"To excel in talk, [Robert Louis] Stevenson says, is simply the best ambition we can have. It is both a private and a public accomplishment. Talk does not merely make us good company to our friends and family, he says, it also enables us to "bear our part in that great international congress, always sitting, where public wrongs are first declared, public errors first corrected, and the course of public opinion shaped, day by day, a little nearer to the right".

From a great article in the Guardian by Martin Kettle.

I'm not a great talker. But I am inspired:

"In short," argues Stevenson, "the first duty of a man is to speak; that is his chief business in the world; and talk, which is the harmonious speech of two or more, is by far the most accessible of our pleasures. It costs nothing in money. It is all profit. It completes our education, founds and fosters our friendships, and can be enjoyed at any age and in almost any state of health."