ALPHABET SERIES /part 12/ The ability to speak is a short-cut to distinction. It puts a man in the limelight, raises him head and shoulders above the crowd. And the man who can speak acceptably is usually given credit for an ability out of all proportion to what he really possesses. Dale Carnegie claims that any man can talk when he gets mad. He says that if you hit the most ignorant man in town on the jaw and knock him down, he will get on his feet and talk with an eloquence, heat, and emphasis that would have rivaled William Jennings Bryan in his palmiest days. He claims that almost any man can speak acceptably in public if he has self-confidence and an idea that is boiling and stewing within him. The way to develop self-confidence, he says, is to do the thing you fear to do and get a record of successful experiences behind you. -- from the book How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie <A short-cut to Distinction by Lowell Thomas> ...
...story behind pen and paper