform and pulpit delivery, voice-building, argumentation, debate, rhetoric, personal power, mental development, etc. Cloth, 655 pages, $5.00: by mail. $5.24.

TALKS ON TALKING Practical suggestions for developing naturalness, sincerity, and effectiveness in conversation. Cloth, $1.00, net; by mail, $1.08.

FIFTEEN THOUSAND USEFUL PHRASES A practical handbook of felicitous expressions for enriching the vocabulary. 12 mo, cloth, $1.60, net; by mail. $1.72.

INSPIRATION AND IDEALS Practical help and inspiration in right thinking and right living. 12 mo, cloth, $1.25, net: by mail, $1.37.

THE WORLD'S GREAT SERMONS Masterpieces of Pulpit Oratory and biographical sketches of the speakers. Cloth, 10 volumes. Write for terms.

GRENVILLE KLEISER'S PERSONAL LESSONS IN PUBLIC SPEAKING and the Development of Self-Confidence, Mental Power, and Personality. Twenty-five lessons, with special handbooks, side-talks, personal letters. etc. Write for terms.

GRENVILLE KLEISER'S PERSONAL LESSONS IN PRACTICAL ENGLISH Twenty lessons, with Daily Drills, special books, personal letters, etc. Write for terms.

FIFTEEN THOUSAND USEFUL PHRASES A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF PERTINENT EXPRESSIONS, STRIKING SIMILES, LITERARY. COMMERCIAL, CONVERSATIONAL, AND ORATORICAL TERMS, FOR THE EMBELLISHMENT OF SPEECH AND LITERATURE, AND THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE VOCABULARY OF THOSE PERSONS WHO READ, WRITE. AND SPEAK ENGLISH

BY GRENVILLE KLEISER

FORMERLY INSTRUCTOR IN PUBLIC SPEAKING AT YALE DIVINITY SCHOOL, YALE UNIVERSITY; AUTHOR OF "HOW TO SPEAK IN PUBLIC," "HOW TO DEVELOP POWER AND PERSONALITY IN SPEAKING," "HOW TO DEVELOP SELF-CONFIDENCE IN SPEECH AND MANNER," "HOW TO ARGUE AND WIN," "HOW TO READ AND DECLAIM," "COMPLETE GUIDE TO PUBLIC SPEAKING," ETC.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY FRANK H. VIZETELLY, LITT.D., LL.D.

FIFTH EDITION

FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY NEW YORK AND LONDON 1919

COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY (Printed in the United States of America) ----- Copyright under the Articles of the Copyright Convention of the Pan-American Republics and the United States, August 11, 1910 ------ Published. October, 1917

One cannot always live in the palaces and state apartments of language, but we can refuse to spend our days in searching for its vilest slums. --William Watson

Words without thought are dead sounds; thoughts without words are nothing. To think is to speak low; to speak is to think aloud. --Max Muller

The first merit which attracts in the pages of a good writer, or the talk of a brilliant conversationalist, is the apt choice and contrast of the words employed. It is indeed a strange art to take these blocks rudely conceived for the purpose of the market or the bar, and by tact of application touch them to the finest meanings and distinctions. --Robert Louis Stevenson

It is with words as with sunbeams, the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn. --Southey

No noble or right style was ever yet founded but out of a sincere heart. --Ruskin

Words are things; and a small drop of ink, falling like dew upon a thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think. --Byron

A good phrase may outweigh a poor library. --Thomas W. Higginson

PLAN OF CLASSIFICATION

SECTION
I. USEFUL PHRASES
II. SIGNIFICANT PHRASES
III. FELICITOUS PHRASES
IV. IMPRESSIVE PHRASES
V. PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES
VI. BUSINESS PHRASES
VII. LITERARY EXPRESSIONS
VIII. STRIKING SIMILES
IX. CONVERSATIONAL PHRASES
X. PUBLIC SPEAKING PHRASES
XI. MISCELLANEOUS PHRASES