The textbook advises us that a relevant quotation that is particularly profound and, often, from a famous individual can be a strong way to hook an audience's attention or to end a speech with gusto

Question

Why must we be cautious, however, when using famous quotations in speech? Give examples, if necessary.
What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The best answers will:
1. explain that the textbook advises the use of quotations as a way to capture attention.
2. explain that the textbook also advises the use of quotations as a way to maintain attention (this is the crux of the excellent answer). The speaker may lose the audience's attention if:
• they select a quotation that is irrelevant or silly (such as, "As the great philosopher Snoop Dogg once said…").
• they select a quotation that is overused or hackneyed or cite a famous person who is over-invoked (such as, "Ghandi once said, ‘Be the change that you wish you see in the world.'")
? Outstanding answers will mention that such overuse can also include misattributed quotations, like the one listed above. The speaker's ethos is damaged when the speaker just slaps a famous name onto a random quotation.
• the speaker leaves the quote "hanging," allowing the sense of finality to be lost in the delivery of the quote (a solution being to interpret the quotation or pair it with a rhetorical question or final statement).
• Outstanding answers will give advice on how to avoid these drawbacks or provide an example of an expertly executed use of quotation.