Noun

(en noun)

A self-evident axiom or premise; a pithy expression of a general principle or rule.

A precept; a succinct statement or observation of a rule of conduct or moral teaching.

* 1776 , , Wealth of Nations , page 768:

In every age and country of the world men must have attended to the characters, designs, and actions of one another, and many reputable rules and maxims for the conduct of human life, must have been laid down and approved of by common consent.

Noun

(wikipedia speech)

(label) The faculty of uttering articulate sounds or words; the ability to speak or to use vocalizations to communicate.

* , chapter=12

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill. It was ugly, gross. Never before had he felt such repulsion when the vicar displayed his characteristic bluntness or coarseness of speech . In the present connexion […] such talk had been distressingly out of place.}}

*

(label) A session of speaking; a long oral message given publicly usually by one person.

* (Jonathan Swift) (1667–1745)

The constant design of these orators, in all their speeches , was to drive some one particular point.

*

A style of speaking.

*{{quote-magazine, date=2014-04-21, volume=411, issue=8884, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Subtle effects , passage=Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese, a silvery metal, began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated.}}

A dialect or language.

* Bible, (w) iii. 6

people of a strange speech

Talk; mention; rumour.

* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)

The dukedid of me demand / What was the speech among the Londoners / Concerning the French journey.