--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: As the base rhetorician uses language to…" description: "\"As the base rhetorician uses language to increase his own power, to produce converts to his own cause, and to create loyal followers of his own person ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe1/thomas-szasz-3801_authority_as-the-base-rhetorician-uses-language-to_1961787.jpg" --- # As the base rhetorician uses language to increase his own… ![“As the base rhetorician uses language to increase his own power, to produce converts to his own cause, and to create loyal followers of his own person - so the noble rhetorician uses language to wean men away from their inclination to depend on authority, to encourage them to think and speak…” quote by Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe1/thomas-szasz-3801_authority_as-the-base-rhetorician-uses-language-to_1961787.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe1/thomas-szasz-3801_authority_as-the-base-rhetorician-uses-language-to_1961787.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe1/thomas-szasz-3801_authority_as-the-base-rhetorician-uses-language-to_1961787.jpg) > “As the base rhetorician uses language to increase his own power, to produce converts to his own cause, and to create loyal followers of his own person - so the noble rhetorician uses language to wean men away from their inclination to depend on authority, to encourage them to think and speak clearly, and to teach them to be their own masters.” [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Powerful language can either dominate others or free them to think independently. **In simple terms:** Language can control or liberate. Key Takeaway Use speech to empower critical thought. Themes rhetoric power independence Mood thoughtful inspirational Type philosophical educational When to use this quote - political speeches - education - leadership training Key Concepts authority critical thinking self-mastery Questions to Reflect On - How can you balance persuasion with empowerment? - What habits resist authority? A Different Perspective Language alone cannot change entrenched beliefs. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Authority](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/authority/) [Base Rhetorician](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/base-rhetorician-3243454/) [Causes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/causes/) [Depends](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/depends/) [Eloquence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eloquence/) [Followers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/followers/) [Inclination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inclination/) [Increase](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/increase/) [Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language/) [Loyal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/loyal/) [Masters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/masters/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Noble](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/noble/) [Noble Rhetorician](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/noble-rhetorician-3243455/) [Persons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/persons/) [Produce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/produce/) [Rhetorician](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rhetorician-834407/) [Rhetorician Uses](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rhetorician-uses-3243453/) [Speak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/speak/) [Teach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/teach/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Use](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/use/) [Uses Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/uses-language-337738/) ## Related quotes > [Apt analogies are among the most formidable weapons of the rhetorician.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/apt-analogies-are-among-the-most-formidable-weapons-of-the-rhetorician/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [The influence exercised over the human mind by apt analogies is and has always been immense. Whether they translate an established truth into simple…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/the-influence-exercised-over-the-human-mind-by-apt-analogies-is-and/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [“The rhetorician need not know the truth about things; he has only to discover some way of persuading the ignorant that he has more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plato/the-rhetorician-need-not-know-the-truth-about-things-he-has-only-to/) [Plato](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plato/) > [A sophisticated rhetorician, inebriated with the exuberance of his own verbosity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/a-sophisticated-rhetorician-inebriated-with-the-exuberance-of-his-own/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [Every writer, by the way he uses the language, reveals something of his spirit, his habits, his capacities, his bias…Avoid the elaborate, the pretentious,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-strunk-jr/every-writer-by-the-way-he-uses-the-language-reveals-something-of-his/) [William Strunk, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-strunk-jr/) > [Tennis uses the language of life. Advantage, service, fault, break, love - the basic elements of tennis are those of everyday existence, because every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andre-agassi/tennis-uses-the-language-of-life-advantage-service-fault-break-love/) [Andre Agassi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andre-agassi/) > [“An education for freedom (and for the love and intelli­gence which are at once the conditions and the results of freedom) must be, among…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/an-education-for-freedom-and-for-the-love-and-intelli-gence-which-are/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) > [“Comfort with an art form that uses language comes because we all own it, to one degree or another. Words come from flesh and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-fox/comfort-with-an-art-form-that-uses-language-comes-because-we-all-own/) [Dan Fox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-fox/) > [Poetry uses language to create a music borne inside human experiences and emotions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pattiann-rogers/poetry-uses-language-to-create-a-music-borne-inside-human-experiences/) [Pattiann Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pattiann-rogers/) > [There is a narrow class of uses of language where you intend to communicate. Communication refers to an effort to get people to understand…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/there-is-a-narrow-class-of-uses-of-language-where-you-intend-to/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [“Just because everybody uses language, that doesn't mean that they can write even tolerable prose.