Applause

Applause (Latin applaudere, to strike upon, clap) is primarily the expression of approval by the act of clapping, or striking the palms of the hands together, in order to create noise. Audiences are usually expected to applaud after a performance, such as a musical concert, speech, or play. In most western countries, audience members clap their hands at random to produce a constant noise; however, it tends to synchronize naturally to a weak degree. As a form of mass nonverbal communication, it is a simple indicator of the average relative opinion of the entire group; the louder and longer the noise, the stronger the sign of approval.

Sourced

Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922)

Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 37.

• Applause is the spur of noble minds, the end and aim of weak ones.
  • Charles Caleb Colton, Lacon, p. 205.

• Popular Applause! what heart of man
  Is proof against thy sweet, seducing charms?
  • William Cowper, The Task (1785), Book II, line 431.

• The silence that accepts merit as the most natural thing in the world, is the highest applause.
  • Ralph Waldo Emerson, An Address (July 15, 1838).

• The applause of a single human being is of great consequence.
  • Samuel Johnson, reported in James Boswell, Life of Samuel Johnson (1780).

• Like Cato, give his little senate laws,
  And sit attentive to his own applause.
  • Alexander Pope, Prologue to the Satires, line 207.

• They threw their caps
  As they would hang them on the horns o' the moon,
  Shouting their emulation.
  • William Shakespeare, Coriolanus (c. 1607-08), Act I, scene 1, line 216.

• I would applaud thee to the very echo,
  That should applaud again.
  • William Shakespeare, Macbeth (1605), Act V, scene 3, line 53.

• I love the people,
  But do not like to stage me to their eyes;
  Though it do well, I do not relish well
  Their loud applause, and Aves vehement;
  Nor do I think the man of safe discretion,
  That does affect it.
  • William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure (1603), Act I, scene 1, line 68.

• Vos valete et plaudite.
  • Fare ye well, and give us your applause.
  • Terence, last words of several comedies. See his Eunuchus V, 9. 64.