Even if any given terminology is a reflection of reality, by its very nature as a terminology it must be a selection of reality; and to this extent it must function also as a deflection of reality, — Kenneth Burke Copy Share Image
Men seek for vocabularies that are reflections of reality. To this end, they must develop vocabularies that are selections of reality. And any selection of reality must, in certain circumstances, function as a deflection of reality. — Kenneth Burke Copy Share Image
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… — Kenneth Burke Copy Share Image
“With my book in one hand And my drink in the other What more could I want But fame, Better health, And ten million… — Kenneth Burke Copy Share Image
If decisions were a choice between alternatives, decisions would come easy. Decision is the selection and formulation of alternatives. — Kenneth Burke Copy Share Image
For no continuity of social act is possible without a corresponding social status and the many different kinds of act required in an industrial… — Kenneth Burke Copy Share Image
Man is/the symbol-using (symbol making, symbol-misusing) animal/inventor of the negative (or moralized by the negative)/separated from his natural condition by instruments of his own… — Kenneth Burke Copy Share Image
The use of words by human agents to form attitudes or induce actionsin other human agents. — Kenneth Burke Copy Share Image
You persuade a man only insofar as you can talk his language by speech, gesture, tonality, order, image, attitude, idea, identifying your ways with… — Kenneth Burke Copy Share Image
Rhetoric is rooted in an essential function of language itself, a function that is wholly realistic and continually born anew: the use of language… — Kenneth Burke Copy Share Image
We not only interpret the character of events... we may also interpret our interpretations. — Kenneth Burke Copy Share Image