Rhetoric is rooted in an essential function of language itself, a function that is wholly realistic and continually born anew: the use of language as a symbolic means of inducing cooperation in beings that by nature respond to symbols.

The most characteristic concern of rhetoric [is] the manipulation of men's beliefs for political ends....the basic function of rhetoric [is] the use of words by human agents to form attitudes or to induce actions in other human agents.

The use of words by human agents to form attitudes or induce actionsin other human agents.

Wherever there is persuasion, there is rhetoric, and wherever there is rhetoric, there is meaning.

Words are like planets, each with its own gravitational pull.

Language does our thinking for us.

Man is rotten with perfection.