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It is your duty, men of Athens, to listen to
every proposal made, since it is your prerogative to adopt whichever of them you choose.
For it often happens that the same person is wrong on one point and right on another; and
so by shouting him down when displeased you may perhaps deprive yourselves of many useful
ideas, whereas by attending with decorum and in silence, you will act on every sound
proposal, and if you think someone is making a foolish suggestion, you will ignore it. As
for me, I am not accustomed to make long speeches, and even if previously I had been in
the habit, I should not have taken this occasion to do so; instead, I shall tell you as
briefly as I can what I consider to be in your interests.
Demosthenes with an English translation by Norman W. DeWitt, Ph.D., and Norman J. DeWitt, Ph.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1949.
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