How we cite our quotes: Line
Quote #1
I want to learn oratory. / By debts and interest payments and rapacious creditors. / I'm assailed and assaulted and stand to lose my property. (239-241)
Strepsiades claims he wants to learn how to use language and rhetoric (or oratory) properly. No, he's not trying to learn how to communicate better; really, he just wants to know enough to persuade his creditors to let him out of the debt he owes. So, he's not so much looking to communicate as he is to manipulate. It seems there's a fine line between the two, for him.
Quote #2
Didn't know that they sustain and feed a host of specialists, / sayers of sooth, quack doctors, hairy idlers with onyx signet rings, / writers of chorus-bending screeches, phony meteorologists, / doing nothing useful, living only to sing about the Clouds? (331-334)
According to Socrates, the Clouds are a focal point for all kinds of people, including writers who produce "chorus-bending screeches." Apparently, Socrates looks down on people who simply ramble on about the Clouds… but it's not clear that anything he does is much better, actually.
Quote #3
He can have it; whatever his line, / I'll shoot him down with phrases fine, / concepts novel and thought sublime. / Result? If he so much as sighs, / I'll sting his face and both his eyes. (941-945)
When Worse Argument and Better Argument are sparring, Worse Argument promises that he can use his fancy rhetoric to do basically everything. Ah, the power of language, right? Or is it the power of manipulation?
Quote #4
Not for me, no motions, please! I don't desire political clout, / just the power of twisting lawsuits, and giving my creditors the slip. (432)
When Strepsiades says "twisting lawsuits," what he really means is twisting words—he really just wants to use rhetoric to his advantage to persuade his creditors not to come after him.
Quote #5
Thus, my boy, be bold and opt for me, the Better Argument. / You shall learn to loathe the market, to shun the public baths as well, / to feel ashamed of what is shameful, to burn with rage at any slight, / to offer your seat to any grownup you may see approaching you; / never to treat your parents rudely, never to act disgracefully / or any way that might dishonor the sacred shrine of Modesty; / never to invade a go-go dancer's house and lose your head, / making the whore get sweet on you, thus shattering your good repute; / never to contradict your father, calling him Methuselah, / laughing at how old he is, forgetting how he reared you! (990-999)
Better Argument is trying to bring Strepsiades over to his side of thought and his own ideas about what is proper rhetoric. In Better Argument's view, you just shouldn't say mean things to your parents, whereas Worse Argument would say it's fine, as long as it gets you what you want.
Quote #6
[…] Listen to him, / you'll think what's bad is good, / what's good is bad […] (1020-1022)
Better Argument goes after Worse Argument for his lack of a moral compass. As he tells Strepsiades, Worse Argument is notable for making bad seem like good and vice versa. According to Better Argument, there are solid objective standards for determining what is "good" and "bad," whereas Worse Argument is all about using language to twist thoughts/actions/whatever into appearing good or bad, depending on the speaker's needs.
Quote #7
I got the name Worse Argument among the intellectuals / for just this very reason, that I pioneered a new technique, / a logical way to contradict established laws and morals. (1038-1040)
Worse Argument freely admits that he has a technique for using logic (or rhetoric, really) to contradict any firm ideas about what's morally right or wrong. And he's darn proud of it, in fact.
Quote #8
Why, teach him and discipline him, and don't forget / to put sharp edges on his tongue. One edge / for hacking little lawsuits; hone the other / for cutting into meatier affairs. (1107-1110)
These are Strepsiades's instructions to Worse Argument when he entrusts Pheidippides to WA's teachings. As you can see, he's hoping that Pheidippides learns the right rhetorical skills to get the family out of their financial mess with his "tongue."
Quote #9
I've made some fair and reasonable requests— / "Look here, my man, this payment isn't urgent; / please put this off, forgive that"—but they refuse / to deal on any such terms. They call me names, / like chiseler, and promise to drag me into court. / Well, let them drag me now! I couldn't care less, / if Pheidippides has learned his lessons well. / I'll soon find out, if I knock at the Thinkery. (1137-1144)
Strepsiades describes how he tried to talk his way out of his debts in the past. We imagine his "arguments" wouldn't have been terribly persuasive or effective, so no wonder he thought he needed help from a skilled rhetorician.
Quote #10
How dangerous to entertain / a lust for villainy, / like this old man, who'd now evade / the debts he ought to pay. / Before the day has run its course / the time will surely come / when our old sophist feels remorse / about the harm he's done. / I think that he will soon obtain / the answer to his prayer: / a son who's able to maintain / what's unjust and unfair. / And though the son wins every case / with wickedness and lies, / perhaps, perhaps his dad will pray / his tongue gets paralyzed. (1303-1320)
The Clouds are making sure that we as the audience know that Strepsiades will soon regret his decision to send his son to rhetoric school. And it's totally true—once Pheidippides starts using his skillz against old Pops, Strepsiades definitely regrets his decision to sharpen his son's "tongue."