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jones/just-because-everybody-uses-language-that-doesn-t-mean-that-they-can/) [Stephen Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jones/) > [The poet, by composing poems, uses a language that is neither dead nor living, that few people speak, and few people understand We are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/the-poet-by-composing-poems-uses-a-language-that-is-neither-dead-nor/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [Because everyone uses language to talk, everyone thinks he can talk about language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/because-everyone-uses-language-to-talk-everyone-thinks-he-can-talk/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [There is undoubtedly much to learn about the social uses of language, for communication or for other purposes. But at present there is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/there-is-undoubtedly-much-to-learn-about-the-social-uses-of-language/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [Here in the U.S. we do have a problem with a president Donald Trump who uses language in two distinctly destructive ways. One is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/here-in-the-u-s-we-do-have-a-problem-with-a-president-donald-trump/) [Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/) ## More by Thomas Szasz > [Institutional psychiatry is a continuation of the Inquisition. All that has really changed is the vocabulary and the social style. The vocabulary conforms to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/institutional-psychiatry-is-a-continuation-of-the-inquisition-all/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [By pretending that convention is Nature, that disobeying a personal prohibition is a medical illness, they establish themselves as agents of social control and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/by-pretending-that-convention-is-nature-that-disobeying-a-personal/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [We shall therefore compare the concept of homosexuality as heresy, prevalent in the days of the witch-hunts, with the concept of homosexuality as mental…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/we-shall-therefore-compare-the-concept-of-homosexuality-as-heresy/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [The basic ingredients of psychotherapy are religion, rhetoric, and repression, which are themselves mutually overlapping categories.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/the-basic-ingredients-of-psychotherapy-are-religion-rhetoric-and/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [For Jews, the Messiah has never come; for Christians, He has come but once; for modern man, He appears and disappears with increasing rapidity.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/for-jews-the-messiah-has-never-come-for-christians-he-has-come-but/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [I submit that the traditional definition of psychiatry, which is still vogue, places it alongside such things as alchemy and astrology, and commits it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/i-submit-that-the-traditional-definition-of-psychiatry-which-is-still/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [I believe the time has come to acknowledge that the practice of routine circumcision rests on the absurd premise that the only mammal in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/i-believe-the-time-has-come-to-acknowledge-that-the-practice-of/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [He who does not accept and respect those who want to reject life does not truly accept and respect life itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/he-who-does-not-accept-and-respect-those-who-want-to-reject-life-does/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [The passion to interpret as madness that with which we disagree seems to have infected the best of contemporary minds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/the-passion-to-interpret-as-madness-that-with-which-we-disagree-seems/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [We should pledge ourselves to the proposition that the irresponsible life is not worth living.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/we-should-pledge-ourselves-to-the-proposition-that-the-irresponsible/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [A child becomes an adult when he realizes that he has a right not only to be right but also to be wrong.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/a-child-becomes-an-adult-when-he-realizes-that-he-has-a-right-not/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [We have, in our day, witnessed the birth of the Therapeutic State. 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Since they cannot do that, people choose to make the powerful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/people-dream-of-making-the-virtuous-powerful-so-they-can-depend-upon/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [The greatest analgesic, soporific, stimulant, tranquilizer, narcotic, and to some extent even antibiotic - in short, the closest thing to a genuine panacea -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/the-greatest-analgesic-soporific-stimulant-tranquilizer-narcotic-and/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) [Explore all 121 Thomas Szasz quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) ## More Authority quotes > [I don't believe in competitions between artists. This is insane. Who has the authority to say someone is better?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-arkin/i-don-t-believe-in-competitions-between-artists-this-is-insane-who/) [Alan Arkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-arkin/) > [Islam never differentiates between men and women as regards political rights and puts them on an equal footing. However, even if a woman is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yusuf-al-qaradawi/islam-never-differentiates-between-men-and-women-as-regards-political/) [Yusuf al-Qaradawi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yusuf-al-qaradawi/) > [I think people need to be comfortable questioning the authority of a doctor.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susannah-cahalan/i-think-people-need-to-be-comfortable-questioning-the-authority-of-a/) [Susannah Cahalan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susannah-cahalan/) > [At a distance, we cannot conceive of the authority of a despot who knows all his subjects on sight.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stendhal/at-a-distance-we-cannot-conceive-of-the-authority-of-a-despot-who/) [Stendhal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stendhal/) > [Throughout human history, as our species has faced the frightening, terrorizing fact that we do not know who we are, or where we are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-leary/throughout-human-history-as-our-species-has-faced-the-frightening/) [Timothy Leary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-leary/) > [“I'm of the age and immaturity level that I cannot give you my respect solely because you are older or ranked higher on an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-goros/i-m-of-the-age-and-immaturity-level-that-i-cannot-give-you-my-respect/) [Erica Goros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-goros/) > [In the end theologians are jealous of science, for they are aware that it has greater authority than do their own ways of finding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-a-coyne/in-the-end-theologians-are-jealous-of-science-for-they-are-aware-that/) [Jerry A. 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