It will repay you to study this speech closely and to wrest from it its
innermost secrets of power and effectiveness. The greatest underlying
quality of this speech is its rare simplicity--simplicity of thought,
simplicity of language, simplicity of purpose, and shining through it
all, the simplicity of the great emancipator himself.
This simplicity is one of the great distinguishing qualities of
effective public speaking. It is characteristic of all true art. It is
subtle and difficult to define, but Fenelon gives a definition that will
aid us when he says, "Simplicity is an uprightness of soul that has no
reference to self." It is another word for unselfishness.
In these days of self-exploitation and self-aggrandizement, how
refreshing it is to meet a man of true simplicity. We are won by his
unaffected manner, his gentleness of argument, his ingratiating tones of
voice, his freedom from prejudice and passion. Such a man wins us almost
wholly by the power of his simplicity.
This supreme quality is noticeable in men who are said to have come to
themselves. They have tasted and tested life, they have learned
proportion and perspective, they have appraised things at their real
value, and now they carry themselves in poise and power and confidence.
They have found themselves in a high and true sense, and they have come
to be known as men of simplicity.
Simplicity is not to be confounded with weakness or ignorance. It comes
through long education.
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